Comedy Central Insider Blog

George Carlin is known for his strong political views, taking a particularly strong stance against Reagan in his 1988 HBO special George Carlin: What Am I Doing in New Jersey. So it might come as a surprise to some that the long-haired comedian was once a conservative Republican.

In the new Carlin autobiography Last Words, it's revealed that Carlin's views changed from his early years. Punchline interviewed Carlin's daughter Kelly Carlin, and she had this to say on the matter:

I had known that [Carlin’s former comedy partner] Jack Burns converted him, quote, unquote, but I didn’t know that he just…I guess, I didn’t think he really cared. If you take on your parents’ politics, it’s because you haven’t thought about it yet in some ways. Clearly, Jack’s conversion of him – he didn’t have to wrestle him to the ground or anything. He had a few pot-and-beer-induced deep conversations with my dad, and my dad’s a smart person and clearly a light went off in his head. But, yeah, the shocking reality of this McCarthy Republican, it’s like, “What?!” I love that. I think that makes him all the more human to the world.

So, there you have it. Carlin was once a young Republican. It's not that surprising. After all, doesn't everyone's outlook change drastically from what they believed in high school and college? At least, smart people's opinions change.

After the jump, we use sophisticated computer technology to depict what George Carlin probably would look like as a Republican.

"Hurry up taking my picture. I'm having lunch with Elvis and Nixon in twenty minutes."

"Who? Me? A Republican? Absurd! That's almost as absurd as when Gore Vidal called William F. Buckley a crypto-Nazi."

"You know what are the real seven dirty words? 'I'm sane yet I voted for Kennedy.'"

"Come on, guys. I'm about as conservative as Ted Nugent or Dennis Hopper."