George Carlin, Comic Who Chafed at Society and Its Constraints, Dies at 71

I remember seeing Carlin on the Johnny Carson Show numerous times, perhaps even when he still wore a jacket and tie.

“By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth,” read a message on Mr. Carlin’s Web site, GeorgeCarlin.com, and he spent much of his life in a fervent effort to counteract the forces that would have it so. In his always irreverent, often furious social commentary, in his observations of the absurdities of everyday life and language, and in groundbreaking routines like the profane “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television,” he took aim at what he thought of as the palliating and obfuscating agents of American life — politicians, advertisements, religion, the media and conventional thinking of all stripes.

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NBC, via Associated Press

George Carlin served as host of the "Saturday Night Live" debut in 1975. More Photos »

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George Carlin, 1937-2008

I had lost my taste for him, and never had HBO, but I do remember him fondly.