George Denis Patrick Carlin was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic and author. Regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comics of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of counterculture comedians". He was known for his dark comedy and reflections on politics, the English language, psychology, religion, and taboo subjects. His "seven dirty words" routine was central to the 1978 United States Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, in which a 5–4 decision affirmed the government's power to censor indecent material on the public airwaves.
Pacifica Foundation is an American left-wing non-profit organization that owns five independently operated, non-commercial, listener-supported radio stations known for their progressive/liberal political orientation. Its national headquarters adjoins station KPFA in Berkeley, California.
A shtick is a comic theme or gimmick. The word entered the English language from the Yiddish shtik (שטיק), in turn derived from German Stück and Polish sztuka, all meaning "piece" or "thing".
The seven dirty words are seven English-language curse words that American comedian George Carlin first listed in his 1972 "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television" monologue. The words, in the order Carlin listed them, are "shit", "piss", "fuck", "cunt", "cocksucker", "motherfucker", and "tits".
Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, 521 U.S. 844 (1997), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court unanimously ruling that anti-indecency provisions of the 1996 Communications Decency Act (CDA) violated the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech. Two Justices concurred in part and dissented in part to the decision. This was the first major Supreme Court ruling on the regulation of materials distributed via the Internet.
Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U.S. 726 (1978), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court that defined the power of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over indecent material as applied to broadcasting.
The halftime show at Super Bowl XXXVIII, which was broadcast live on February 1, 2004 from Houston, Texas on the CBS television network, is notable for a moment in which Janet Jackson's breast – adorned with a nipple shield – was exposed by Justin Timberlake to the viewing public for approximately half a second. The incident, sometimes referred to as Nipplegate, led to an immediate crackdown and widespread debate on perceived indecency in broadcasting.
WBAI, is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station licensed to New York City. Its programming is a mixture of political news, talk and opinion from a left-leaning, liberal or progressive viewpoint, and eclectic music. The station is owned by the Pacifica Foundation with studios located at 388 Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn and transmitter located at 4 Times Square.
Complaints and Grievances is the 17th album and twelfth HBO stand-up special by comedian George Carlin. Its working title was I Kinda Like It When a Lot of People Die, but it was renamed following the September 11, 2001 attacks. Another possible title was The Great American Cattle Drive, according to Carlin during an interview with Coast to Coast AM in 1999.
Class Clown is the fourth album released by American comedian George Carlin. It was recorded on May 27, 1972 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California, and released in September.
The Little David Years (1971–1977) is a box set by American comedian George Carlin. It consists of his six albums recorded with the Little David record label, with an additional CD of previously unreleased bonus material, including "The Coney Island recordings"; a recording he made as a child. This seven-disc set was released on October 19, 1999 on the Atlantic Records label.
Classic Gold is an album by American comedian George Carlin, released on October 27, 1992, on Atlantic Records. It contains the comedian's first three gold albums in their entirety: FM & AM, Class Clown and Occupation: Foole.
George Carlin: Again! is American comedian George Carlin's second HBO stand-up television special. It was filmed in the round in 1978 at The Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona. The show was first broadcast on July 23, 1978.
Carlin at Carnegie is George Carlin's third special to be seen on HBO, recorded at Carnegie Hall, New York City in 1982, released in 1983. Most of the material comes from A Place for My Stuff, his ninth album released earlier that same year. Unlike the first two, this special was edited down to an hour and routines from the same show like "A Place for My Stuff" and "Baseball and Football" do not appear in this special. The performance of "Seven Dirty Words," his last recorded performance of the routine, features Carlin's updated list of inappropriate words.
Federal Communications Commission v. Fox Television Stations, Inc., 556 U.S. 502 (2009), is a decision by the United States Supreme Court that upheld regulations of the Federal Communications Commission that ban "fleeting expletives" on television broadcasts, finding they were not arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act. The constitutional issue, however, was not resolved and was remanded to the Second Circuit and re-appealed to the Supreme Court for a decision in June 2012.
Between 1990 and 2004, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued fines totalling $2.5 million to radio licensees for airing material it deemed indecent from The Howard Stern Show, the highest amount of any American radio show. The Supreme Court had provided broadcasting guidelines for indecent material in its 1978 ruling in its landmark decision, in which the court prohibited the "seven dirty words" made famous by comedian George Carlin. The FCC had received complaints about Howard Stern as early as 1981, but its limited power at the time prevented further action taking place.
Federal Communications Commission v. Fox Television Stations, Inc., 567 U.S. 239 (2012), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States regarding whether the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's scheme for regulating speech is unconstitutionally vague. The Supreme Court excused the broadcasters from paying fines levied for what the FCC had determined indecency, in a majority opinion delivered by Justice Anthony Kennedy. The Supreme Court had previously issued an opinion in the case in 2009 addressing the nature of the fine itself, without addressing the restriction on indecent speech.
Although freedom of the press is guaranteed by the United States Constitution, it is not absolute. The government has the right to control or censor broadcasting on the grounds of national security and to prevent offense. This was specifically demonstrated on December 19, 1941, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Office of Censorship days before the United States officially entered World War II. This agency had broad powers, including the right to shut down offending radio stations. A Supreme Court ruling underscored the right of the state to override the First Amendment guarantees against prior restraint such as the reporting on troop movements and other military activities if it constitutes "clear and present danger" to U.S. national security.
Shinola is a defunct American brand of shoe polish. The Shinola Company, founded in Rochester, New York in 1877 as the American Chemical Manufacturing and Mining Company, produced the polish under a sequence of different owners until 1960. It was popular during the first half of the 20th century and entered the American lexicon in the phrase, "You don't know shit from Shinola," meaning to be ignorant. The brand name was acquired by the retail company Shinola in 2011.
Actionable indecency is a legal doctrine held by the Federal Communications Commission since the 1978 FCC vs. Pacifica case, that broadcast speech can be regulated even if it does not contain the seven dirty words deemed "indecent".
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