Edgy, rebellious comedian George Carlin died yesterday of a heart attack at age 71. I was a fan of his but I have to admit, he's about as far from Mayberry as you can get. But you might be surprised to know he has a two-degree connection to our favorite fictional North Carolina town.
Earlier in his career, before he saw Lenny Bruce and decided to make his humor edgier, Carlin had wanted to do gentle, more family-friendly humor, and was one-half of a comedy team. He and the other guy appeared in nightclubs and made their TV debut on Jack Paar's "Tonight Show" before Carlin broke off and went his own direction. The two met while they were in radio in Texas and they were known as Burns and Carlin. The partner was none other than Jack Burns...yep, *that* Jack Burns, the same man who brought Floyd's nephew, Deputy Warren Ferguson, to life on "The Andy Griffith Show." By then Burns had parted ways with Carlin for about three years while Carlin was guest-appearing on TV variety shows as the "Hippy Dippy Weatherman." Dixon _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list [email protected] http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
