How did George Carlin change his public image at the end of the 1960s?

At the end of the 1960s, George Carlin underwent a significant transformation to reinvent himself as the comedic voice of the counterculture. Previously known as a successful, relatively straitlaced comedian who performed whimsical routines and parodies of television commercials and game shows, Carlin abandoned mainstream nightclubs to adopt a new, provocative persona.12

As part of this shift, he grew his hair and beard long and began focusing his material on skewering middle-class hypocrisy, war culture, and his own Catholic upbringing. This transition led to his development of more incisive, antiestablishment humor, most notably his famous routine analyzing the "seven words you can never say on television," which helped establish him as a major icon in stand-up comedy.12