Think Of How Stupid The Average

From Carlin's HBO special Doin' It Again (1990). The joke operates as a statistical pun — the median and the below-median are not the same as "average" and "below average," but the wordplay is precise enough to mask the slide. Carlin used the line as a launching pad for broader attacks on public stupidity and the education system, and it became one of his most frequently quoted observations, often stripped of its original satirical context.