American Masters : Johnny Carson

I should say that this review will be in no way objective. It would be impossible for me to do so because I revere Johnny Carson. I am sure that the fact that I grew up at a time when Johnny was the King of Late Night would make that a likely scenario but for me Johnny was more than a late night host.

I always had trouble sleeping as a kid. As a teenager I did what most teenagers did in the summer. I stayed up late. Remembering that I grew up in a rural town there was no cable television. The choices for late night programming were minimal. Even if there had been choices once you watched Johnny it was just Johnny you wanted to watch.

For me being the last child of parents who were Senior Citizens, as much as they were good to me, could sometimes be a lonely experience. They were tired. So being up late at night was a solitary affair. When I think of the times that my son comes down late at night from doing homework and watches a bit of Letterman with me I wish I could have had those moments with my Dad.

Being a solitary affair however made Johnny Carson my late night guest. Johnny was funny but more importantly he was just dependable. He was there. Johnny made the kind of wry humor that I enjoy. A play on words or a double meaning made a teenager feel more mature than he really was. The most important thing about Carson was the steadiness. It was so hot today, That lady is so fat and other dependable ask and answer parts of the monologue.

If I told you that I can still remember certain jokes such as when the Air Traffic Controllers struck Johnny said " They were so desperate for help that Ronald McDonald was in the tower helping land planes." It does not seem that funny now but at the time it was. That was the joy of Carson. Watching Johnny be amused made something funny. His laughter was sometimes as funny as whatever made him laugh.

For me Karnac the Magnificent was perhaps the ultimate segment I enjoyed. Again watching Johnny smirk as he loaded up a good one always increased the anticipation. Is it odd that 30 years later I remember this joke. Answer : Cis Boom Bah. Question : The Sound It Makes When a Sheep Explodes. And you have to remember that after this Johnny was in tears, he could not pull himself together.

The monologues were perfected by Carson. The precursor to Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, David Letterman, all comic who review the news and headlines for comedy Carson was the best, his mannerisms, from the Jack Benny school will never be bettered.

A few weeks ago a reference was made to Johnny on Letterman, and I love Letterman, and Paul and the band kicked into the Carson theme song. It brings back so many memories, even the multicolored curtains that Johnny would come through are solidified in my brain as if it were yesterday. Hi Ho and the Golf Swing. Johnny's impact on popular culture may not be understood by people who have come of age in the last twenty years but for all of us who grew up in that thirty year window of Johnny we know that he was was a gigantic figure.

So for PBS to do a tribute to Carson as part of it's Masterpiece Series was a great choice. The retrospective was very good. Comments from today's comedians, tributes from friends. We learned that Johnny lived his whole life feeling like he was never good enough for his Mother. After his Mom died he found a box of clippings that she had kept of his publicity and he kept that box in his closet in his bedroom for the rest of his life. It seemed he had made his Mom proud.

Carson had marital troubles, three divorces and evidently he might have been estranged from wife number four when he died. Truthfully I did not need to know these items. For me Johnny was not the person he was off the air, he was my friend late at night.

Watching Drew Carey choke up talking about his first time on the Carson show, watch Ellen talk about being asked over to the desk on her first visit to the show and Garry Shandling break into tears talking about when he heard the news that Carson had died you get a sense of the love and admiration he had from these people.

From me as well. I remember when he died,against all reason it was as if a friend or a treasured uncle had died.

We will never have a barometer of popular culture like we had in Johnny. We are too splintered. Johnny held us together.

He was and always will be The King of Late Night




S

Kevin Spacey on David Letterman

Last week Kevin Spacey appeared one night as an unannounced guest on David Letterman. I like Spacey but I was not aware of how strong his impressions were. Twice he appeared on stage and did his best Johnny Carson.

Spacey has the voice, did the golf club swing and then we heard Paul and the band go into The Tonight Show theme.

It was very enjoyable. Moments like this make me aware of as much as I love Letterman we all miss Johnny. He was the absolute best. Watching a documentary on Bill Clinton last week we saw a clip of Clinton appearing on Carson after his diasterous 1988 convention speech. Clinton saved his career that night. Carson just did what he always did. He was the perfect host.

Kevin Spacey reminded me of how much we miss Johnny Carson.

Jack Hanna on David Letterman

At my house we watch Dave most of the time. Must see viewing time however is when Jack Hanna is on. Back to the days of Carson the late night hosts have had animal experts on and these segments always prove popular.

Jack Hanna is an interesting individual. My wife in watching it with me, she is usually in bed so was not familiar with the segment, and asked if Hanna was intelligent. He, by my token, is intelligent but the interplay with him and Dave is quite funny as Hanna surely gets flustered.

Dave is very adept at the comedy that comes from the unpredictability of animal segments. This past Monday Hanna got bit which does not sound funny but was. These segments are funny, I find them as most enjoyable, can't miss television.

Brian Williams on Jmmy Fallon

So a couple days after I commented on Brian Williams on Dave he appears on Jimmy Fallon doing his regular feature " Slow Jamming the news." This is the sort of thing that Fallon excels at ..the bits and routines. I think he and Kimmel are far and above the best among the late night group at this. I love Dave but that is not his specialty anymore as these fellows have surpassed him.

Is it not interesting that in all the talk of late night and it is crowded and talented with Conan, Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel and even the sometimes very funny Craig Ferguson all looking up to Dave that nobody, or at least nobody in my universe or in these hosts apparent universe has anything good to say about Jay.

However, back to slow jamming the news. It is a silly little idea but it plays because Fallon is funny and Williams plays it straight.

It looks like something Steve Allen would do were he still doing late night.

Nobody will ever touch Johnny Carson, but we are a niche audience now. The reason Jay is winning the ratings is only he does what he does. All of these others do what they all do in a sense. We are not in the same world with three networks. Were we however we would not have all these excellent, insomniac, late night choices.