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downNow Playing: THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JOHNNY CARSON
The King of Late Night is dead.
Johnny Carson, who hosted NBC's THE TONIGHT SHOW for 30 years until hanging up his crown in 1992, passed away this morning of emphysema. He was 79.
I was a big fan of Carson's when I was a kid, and he may have been the first comedian that I really noticed, not just in terms of what he said, but how he said it. Like a lot of boys, I became interested in comedy, especially when I learned that I could make other kids laugh. One of my influences was Carson, whose monologue I used to listen to after my folks sent me to bed. Our house was very small, and the bedroom I shared with my brother had no door, so I would lay awake and listen to Johnny's monologue most nights before falling asleep. At school the next day, I would try to pass his jokes off as mine, not that most 11-year-olds are hip to gags about Jimmy Carter and the oil crisis. There was a TONIGHT SHOW "Best Of" comedy album I nearly wore the grooves out of, and I also became fans of some of his characters like Floyd R. Turbo ("American") and Carnac the Magnificent.
As I grew older, I became impressed with the history behind the show and the wide breadth of guests who appeared on it. For instance, Johnny's first TONIGHT SHOW on October 1, 1962 offered Joan Crawford, Groucho Marx, Rudy Vallee, Tony Bennett and Mel Brooks. On one 105-minute show! You couldn't get star power like that on a week of Lenos and Lettermans, especially in an era where Ashton Kutcher makes the guest list. And it wasn't just movie stars who appeared. Politicians, authors, zookeepers, musicians, comedians...can you imagine folks like David Susskind coming onto one of the late-night shows today?
Johnny's main skill as a host--one that neither Leno nor the great David Letterman have--is the ability to put his own ego aside and let his guests shine. He was a marvelous comedian, but also a great straight man. He liked to get laughs, but you got the feeling that he enjoyed it more when the folks sitting to his right got laughs. He was folksy, yet hip; boyish, yet sophisticated. And when I first became a radio DJ, Carson's style was one that I sought to emulate.
It's a pity THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JOHNNY CARSON (as it came to be titled) can't be seen in syndication, and a bigger pity that NBC threw away the tapes from the show's first ten years on the air. After leaving in 1992, Johnny's TV appearances were very few, mostly limited to a handful of wordless walk-ons with David Letterman, whom he always considered the true successor to his throne.
I taped Johnny's final two TONIGHT SHOWS when they aired in May 1992, and took the opportunity to rewatch them today (as well as dub them to DVD). It was a bit sad watching him say goodbye, especially as he mentioned his late son Rick. While he often joked about his many marriages (and divorces), Carson's private life was rarely mentioned on the show, and that he took a final opportunity to talk about his sons meant that he must have been as overwhelmed about leaving THE TONIGHT SHOW as we were in watching him go.
And tonight we say goodbye for good.
