George Carlin Estate Files Lawsuit Against AI-Generated Comedy Special

Earlier this month saw the release of  “George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead!”, an AI-generated comedy special alleging what the late comedian might have said about modern topics. The family of George Carlin responded with a scathing statement at the time but have now filed a lawsuit against the company behind Dudesy AI and podcast hosts Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen. Dudesy is the name of both the eponymous podcast and also the reported AI that “runs” the series, creating new episodes based on what it has “learned” from previous episodes in addition to developing its own “material.” With the George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead! special, the Dudesy AI proclaimed that it  “listened” to “all of George Carlin’s material” to create a new special, which is where the lawsuit comes into play.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the lawsuit was filed today in California federal court by Kelly Carlin, the daughter of George Carlin who previously blasted the Dudesy “special.” Speaking with the trade about her decisions to sue, Carlin said: “We have to draw a line in the sand…This is going to be a fight on every front, with entertainment at the center.” In her previous statement on the special, Kelly Carlin wrote: “My dad spent a lifetime perfecting his craft from his very human life, brain and imagination. No machine will ever replace his genius. These AI generated products are clever attempts at trying to recreate a mind that will never exist again.”

The complaint alleges that Dudesy “sought to capitalize on the name, reputation, and likeness of George Carlin in creating, promoting, and distributing” the special that they created, which was done by “using generated images of Carlin, Carlin’s voice, and images designed to evoke Carlin’s presence on a stage.” 

The AI-generated George Carlin special attempted to skirt controversy at the time of its release by calling itself a “George Carlin impersonation.” It further tries to make it clear that that George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead! is not any kind of official work, which the complaint notes will likely be their defense in court citing their first amendment rights. Knowing that this might be their defense, the lawsuit adds that the special “has no comedic or creative value absent its self-proclaimed connection with George Carlin.”

“I just want to let you know very clearly that what you’re about to hear is not George Carlin,” the Dudesy AI says at the start of the special. “It’s my impersonation of George Carlin that I developed in the exact same way a human impressionist would, I listened to all of George Carlin’s material and did my best to imitate his voice, cadence, and attitude as well as the subject matter I think would have interested him today. So think of it like Andy Kaufman impersonating Elvis or like Will Ferrell impersonating George W. Bush.”  

“In order to accomplish what they did, they needed to, without permission, take a reputation, a body of work, a voice and a likeness and use it to draw attention to themselves,” Jerry Hamza, George Carlin’s former manager and the executor of his estate, told THR. “It raises issues of civil and criminal liability under both California and federal statutes regulating rights of publicity and copyright.”

It’s worth noting that this marks not only Dudesy’s “second” comedy special which also saw legal action be taken. Dudesy previously generated an AI standup routine using the voice of Super Bowl champion Tom Brady. The former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers Quarterback previously threatened legal action against Dudesy for the video, which was removed.

(Cover Photo by: Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)