George Carlin was my comic hero.

Today has marked the end of the life of the greatest American stand-up comedian who has ever lived. George Carlin has left this earth, gone forever. Taken from the public after fifty years of making us not only laugh, but think.

It was late last evening that I was having a rather ordinary evening. After browsing onto Fark.com, I saw the headline that George Carlin had died of heart failure at age 71. The first words out of my mouth were “Oh, no.” I sat in my chair, stunned. I stared at the screen blankly, unable to conjure up any words. I spent the rest of the night looking over every article I could, trying to make sense of it. It was so terrible to lose such a beloved icon.

Like so many others today, I'm well aware that my words may go widely unnoticed. I know that my tribute may fade away, just become another piece no one reads. Yet, like all those same people, I have the need to express myself because I feel so strongly and so passionately about this man's work.

The first Carlin CD I ever  heard was his debut solo album, Take Offs and Put Ons, which debuted in 1967. This was, of course, before Carlin became known as “the dean of counter-culture comics,” but what I heard of him was funny, and I knew this guy had something special. As I kept going through his career, all the way up to the most recent release at the time, which was Jammin' in New York, Carlin's work kept getting better. It made me laugh as much as it made me think.

It was George Carlin that helped turn me into something of a cynic about a few things early on, but he also taught me to open up my eyes and question everything that was put in front of me, and to not just blindly accept everything that I was told. It was George Carlin that helped me develop a sense of biting wit that carried me through the tougher years of my high school and college days. It was George Carlin that led me to the counter-culture and more free-thinking websites, people, and ideas.

And it was George Carlin, more than any other comic, that made me want to become a stand-up comedian.

And now, he's gone.

There will be many, many arguments as to who the greatest of all time is: Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Steve Martin, Bill Cosby, Chris Rock, and countless others. But for my money, George Carlin is, and forever will be, the greatest American stand-up comedian who has ever lived. George is the fucking man, and I will argue it to my grave. There will never be another George Carlin, for he had a style and an attitude all his own. He has this incredible charisma and on-stage presence that made him an irrefutable comic legend. I always said that I wanted to be one of the best stand-up comics of our time, because I know that I will never be as great, as utterly awe-inspiring and thought-provoking, as George Carlin was. And the world is a worse place now that he's dead.

You were the best, sir. Thank you.