His dream career as a kid was to become a movie star like his idol DannyKaye.A favorite of host JohnnyCarson, he appeared on The Tonight Show more than 130 times.His memorable stand-up routines, which influenced many up-and-coming comedians, included “Baseball and Football,” “The Ten Commandments” and “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television.”
He played Mr. Conductor on the PBS children’s series Shining Time Station, provided the narration for Thomas the Tank Engine and appeared in movies including Car Wash, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and The Prince of Tides.Carlin was awarded the 2008 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, becoming the first posthumous recipient.After being trained as a radio technician in the U.S. Air Force, he was court-martialed twice before being discharged as an “unproductive airman.”Carlin won five Grammys, for his albums FM & AM, Jammin’ in New York, Brain Droppings, Napalm & Silly Putty and It’s Bad for Ya.Carlin’s first hardcover book, Brain Droppings, spent 40 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.Carlin was nicknamed the “dean of counterculture comedians.”Carlin inherited his love of language from his father, Patrick, who won a nationwide Dale Carnegie public speaking contest in 1935. “He could talk your donkey’s ear off,” Carlin said of his father.He worked with JackBurns on Los Angeles’ KDAY-AM in the morning as the Wright Brothers.He attended Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx—as did MartinScorsese, RegisPhilbin and DonDeLillo—but Carlin did not graduate, as he was expelled.Carlin voiced a character named Fillmore, an anti-establishment hippie VW Microbus with a psychedelic paint job and the license plate “51237” (Carlin’s birthday), in the animated feature Cars.Once, when LennyBruce was arrested for obscenity, Carlin was arrested alongside him.
Next, Parade Classic: Johnny Carson’s Favorite Jokes
