Early Video Tape Delay + The 7 Forbidden Words…<\/p>\n
When certain “blue humor”comedians and “colorful personalities” were on live network shows, producers would sometime hedge their bets with a 6 second tape delay and this is how they did it.<\/p>\n
Until sometime in the mid 1960s, this is the way you got a 6 second delay for live television events. As shown here, you would have recorded on the left machine, threaded the tape over a few homemade spindles and play it back on the machine on the right for air. In case of a blooper, the director cut to live action before the image got over to the playback head and pray there are no more till you can get to a station break and re sync.<\/p>\n
George Carlin’s famous ‘7 Dirty Words’ sketch was first performed in concert May 27, 1972 for his “Class Clown” album. A few years ago, Carlin discussed this in an interview for the Emmy TV Legends bio series. The 4 minute XXX rated clip is below. The famous list is at 2:57, but even though not of the faint of heart, Carlin’s perspective as a true wordsmith, and context is fantastic as always.<\/p>\n