[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1uaw3WIOlc&hl=en&w=425&h=344]

"What if there were no hypothetical questions?" - George Carlin

I was a young, innocent thirteen year old and he was the funniest thing I had ever heard. My siblings and I (along with Teddy and Nancy Rhodes) sat in the dark paneled basement of our home on Preston Drive, eating pizza and drinking root beer as we listened to FM/AM on the phonograph. We laughed until we cried, 'til our faces hurt.  Laughed so hard we spit soda out of places soda should never come out of.

Over and over we played that album.  Wore out many a needle on the Westinghouse phonograph memorizing the bits, one after another so that we could repeat them, albeit cautiously, on those long car rides into New York City to visit Grandma and Grandpa.  What if Mom and Dad heard us?  There was something exciting about his comedy in a slightly dangerous sort of way. 

He was equal parts irreverent, brilliant, caustic, political, insightful, creative, angry, and very, very funny. He said things you never dared say in suburbia, especially not when anyone was listening.  He pushed the envelope.  Got a reaction.  Criticized authority.  Challenged beliefs.  Made you think...and laugh.  Whether you liked him or not, George Carlin changed the face of comedy. And now he too is gone.

Another reminder that time marches on.

More George Carlin wisdom here.