HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Comedian George Carlin, whose cutting-edge routines on drugs, politics and humanity provided laughter to audiences for several decades, died of heart failure Sunday in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 71.
Carlin, who had a history of heart problems, was admitted to St. John's Health Center on Sunday afternoon after complaining of chest pain. He died around about 6 p.m. PDT.
The New York City native's final performance was last weekend at the Orleans Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas.
"He was a genius and I will miss him dearly," Jack Burns, who performed alongside Carlin in the early 1960s, told The Associated Press.
"He had an amazing mind, and his humor was brave, and always challenging us to look at ourselves and question our belief systems, while being incredibly entertaining. He was one of the greats," actor Ben Stiller added to AP.
Carlin is perhaps best known for being arrested on July 21, 1972 at Milwaukee's Summerfest, where he was charged with violating obscenity laws after performing his routine, "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television."
When the words were later played on a New York radio station, they resulted in a 1978 Supreme Court ruling upholding the government's authority to sanction stations for broadcasting offensive language during hours when children might be listening.
"So my name is a footnote in American legal history, which I'm perversely kind of proud of," he told AP earlier this year.
In 1975, Carlin became the first person to host "Saturday Night Live." He was also a frequent performer and guest host on "The Tonight Show" during the three-decade Johnny Carson era.
Over the course of his career, which includes four Grammy Awards, Carlin produced 23 comedy albums and had 14 HBO specials, in addition to writing three books and making several TV and film appearances.
Just last week, it was announced that Carlin was being awarded the 11th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, which will be presented Nov. 10 in Washington.
"Why do they lock gas station bathrooms?" Carlin once pondered. "Are they afraid someone will clean them?"
"Nobody was funnier than George Carlin," Judd Apatow, director of such hit films as "Knocked Up" and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," told AP. "I spent half my childhood in my room listening to his records experiencing pure joy. And he was as kind as he was funny."
Carlin is survived by his wife Sally Wade, daughter Kelly Carlin McCall, son-in-law Bob McCall, brother Patrick Carlin, and sister-in-law Marlene Carlin. His first wife, Brenda, whom he married in 1961, died of liver cancer a day before Carlin's 60th birthday in 1997.
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