I grew up listening to his records, and as a young teenager, I was somehow or other able to talk my conservative father, who used to work in NY, into taking me to one of his "concerts" at City Center. I was young, and not particularly sophisticated, but I laughed at that performance until tears came from my eyes. Some years after that, during the early to mid-80's, Carlin seemed to decline and lose his righteous comedic fury, his routines becoming a bit less acerbic and confrontational, and he began to sound somewhat like an over-the-hill counterculture version of Bill Cosby. I've read since that he had a lot of problems with cocaine during that period and the drug excess may account for it. Later on, he seemed to get his life and his comedy back on track, and the last routines I saw him do on cable-TV once again brought tears of laughter to my eyes. In some ways, he was the modern era's version of Mark Twain, the writer and satirist whose award he may posthumously receive, only funnier. I didn't agree with every pronouncement or judgment he made, didn't feel that every "Sacred Cow" he skewered was worthy of skewering, or laugh at every routine he did, but he will most definitely be missed, especially in this era where the likes of Adam Sandler and Carlos Mencia and Carrot-top can pass themselves off as "comedians". R.I.P., George.