George Carlin honored with street name, but local church isn't happy

It was just supposed to be one block, but a clerical error has extended George Carlin Way to two blocks in Manhattan's Morningside Heights neighborhood. Due to this mistake, the church he attended as a child — and skewered onstage as a comedian — is now standing on this extra stretch, despite protests.

Comic Kevin Bartini, who spearheaded the campaign to honor Carlin with a street name, says the comedian "would have been tickled by all of this. I think he would have loved every moment."

Carlin grew up on W. 121st Street, and for years people have wanted to name part of the road after the late comic, who died in 2008. The priests at Corpus Christi Church opposed the plan, saying he was "unworthy of the honor," The New York Times reports. Carlin's daughter, Kelly, said her father had kind words to say about the church, where he attended school. "He was really nurtured by the nuns there," she said.

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Thanks to the mistake, the extra block will remain part of George Carlin Way until the fall, when the legislation will be amended. The bill's sponsor, Councilman Mark Levine, said that while he felt "lucky" Carlin was from his district, and that he "paved the way for serious artists to break taboos in legitimate ways," the mistake needed to be corrected due to "the concerns of the local parish, which are real."