George Carlin, RIP

Waking up this morning, I saw a story on Salon about the death of George Carlin. Now, I've never been a huge Carlin fan, but I appreciated his work. I must admit, though, I thought it a cruel joke. It was not.

From Reuters: Comedian George Carlin, a counter-culture hero famed for his routines about drugs, dirty words and the demise of humanity, died of heart failure at a Los Angeles-area hospital on Sunday. He was 71. Carlin, who had a history of heart and drug-dependency problems, died at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica about 6 p.m. PDT (9 p.m. EDT) after being admitted earlier in the afternoon for chest pains, spokesman Jeff Abraham told Reuters.

From Entertainment Weekly: George Carlin, the famously acerbic stand-up comedian, has died. The pioneering entertainer succumbed to heart failure in Santa Monica, Calif., on Sunday, at age 71. Carlin, who began making TV appearances in the 1960s with a conventional comedy act, emerged in the 1970s with a style much more reflective of the times, pushing into more sensitive areas of social observation and language, a favorite topic of his over the years. Most notably, his recorded routine ''Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television'' became the center of a landmark Supreme Court case.

Just last week, Paul Oates and Doug Young were talking about George Carlin receiving some comedy award and how it would be strange to see him in a suit. It will be even stranger to no longer see him.