Johnny Carson Passes

WOODPIE · 01-23-2005, 10:16 AM

My wife just came in to tell me he passed away. For those here too young, he was what was before Jay Leno.

Johnny could make me laugh until I had tears welling up in my eyes, and he could do it with absolutely nothing. Just a look, maybe, or when he'd launch into a soft-shoe dance when his monologue was bombing. Funny, funny man.

Ed

Seahawk · 01-23-2005, 10:30 AM

Wow...to those of us of a certain age, even if we thought he was lame at times, he was the ticket. I had a midnight curfew in high school on Friday night. How many times I watched Johnny with a Bud Buzz is difficult to calculate.
The fork in the road.

SteveStromberg · 01-23-2005, 10:33 AM

I would see him shopping at the grocery in Malibu.
Buying milk or whatever just like the rest of us.
I spoke to him a few times he was just a regular guy.

Jay Leno never really filled his shoes

Thanks for all the laughs Johnny

dd74 · 01-23-2005, 11:36 AM

Truly, truly sad. He was late-night television to me when I was a kid. Carson was by far the funniest, most well-informed and engaging late-night host of any of them.

I loved his jokes about Burbank being as "dead" as it was at night -- which is true. That's what's great about Burbank.

The "Mighty Carson Art Players" was the funnier than anything Sat. Night Live or even Letterman could do. The Lab Mouse skit still cracks me up:

McMahon interviewing: "As a lab mouse, what happens to you when they test chemicals on you?" (sic)
Lab Mouse (Carson): "I get the urge every once in a while to eat cat...or something like that.

Hilarious!

He brought up Letterman by the way, did not particularly like Leno, and when he said "bye-bye" to television, he left for good.

amity914 · 01-23-2005, 02:22 PM

RIP Johnny

genrex · 05:19 PM

I've been kicking myself for 12+ years now, for not recording the last few weeks that Johnny was on the air. I never dreamed that he would prevent re-runs from going into syndication (like the 30-minute "Best of Carson" show that ran late at night after midnight), and I figured at the very least Carson Productions would sell the "yearly highlight" specials they did once a year. I don't think Johnny ever fully understood how much his show meant to people, and what a void there was after he retired (which still exists; many people feel that Dave and Jay are coarse and juvenile, far from the easy hipness and sophistication that Johnny had).

With his passing, and I mean no disrespect, but I hope Carson Productions finally releases more of his material than the paltry 4-volume set which spans his 4-decade run as host of The Tonight Show (which is out of print, by the way). I mean, enough time has passed, what could they possibly be waiting for now?

I'm still kicking myself for being a fool..

_

edit: By the way, if any of you have tapes of "Johnny Carson and The Tonight Show," please send me a PM.. thank you!

tabs · 01-23-2005, 05:47 PM

I grew up on Johnny.....it's like losing a member of the family.

Jay H · 01-23-2005, 07:50 PM

I too grew up on Johnny Carson. Johnny's earlier years seemed better than the last stuff he did, but they had some funny shows none the less.

Doc S. and his band were first rate as well and Ed laughing in the backround all the time was funny in itself sometimes.

speeder · speeder's Garage

I was sorry to hear that he died, but on the other hand I think that he lived life to its fullest and did it "his way", so it's all good.

VaSteve · 01-24-2005, 03:44 AM

Can anyone confirm this... I could swear that on Friday's Today show, they ran a piece on how he was still writing jokes for Letterman, next thing you know, he's gone. The timing is just too weird. Anyone else see this?

gaijindabe · 01-24-2005, 07:04 AM

Yeah, I saw that. I think they knew his condition and they wanted to release that before he passed..

VaSteve · 01-24-2005, 07:07 AM

That's what I kinda figured. Celebs on the death watch usually have a rememberance special "on que" for if they need it. I'm sure that's how NBC news had all their clips together for that special last night.

rrpjr · 01-24-2005, 03:07 PM

Carson was without peer, then or now. He had an authentic Nebraskan "everyman" ease leavened by just the right amount of urban cheekiness that perfectly suited the tastes of his time. And his time just kept lasting: Carson bridged the transition from a Jack Benny sensibility to an edgy, self-referential style, yet held off the vulgar advances of the latter for perhaps a decade with the effortless strength of a show business Titan. The day he left late-night television, it all fell part. Leno took control with an oafish eagerness to prove himself, and proved only to me at least that he didn't have half the grace of Carson. His show has become a grotesque parody of Carson's. Letterman is just plain sour. But to his credit, Letterman had the wit to note yesterday that "There was only one Johnny Carson. All the rest of us are pretenders."