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This Week with George Stephanopoulos marks the passing of pioneer comedian George Carlin, fast food entrepreneur Wilbur Hardee and costume designer Kermit Love as well as 20 service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

According to icasualties.org, the total casualty count for Iraq is now 4,427 and per IBC, there were 178 Iraqi civilians killed during that same time period.

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Cunning linguist and social satirist George Carlin, who had a history of heart and drug problems, died at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California shortly after being admitted with chest pains around 6 pm PDT.

Carlin made world news in 1978 when, in the case of FCC vs. Pacifica Foundation the top court ruled that seven words cited in Carlin’s routine were indeed indecent and should be banned when children might be listening. The words came from his routine, “Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television.” Carlin received 2 Emmys for his albums “FM&AM” and “Jammin’ in New York.”

The first true bust-out comic of the counter-culture, Carlin knowingly or unknowingly, was an amalgam of two social comic legends: Lenny Bruce and Mort Sahl. With the death of the former in 1966 and the generation gap wounding the latter, Carlin after re-inventing himself with drugs, a political point of view and a pony tail, had the field of political/social comedy all to himself. By the time his breakthrough album “Class Clown” was recorded live at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in 1972, featuring the previously mentioned “7 Words”, Carlin was a rock star.

According to Carlin, he was conceived at Curley’s Hotel in Rockaway Beach, New York. He was born May 12th, 1937.
He was raised for 25 years at 519 W. 121st Street in upper Manhattan and took in everything the neighborhood had to offer. And it had everything.

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(Not work safe) George Carlin drops an f bomb, makes some not-so-family-friendly jokes, and re voting does not represent the opinions of Crooks and Liars, the left-wing blogosphere, its advertisers, affiliates, or corporate overlords. (heh)

But the man sure is funny.

On topic check out Omnipotent Poobah's "The Seven Dirty Words Live On." And I just found out George Carlin will have an HBO comedy special on March 1. (h/t Konagod)

Open Thread below...

Researched and compiled by Mark Groubert

This is it. Finally, the Official Crooks and Liars Top 100 Stand-up Comedians of all time. Let's face it, whether you're David Letterman or Oskar Schindler, everyone loves lists. While highly subjective, this list has been scientifically vetted by recently deceased members of the Friar's Club for accuracy and fairness. There is no wiggle room. This is the official list. Anyone thinking otherwise is of course in error but can explain their massive feelings in the comments section. (Please remember to keep all comments to ten words or less so more can vent.)

]John Amato: There are videos hyperlinked to each name so that you can see a small performance of as many of the great stand-ups as we could find. (language alert) Have fun--agree or disagree, but sit down for a few minutes and enjoy a laugh with us.

1. Lenny Bruce
2. Richard Pryor
3. Woody Allen
4. Mort Sahl
5. Buddy Hackett
6. George Carlin
7. Eddie Murphy
8. Richard Lewis
9. Robin Williams
10. Rodney Dangerfield

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All-Star Salute to Mort Sahl

Albert Brooks was furious last Thursday night "and angry. And I'm confused. I don't know the people that produced this show at all. But I would strongly suggest that when they do an event like this again, they spend a little extra money and hire a real publicity firm to disseminate the information correctly. I was told that Mort Sahl passed away. So you can imagine my shock, my dismay, and quite frankly my disappointment, when I arrived here this evening and saw him standing there."

Despite having learned otherwise Brooks decided to read the "eulogy" he had written for Mort Sahl, who was at that moment looking up at him with a smirk from the second row of the Wadsworth Theatre near the campus of UCLA in Brentwood, CA.

This was same Mort Sahl who could always pull a politically pithy quote seemingly out of nowhere (or possibly out of the prop newspaper he kept under his arm as he performed). Here's and old favorite:

"Liberals feel unworthy of their possessions. Conservatives feel they deserve everything they've stolen."

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Sen. Ted Stevens, the influential chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation, has indicated that Internet decency regulations could be inserted into legislation that was originally intended to boost fines for off-color radio and TV broadcasts...read on

3 martini has much more.

It's getting ridiculous. Pretty soon George Carlin's seven dirty words will be expanded to most of the dictionary or whatever chairmen Stevens thinks is offensive to him.

Comedian seeks treatment for dependency on wine, painkiller [MSNBC, article no longer posted]

LOS ANGELES - George Carlin is entering a drug rehabilitation facility to shake his dependence on wine and a painkiller. I’m going into rehab because I use too much wine and Vicodin,” the 67-year-old Carlin said in a statement released Monday by his publicist, Jeff Abraham. “No one told me I needed this. I recognized the problem and took the step myself.”

Good luck George!