Class Clown is the third comedy album released by United States comedian George Carlin. It was recorded May 27, 1972 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California, and released in September.
At the time he was relatively well-known for tame satirical routines about the entertainment industry. His previous album FM & AM released the same year, showed that he was already drifting towards counter-culture icon, but Class Clown proved a landmark. Besides musings about his youth, the album featured strongly directed remarks against the Vietnam War and his attachment to taboo topics. The highlight of the album is easily the concise "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television", which became the focus of government harassment in the year that followed, and, perhaps not coincidentally, Carlin's most famous calling card. Class Clown is often regarded as one of Carlin's best works to date by his fanbase.
Class Clown was reissued by Atlantic Records in 2000.
