Because the King of Late Night deserves his own thread. RIP, Johnny, we already miss you.

No other host will have the grace and class that he showed.

R.I.P. :(

I hope there isn't another thread for this.

Anyways, Johnny Carson will be missed. Good bye, Johnny.

Poll:

How many of you have had sex during Johnny Carson's show? Details, please!

When I was a child, it was a big deal to be able to stay up late and watch Johnny. He was my first TV crush. :-)

Johnny could make anyone look good. It didn't matter if it was a celebrity or John Doe from East Podunk, Carson was a master at the interview.

Somewhere in my vast VHS collection, I have the '93 Kennedy Center Honors show on tape...gotta find that and listen to the wonderful bit Letterman did to recognize Johnny. It was a top 10 list; I remember how hard Johnny and President Clinton were laughing at it (Letterman: "This is the stuff Koppel doesn't have the guts to do.").

Peter Lassally is on CNN right now, talking about how Carson was e-mailing Letterman jokes. A nice story.

Rest in peace, Johnny, you were the best.

Johnny was so funny and so good to his guest. He always made sure they looked good even if it meant making fun of himself.

Too bad many people will not relize that the Tonight Show use to mena something in Hollywood.

A nice tribute here on MSNBC, including this paragraph:



How rare in today's "never enough fame" world. He was definitely a class act.

Answer: Sis-boom-baa

Question: What sound does an exploding sheep make?

Thanks for the laughs, Karnac.

Thanks for everything Mr. Carson. You set the standard everyone looks up to.

One of my favorite Carson show moments was in one of the really old shows (when it was still in black-and-white), he had an axe thrower on, and the guy threw an axe at a plank of wood with an outline of a person on it. The axe landed right in the crotch, and the look on Carson's face was just priceless.

RIP Johnny Carson.

For what it's worth, I looked ahead to tomorrow night's schedule, and Letterman and Conan are supposedly in reruns, while Leno is live, in case anyone is looking for tributes.

Is there even an outside possibility of Letterman doing something for this?

Like, I dunno, like a taped intro into a special rerun of a Johnny appearance on the show?

What a sad day, especially so soon after reading about him sending Letterman jokes. That story made me smile...and then soon after, he's passed on.

Sad.

I heard on the radio today "What is the difference between TV and all other forms of entertainment?" One word..."Carson"

RIP

I just read that story a few days ago, and now this. I didn't see it coming. He was truly funny.

I was watching some CNN coverage and heard the story of Carson sending Lettermen jokes. The interviewer was asking a producer if he had heard by now, of the story of the sent jokes and he replied that he had, as he was the one who had started it.

He said that he mentioned that little detail, to get the press away from the rumours of Carson's ill health.

Dateline has a special tribute to Johnny on right now (started at 7 eastern)

It was a rite of passage for me to get old enough to stay up and watch him on The Tonight Show during breaks from school; I remember feeling so adult (yeah, it was simpler times then) laughing out loud at the slightly off-color remarks and double entendres, old enough to understand most of them but still young enough that I'd cover my laughing because my mom would give me a look, but then chuckle herself.

Jerry Seinfeld said there was nothing like Carson's show anymore as a springboard for launching careers, I say there's nothing like it period, the days of the whole family/neighborhood all watching Carson or any other show just don't exist anymore.

To quote Bette Midler, "good night Mr Carson".

I think another Bette Midler quote sums up Johnny well:

It's sad that no one has been able to live up to his level of class as a talk show host. People seem to remember him for his monologues, but I loved how quick witted he was with his guests in the interviews.

My husband and I both feel sad.

The marmoset urinating on Johnny Carson's head was one of the funniest moments I've ever seen on TV.

My fondest childhood memory is going to bed after Johnny's monologue. If Johnny was cracking jokes....all was right with the world. He was a class act all the way.

Good night Mr. Carson and thanks for all the laughs.

Heeeeere’s Johnny!

Too sad. You will be deeply missed.

NBC Dateline showed some nice clips...the one that made me laugh the hardest was Johnny's reaction to Steve Martin's bit.

Sofa addicted, you are correct -- it's amazing to look back at all the careers that were launched by Johnny Carson.

