May 12, 1937

New York, New York, USA

Born in New York City, George Carlin grew up on West 121st Street, in a neighborhood of Manhattan which he later said he and his friends called "White Harlem", because that sounded a lot tougher than its real name, "Morningside Heights". He was raised by his mother, who left his father when he was two years old. At age 14, Carlin dropped out of high school and later joined the United States Air Force, training as a radar technician. He was stationed at Barksdale AFB in Bossier City, Louisiana. D... ... (read more...) uring this time he began working as a disc jockey on KJOE, a radio station based in the nearby city of Shreveport. He did not complete his Air Force enlistment. Labelled an "unproductive airman" by his superiors, Carlin was discharged on July 29, 1957.
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At the age of 18, he and Jack Burns, a new announcer at the station, assembled a comedy routine and began booking nightclubs. Soon the act broke up, but Carlin continued to work as a stand-up comic.
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In the 1960s, Carlin began appearing on television variety shows, notably Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.