SEVEN DIRTY WORDS The Life and Crimes of George Carlin By James Sullivan

George Carlin in the '60s.

George Carlin died two years ago, on June 22, 2008, a dark day for those  who sought regular injections of his word-drunk, reflexively anti-authoritarian humor. Carlin has already had a busy afterlife. His “sortabiography,” “Last Words,” written with Tony Hendra, was published last year and was a better, chewier, more touching book than it had any right to be. On the horizon is an oral history, compiled by his daughter, Kelly Carlin McCall. George Carlin: he’s hot, he’s sexy, and he’s dead.

In the meantime we have “Seven Dirty Words: The Life and Crimes of George Carlin,” a biography from the entertainment journalist James Sullivan. It’s a banty-weight book, thinly sourced. Its wordplay is more John Davidson than Bob Dylan. But it fills in and complicates our mental image of Carlin, and it isn’t long or distinctive enough to genuinely dislike.
By DWIGHT GARNER/continue reading