I started in radio in 1956 in Shreveport. After a brief time in Boston, I moved to Fort Worth to work as a deejay at KXOL 1360, where I had a seven-to-midnight show. One day a friend of mine named Jack Burns showed up; he was on his way to Hollywood, but his car had broken down. Someone had left the news department the day before, so he got a job as my nighttime newsman. We became roommates and started hanging around this coffeehouse downtown called the Cellar, where we did little routines. They were kind of dirty and irreverent, but because we weren’t getting paid, it was okay. On the nights we didn’t go out, we would watch The Jack Paar Show. We would sit around in our underwear drinking beer and ad-lib interviews, saying these filthy things and pretending we were on with Jack Paar. But in October of that year, 1960, we were guests on that show. That’s how fast things can happen.
Comedian George Carlin lived in Fort Worth for about six months, starting in 1959. He has recorded eighteen albums, appeared in numerous movies and television shows, and recently wrote a best-selling book, Brain Droppings (Hyperion). His new box set, George Carlin: The Little David Years, is in stores now.
