The Hippy Dippy Weatherman was a staple of George Carlin’s act until he re-invented himself in the early 1970s
On a Wednesday night in June of 1971, a long-haired, tie-die-shirt-wearing, bearded George Carlin, opened for folk singer, Tom Paxton at the Main Point, in Bryn Mawr.
The George Carlin who entertained on Lancaster Avenue that night, had metamorphized from a persona seen by an audience of tens-of-millions, on the Ed Sullivan Show – less than a year-and-a-half earlier.
For his February 8, 1970, six-minute set on CBS, Carlin wore period-appropriate sideburns, but was otherwise clean-shaven – a look that co-ordinated with his double-breasted, wide-lapelled jacket, and tie. You might describe his appearance then as “Carnaby Street Light.”
His Sullivan Show material was as Mainstream as his appearance. Carlin made funny faces and told jokes about soap operas and TV game shows. There was nothing “Counter-Culture” about him that night, at all.
But by June 30, 1971, the approximately 200 in attendance at the Main Point (that he brought to a rarely seen level of uncontrolled laughter) saw and heard nothing but the new “Coffee-House” version of George Carlin.
Instead of “The Hippy Dippy Weatherman,” he was making jokes (somehow) about Viet Nam, Drugs and Uptight American Culture – topics that 1971 Main Point audience was able to relate to, painfully well.
Carlin took a large but brief financial hit as a result of his self re-invention. But not long after his relegation to being Tom Paxton’s opening act, the comedian was selling out large venues on college campuses. His 1972 album, “FM & AM” was on Billboard’s pop charts for months. And by the time Saturday Night Live premiered on October 11, 1975, producer Lorne Michaels was tapping George Carlin to host the show.
George Carlin talks about drugs on the Dick Cavett Show, March 30, 1972
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