One of the things I recall is how Johnny used to pull practical jokes on Letterman. I remember Letterman had an old, broken down truck in his front yard and Carson used to give Dave grief about it. One night, when Letterman was a Tonight Show guest, Johnny had Dave's truck towed onto the stage.

Does anyone else remember that?

Here is Letterman's quote on Johnny:

Skategrrl I remember that. Didn't they do a "People's Court" bit on that with Judge Wapner? Funny, funny stuff.

The news tonight on his old network, NBC, was a complete surprise and shock. Even with all this time having passed, it doesn't seem possible Johnny could pass on already. Makes for a bittersweet night of comedy.

I remember, by 1973/4 or so, dying to get a peak at Johnny's Tonight Show. I finally got a brief opportunity, but I never saw Johnny; it was the Jackson 5 doing a song. I was 11 or 12 at the time.

I thought I'd finally get my chance when he was a special guest on the MTM show, but was disappointed that it was all in the dark (one of Mary's bad parties). I had seen caricatures of Johnny and Ed in Mad magazine, but not on TV.

I finally got to stay up to watch Tonight in the summer of '77, but it was Steve Martin guest hosting. It was my intro to Steve, actually, and I confused him with Steve Allen, and was wondering why so zany? Soon after that week, I could stay up Friday nights and vacation nights to watch.

The anniversary shows were the most fun. My favorite part was the egg fight with Dom DeLuise and Burt Reynolds. The spontineity and wonderful childishness of it all was intoxicating. And I was so glad to be able to see Sally Field's sequel later in the '70s on the regular TS, with the whipped cream. Late night talk shows do that kind of slapstick all the time now, but it was a real breath of fresh air back when Johnny did it.

Like everyone's been saying this evening on TV: I've missed Johnny before he was gone. And it hits alittle harder than most deaths of celebrities one likes. Gotta imagine he's getting great talk show guests now! And, more sublimely, able to reunite with his son.

I did a 'net search and found a transcript of the infamous Carson vs. Letterman "People's Court" skit here

Nitpicking time...when Johnny hosted the show, its proper name was The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (not "with Johnny Carson").

This has been one of the saddest days I've known in a very, very long time.

Farewell, Johnny.

I've been missing him since he left The Tonight Show. Now it feels like a favorite uncle died. I grew up with JC. Nobody can ever take his place. Nobody.

One of the odder things that gets me is that his retirement very neatly coincides with the debut of the Real World.

I enjoyed watching Johnny's monologue as a kid (non-school nights, of course!). It always struck me how he reacted to jokes that bombed. His expressions and ad-lib comments were often so much funnier than most of the regular jokes. As I got older and watched more regularly, I was in awe at how gracefully he handled himself. R.I.P. Johnny.

"Still can't do Lincoln." Well, maybe now he can...with Lincoln himself, no less.

We've lost him twice now. And there will still be none like him. All of them are pretenders to the throne, even (and especially) the hand-picked successor.

The "Might Carson Art Players" was not hyperbole.

R.I.P. Johnny

What a fine, fine entertainer this man was- he always drew the circle wide to include others, instead of shutting them out. When I was a child, it was a special treat to be able to watch the monologue with my dad, who would come in late from work. That was my definition of being grown-up, being able to stay up and watch Johnny Carson.

I never liked Johnnie Carson. Wife beating doesn't usually endear me to someone.

Nope. Never. The man oozed professionalism and class, even in the face of his tabloid notoriety. I'll never forget the show right after his son Richard was killed in the car crash. The news kept showing a picture of him from his driver's license. When Johnny returned to the show, he held up another (and better) picture of his son and said something like, "This is my son." Broke my heart then, breaks my heart now.

Once he signed off in '92, I swore to never, ever watch The Tonight Show again. There were many times I said that about some show or another and always seemed to manage to watch the show I'd sworn off anyhow. But I never, not once, not even for a peek, turned on Jay Leno. Ever. The man disgraced everything I once adored.

What's weird is that either last week or the week before, the National Enquirer published a photo of Johnny walking down a street. He looked bloated, but seemed well enough. Too bad that wasn't the case.

