Carlin of the '60s

In the 1960s, after a two-year stint in a comedy team with Jack Burns, a clean-shaven Carlin developed a squeaky-clean act that just barely poked fun at the times (like as with his character the hippie-dippie weatherman). It earned him multiple spots on Merv Griffin's and Ed Sullivan's shows, as well as The Tonight Show, but as the '60s progressed, he became more liberal and intrigued by the countercultural views of the day and grew frustrated at how his apolitical act clashed with his personal politics. —Josh Wolk