MANHATTAN — A countercultural icon got a street named after him.
The late, great George Carlin, whose scathing humor poked holes in society, religion and politics for half a century, will be memorialized on a street sign on West 121st Street between Broadway and Morningside Drive, after the the City Council voted unanimously to co-name the stretch “George Carlin Way."
Getting the street named after Carlin, who grew up on the block, was the subject of nearly three year push by standup comedian Kevin Bartini.
“This marks the triumphant conclusion of a three year process,” Bartini, who warms up audiences for “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” said in an email Monday. He added that he plans to speak on Carlin's behalf at City Hall in mid-July before Mayor Bill de Blasio signs the co-naming bill into law.
More than 8,500 people signed an online petition on Change.org in support of the naming.
“George Carlin, brilliant and prolific comedian lived and went to school on this street,” the petition read. “He loved this street and crafted many of his most famous routines around it.”
Carlin died in 2008 at 71.
He grew up on the block between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue and said in an early 1970s bit that he and his friends referred to the neighborhood as “White Harlem” because it sounded tougher than Morningside Heights.
