George Carlin hosted the very first episode of SNL on Oct. 11, 1975. NBC will honor him by airing that premiere episode this weekend while HBO plans on playing specials of more than 30 years of his comedy shows starting this week.

Mr. Carlin's SNL episode featured the “Not Ready for Primetime Players,” including Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin and Gilda Radner. Musical guests were Janis Ian and Billy Preston, and Andy Kaufman made an appearance too.

According to a transcript of the show available here, Mr. Carlin "wanted to wear a T-shirt, but the network wanted him to wear a suit.  read more »

In August 1941, four-year-old George Carlin moved with his family into an apartment at 519 West 121st Street, at the top of a hill in Morningside Heights right across the street from the back of Columbia's Teachers College.

"Would live there 25 years," reads the timeline at GeorgeCarlin.com. "First everything occurs here: sex, drugs, rhythm & blues."

Columbia now owns the six-story building and rents it to students.

Grammy Award-winning comedian George Carlin died of heart failure yesterday in Santa Monica, Calif. at the age of 71. According to reports, Mr. Carlin had a history of heart problems, and had checked into the hospital Sunday afternoon after complaining of chest pains. He had just performed the previous weekend in Las Vegas, and was scheduled to receive the John F. Kennedy Center For the Performing Arts' Mark Twain Prize, a lifetime achievement award, in November.  read more »

Newspapers today remembered Mr. Carlin as a cultural provocateur. "By the mid-’70s, like his comic predecessor Lenny Bruce and the fast-rising Richard Pryor, Mr. Carlin had emerged as a cultural renegade," ]]> http://www.observer.com/2008/george-carlin-dead-71-0#comments Arts & Culture George Carlin Mon, 23 Jun 2008 09:38:50 -0400 Joe Pompeo 71047 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/2007/aristocrats-guy-gets-racy-six-figure-comedy-book-deal

The guys that brought you The Aristocrats, the movie where more than a dozen comics delivered versions of the oldest, dirtiest joke on the Hollywood comedy circuit, have just signed a six-figure deal for a book that will interview salty comics about controversial topics.

!Satiristas¡ will be written by Paul Provenza with photographer Dan Dion, the house photographer at the Fillmore Auditorium.

Matt Thornton at Publishers Weekly writes:

In the book, comedians George Carlin, Lewis Black, Janeane Garofalo, Sarah Silverman and others will sound off on everything from race to religion, politics to pornography.

There's talk of a concert tour based on the book.

• Publishers Weekly