LOS ANGELES — George Carlin spent decades pushing the bounds of free speech by saying the seven words you can never say on television, but not one of them made it into an FBI file on him.
Among the 12 pages in a file recently released by Carlin’s family are two letters from citizens who complained that the comedian had made fun of the FBI and its director, J. Edgar Hoover, during TV appearances in 1969 and 1970.
There’s also a letter from Hoover himself thanking one of the critics, and an internal FBI memo that quotes the director as asking: “What do we know of Carlin?” Not much, as it turned out. The memo notes the FBI has “no data concerning Carlin” other than the two letters from his critics. Carlin died in June at age 71. The Associated Press
