''Class Clown'' is the fourth album released by American comedian

George Carlin George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American comedian, actor, author, and social critic. Regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of countercu ...

. It was recorded on May 27, 1972 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing t ...

, and released in September.

Background

At the time Carlin was relatively well known for tame satirical routines about the entertainment industry. His previous album '' FM & AM'' released the same year, showed that he was already drifting towards

counter-culture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Hou ...

icon, but ''Class Clown'' was a landmark. Besides musings about his youth, the album featured strongly directed remarks against the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

and his attachment to taboo topics. The album contains " Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television", which became the focus of government harassment in the year that followed, and perhaps Carlin's most famous calling card. Carlin continued to explore the use of

profanity Profanity, also known as cursing, cussing, swearing, bad language, foul language, obscenities, expletives or vulgarism, is a socially offensive use of language. Accordingly, profanity is language use that is sometimes deemed impolite, rud ...

for the rest of his career. The album marks the first time Carlin used the word "fuck" in any of his recordings. In the liner notes, Carlin dedicates the album to Lenny Bruce, "for taking all the risks". He also lists all the nuns and priests that worked at Corpus Christi School which he had attended as a child, and who are spoken of at length through the album. In a 2004 appearance on ''

Inside the Actors Studio ''Inside the Actors Studio'' is an American talk show that airs on Ovation. The series premiered in 1994 on Bravo where it aired for 22 seasons and was hosted by James Lipton from its premiere until 2018. It is taped at the Michael Schimmel C ...

'' (episode 1013), Carlin explained that, "I wanted people to know that the disrespect that I had for the dogmatic aspect, and for the inconsistency, and in a lot of cases the cruelty of Catholic doctrine, was tempered with an affection and a gratitude that I had for this wonderful setting that I considered like a garden, where they let me grow, be a creative person and think for myself there, so I kind of wanted to kind of illustrate that, and go, thanks and no thanks".

Release and reception

Reviewing the record in 1973 for '' Newsday'', Robert Christgau found Carlin's humor "organic" and wrote, "Like

Bill Cosby William Henry Cosby Jr. ( ; born July 12, 1937) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and media personality. He made significant contributions to American and African-American culture, and is well known in the United States for his eccentric ...

, Carlin seems genuinely good-natured—his takeoffs on his old parochial school buddies are affectionate and respectful. This is probably why his political humor tends to go a little flat—he can't muster the sustained hostility it requires." ''Class Clown'' was reissued by Atlantic Records in 2000. It was also included as part of the 1992 ''

Classic Gold Classic Gold was a network of three "Gold" music formatted stations which broadcast on AM in Bradford, Hull and Sheffield. They were the sister stations of Pennine Radio, Viking Radio and Radio Hallam respectively and they were part of the Yo ...

'' collection, and '' The Little David Years (1971–1977)'' box set in 1999. In 2016, the album was selected for preservation in the

National Recording Registry The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservati ...

due to its "cultural, historic, or artistic significance."

Track listing

All tracks by

Side one

#"Class Clown: (a) Bi-Labial Fricative (b) Attracting Attention (c) Squeamish" - 16:06 #"Wasted Time - Sharing a Swallow" - 2:27 #"Values (How Much Is That Dog Crap in the Window?)" - 5:16

Side two

#"I Used to Be Irish Catholic" - 2:57 #"The Confessional" - 4:12 #"Special Dispensation - Heaven, Hell, Purgatory and Limbo" - 3:41 #"Heavy Mysteries" - 1:59 #"Muhammad Ali - America the Beautiful" - 4:35 #" Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television" - 7:03

Personnel

*Peter Abbott -

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remixing A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

*Barry Feinstein -

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, production design

References

{{Authority control George Carlin live albums Stand-up comedy albums Spoken word albums by American artists Live spoken word albums 1972 live albums 1970s comedy albums United States National Recording Registry recordings Little David Records live albums Albums recorded at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium United States National Recording Registry albums