He's been missed since '92. Thanks and R.I.P., TV friend.

Boy, seeing his old clips on the news over the weekend just points out how much better Carson's show was than any of the ones we have now.

Rest in Peace, Johnny.

Thanks for the transcript, Skategrrl. By the way, you owe me a new keyboard.

Thanks for the heads up, Annlindgk. I asked Glark the change the name of the thread and I see that he's now done it. (Thanks, Glark!)

Here's Letterman's Top 10 on Johnny from the Kennedy Honors:

Top Ten Things We Miss About Johnny
10. Got laughs without cheap gimmicks like top ten list
9. Carnac more entertaining than psychic friends network
8. Always gave 110% despite backbreaking 3-day workweek
7. The way he'd sometimes get confused and accidentally
. pay me alimony
6. Did groundbreaking "cut off your Slauson" jokes years
. before anyone had ever heard of Lorena Bobbitt
5. When he's dressed as Aunt Blabby he's a really good kisser
4. The way he'd sometimes swat Ed with a rolled newspaper
. whenever Ed belched up gin
3. Thirty-five years on the air and he never once said
. "Buttafuoco"
2. The admirable way he never switched networks just for a
. bigger paycheck
1. His "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding Doc.


Plus another Top 10 from 1988:

Top 10 Things Dave is Grateful to Johnny Carson
10. Gave me the name of a really good urologist.
9. By resurfacing his tennis court I've learned a new trade.
8. Once saved my life with Heimlich maneuver in Carl's Jr.
7. Stood by me when I was defrocked by Assemblies of God.
6. For pioneering the three-day work week.
5. One time after dinner sang special version of "Misty" for me. (That's Johnny Mathis)
4. Turned me on to Amway.
3. Being a good sport about my upcoming marriage to his ex-wife Joanna.
2. Helped me get my talk show license.
1. Used influence to get me into Indiana National Guard.

I remember Johnny Carson and Jonathan Winters summer of 88
never laughed so hard in my life.

RIP Johnny late night tv has never been the same.

That's the entry that President Clinton roared at.

Moe-Ron, now I need a new keyboard. So sorry, Videophile, since I need a new keyboard, I can't replace yours...although I suppose we could always bill NBC.

I find it interesting that NBC has yet to mention that Johnny's last two television appearances were on Dave's show. Hmmm. (CNN, on the other hand, has no problem in pointing that out.)

I was really disappointed when they stopped serving drinks in the Green Room and later when they cut the show from 90 minutes to one hour.

I, too, remember feeling like a "grown up" when my parents finally let me stay up to watch The Monologue. After that, it was bedtime, unless someone like Winters was on then we were able to con our way to staying up to the very late hour of 11pm!

Thanks, leew261 and, of course, major thanks to Glark!

I'm old enough to remember Johnny on Who Do You Trust and was heartbroken when he took the Tonight job. I figured I'd never be able to stay up late to see him before he went on to another gig!

(Why did I have a dream last night--honest to God--that Johnny got to Heaven and the first person he saw was Tony Randall, declaiming, "See, John, I told you to stop smoking!"?)

Does anybody remember I think back in 85 when Johnny came back from vacation and he was sprouting a beard? Billy Crystal even made joke about it in a skit on SNL saying "His beard scares me."

I curse myself for not checking...did CBS do anything to commemorate Johnny at 11:35?

Letterman was a rerun. But surprisingly, Craig Ferguson spoke for a good four or five minutes about it.

I refused to watch Leno, but caught the last 30 seconds when I flipped over for Conan (which was also a rerun). Sounded like Leno's entire show was a tribute.

It was. I thought he did a good job. Bob Newhart and Don Rickles came on together and told some good stories.

Oops. Wrong thread.

Hiiiiiiiii-yoooooooooooooooooooo ....

Rest in peace, dear Johnny. Thank you for the years of first-class entertainment.




(And thanks leew261, for starting the thread!)

My favorite clip they showed was when he was interviewing Madeline Kahn and he asked her if she had any phobias and she said that she didn't like balls coming at her! Johnny just looks at the camera with this "Jack Benny" reaction! That was great.