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... In 1972 ... between [his wife] Brenda’s drinking, his pot use, and their mutual dependence on cocaine, the couple began a death spiral.
By 1974, both were suffering from hallucinations. Brenda would see groups of nonexistent people on their roof, and once tried to stab George with a sword because she didn’t know who he was.
On one Hawaiian vacation, the pair brandished knives at each other in front of their 10-year-old daughter Kelly. The sobbing young girl made them sign a contract swearing to shun pot and coke, which they signed but did not honor.
When they returned, the difference between the sun’s appearance in Hawaii and California convinced Carlin that it had exploded. He rushed his family out onto the lawn, screaming that the world would end in eight minutes, before reason finally prevailed.
The couple cleaned up soon after, but Carlin lost his comedic edge. His career tanked, and thanks to his years of drugged oblivion, he owed the IRS millions.
As his fortunes neared bottom, a man named Jerry Hamza became his manager, and developed a plan for Carlin to come back as someone with “a permanent place in comedy.”
Hamza’s plan succeeded wildly, and he would remain Carlin’s manager and best friend until Carlin’s death last June...
-- from a New York Post review of the Carlin memoir, "Last Words".
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Who says mere men of business do no good?
link, posted at 1:57 AM
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