January 23, 2005

• RIP Johnny Carson.
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• One of the last true giants of TV...RIP, Johnny.
• Jeez, and just days after it came out he was writing jokes for David Letterman. This is one of the giants of entertainment over the last fifty years. You younger MoFiers may not get just how huge this guy was. Add Letterman and Leno together and MAYBE you'll equal his popularity. Anyway, Johnny, I'll have a drink to you tonight. Can't wait to see the late night shows tomorrow.
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• Johnny Carson. And the question is (from an envelope kept sealed in a mayonnaise jar on Funk and Wagnall's back porch): Who was the greatest host ever on late-night television? Rest in laughter.
• Life is unfair. Why is Dick Clark immortal and Johnny Carson not? Even as hokey as he got toward the end, there's never been anyone like him. Class act, all the way.
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• Johnny was never an "entertainer", he was part of your family...when he told a joke, he was telling it to YOU.... All the inside jokes were being told to you alone, when he smiled at the camera, he was smiling at you... Jack Parr was close to being this good, but Johnny did it best! rip......
• Strangely enough, I worked on a tv show that was a co-production between Johnny Carson Productions and Dick Clark Productions, TV's Bloopers and Pratical Jokes. Johnny was known around the office as a pretty cool guy where as Dick Clark, well let's just say that his first name is quite appropriate. The son that is mentioned in some of his obits, Ricky Carson, used to work on the show as Assistant Director, and besides having a bit of a coke and booze problem, was a nice, regular guy too.
• I'm sure mr squidranch meant to say that there were rumors of an alleged coke & booze problem for Ricky Carson, but that he himself never put any credence in these unfounded stories, as he readily admits that the aforementioned Ricky Carson was "a nice, regular guy", and thus his comment can only be construed as a disparagement of such allegations. *cough*
• When I was a kid, I used to beg to stay up to watch Carson. It was such a treat when my mom would let me.
• Bye, Johnny.
• Not really Nostril. To be perfectly honest most folks did the stuff in the industry at that time, but some people let it get out of hand. Ricky was a nice chap, but he would go into a drunken mess that shifted between rage, glee and crying jaggs as I witnessed at a couple of company parties. We let him dry out and he was a nice chap again.
• Oh, and Rest In Peace, Johnny.
• Johnny Carson...dead. Sounds crazy but there's some people you just don't expect to die. Johnny's one of them. G'night, Johnny.
• Still is pretty prevalent in the industry now, squiddie. I know of more druggies in the TV biz than I know among rock'n'rollers.
• All weekend I had a strange feeling that someone important in the entertainment industry was going to pass away in the next day or two. How unfortunate that my feelings were right, and that it was Mr. Carson. He was such a great entertainer.
• Gosh, I remember when Carson seemed old to me. Now it seems like a shame that he went so young. Perspective of youth changing, I guess. RIP
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• My roommate just told me. She said it was emphysema - that's a horrible way to die. A Kenneth Tynan profile of Johnny Carson was reprinted in "Life Stories: profiles from the New Yorker", and after I stop crying I'll read it.
• Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! '.'
• I'll never forget him balancing that Buick Skylark on his head. G'night, Johnny.
• He had a good life and was by all accounts a good man, which is as much as any of us can ask for. The world is emptier today because of it - perhaps one of us will take this as a sign to be a good man and have a good life and replace, in the world, what Carson took with him.
• Very true. Amazing how beloved a television personality can become. Carson wasn't just a talk-show host. He was a national institution. He will be sorely missed.
• ah, the fun I had watching his show. anyone else remember when he had Tony Randall on, and Randall said his tinnitus was so loud that someone else could hear it? rest in laughter indeed!
• "All weekend I had a strange feeling that someone important in the entertainment industry was going to pass away in the next day or two." Of all the wacky extra-sensory powers to have, that would seem to be the one that would come in the least handy. The movie promo: "In a world where celebrities seemed to die in the same unexpected manner as regular people, one man could change it all..."
• WOXY, a good online radio station, has been playing the old Tonight Show theme today. It's cool: they haven't said anything, really (that I've heard). It's a good, understated tribute.
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• Bernockle, yeah, I know. I wish my powers could be more useful, like knowing lottery numbers or something. My only "explanation" is that I work in the entertainment industry and have a stronger connection to it than the average person. Or something.
• My only "explanation" is that I work in the entertainment industry and have a stronger connection to it than the average person. Sounds like a pretty convenient "explanation" to me. Where exactly were you on the morning of the 23rd, Sooooz?
• Last night's Tonight Show tribute was very well done, especially the portions with Don Rickles and Bob Newhart, who are still funny as hell. I especially enjoyed the clips of the "cigarette box incident." Newhart was hosting, Rickles was fooling around and breaks a box Carson kept on his desk, and panics. The next night, Carson returns, realizes the box is broken, and drags cameras across the hall where Rickles is taping another show to confront him about it, breaking up two audiences at the same time. Classic. My guess is Letterman ran a rerun out of respect.
• He is on vacation right now. Reruns all this week.
• I saw the cigar-box bit. I liked the necktie fight with Ed & Johnny best.
• Well Quid, I was, ah, at home alone. Yeah. Yeah, that's it. Home all by my lonesome. My cat can vouch for me. *hums tunelessly*
• Tell it to the Judge, lady. Book her, boys!
• Carson's hairiest moment