On January 25, 1969, George Carlin appeared on The Jackie Gleason Show. The main focus of his act was broadcasts that don’t get nominated at the Emmy Awards, such as the test pattern and the FBI’s list of wanted men. Carlin then went into an impression of then-FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, whom he portrays as a hack comedian. “Did you hear the one about the two guys who were planning to rob the bank? So did we. We put ‘em in jail,” he jokes. Take a look for yourself right here.
As ridiculous as it may sound, it was that relatively tame impression that earned Carlin his very own FBI file. Contained within its 12 pages are a couple of letters from outraged viewers informing the bureau that Carlin made some jokes at the director’s expense. The first letter prompted Hoover to send out an internal memo asking, “What do we know of Carlin?” Evidently, they didn’t find much, though, because there’s also a note that mentions that the bureau had “no data concerning Carlin.”
“Which kind of disappoints me,” Carlin’s daughter, Kelly, told the Associated Press in 2009. “It doesn’t really cover any of his more radical 1970s stuff.” However, with regard to his Jackie Gleason Show bit, one memo, which refers to Carlin as an “alleged comedian,” says the following: “His treatment was in very poor taste and it was obvious that he was using the prestige of the bureau and Mr. Hoover to enhance his performance.” On top of that, the memo suggests that thank-you letters should be sent to the people who wrote in with their complaints.
Interestingly, Carlin performed the same routine on The Carol Burnett Show on November 24, 1969, and the FBI once again received a complaint about his Hoover impression. This time around, Hoover personally thanked one of the concerned citizens who brought the matter to his attention. “It’s always good to know we have the support of such staunch friends as you,” he wrote. You can check out the offending rendition that inspired Hoover’s thank-you note below.
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