Sad news, per MSNBC: Johnny Carson, best known as host of "The Tonight Show," but also host of the game shows "Who Do You Trust?," "Earn Your Vacation," and celebrity guest on many others, passed away today, at the age of 79.

--Sam

It's the end of an era :(

Slowly, the last of television's first generation of performers are leaving us.


Randy
tvrandywest.com

When Johnny Carson left the Tonight Show, he took good taste and civility on television with him.

He is irreplacable.

The King Is Dead. Long Live The King. <:-(

You know no one is immortal, but I'm still a bit shocked over Johnny's passing, as I'm sure we all are.

I know there's no memorial planned, but I am certain that Leno and Letterman (who is off this coming week, ironically) will pay tribute, as they frankly should.

If you're a fan of comedy, this is a sad day indeed. I never saw him host the Tonight Show because I'm a bit young, but I have the Carson Collection, and the "Here's Johnny!" tribute book to remember him by, and from what I've seen, he was, and will indeed remain, the king of late night, and the king of laughs. An American treasure is gone.

Goodbye, Johnny. Thanks for the laughs.

James

I'm lucky to have been old enough to enjoy Johnny in the Eighties. Watching him on fire in both the monolog and then on night's desk piece was really something to see.

Well... this just isn't right.

Carson was a huge influence in my radio career. Nobody who's on TV today can touch the way Johnny treated his guests, from the greatest to the most humble. I mourn.

On October 1, 1962, a 36 year old Johnny walked through the curtain as host of The Tonight Show for the first time with this to say...

"...I know lots of people are watching, my friends and family, and I have one feeling that comes to me.... I want my Nana!"

Other than the set changes and the show being shortened from 90 minutes to an hour, The Tonight Show's formula never really changed. Johnny was lucky to have the right stuff from the start. The 60s had memorable moments including Ed Aames infamous tomahawk throw, and in the late 60s, Tiny Tim's marriage to Miss Vicki. In the 70s, Johnny would introduce characters that stayed with the show till the end, including Art Fern, the late night movie host, Aunt Blabby, a character that you might call "The 2000 Year old Woman", Carnac the Magnificent, a sendup of Steve Allen's "Answer man" bit, Floyd R Turbo, a sort of redneck Archie Bunker, and El Moldo, who was a terrible psychic. The 80s introduced us to two permanent guest hosts. In the early 80s, Johnny allowed Joan Rivers and Jay Leno, respectively, to guest host for him once a week. Joan would be ousted from her Tonight Show gig when she left to host The Late Show on Fox, which didn't last.
The late 80s also left his fans to wonder when Johnny would finally call it quits.

On the final Tonight Show, Johnny made several remarks about the 30 year reign, saying "I'm going to take the applause sign home with me... put it in my bedroom, maybe turn it on once in a while... we offered our shabby set to the Salvation Army, they said 'No thank you'." He summed up his experience by saying "If I could magically, somehow...I'd do the whole thing all over again". Contrary to what Johnny said about finding something else he hopes his audience will enjoy, Johnny spent the remaining 13 years enjoying retirement, rarely appearing on camera. Notably, he did a walk on while Dave Letterman was in Los Angeles for The Late Show, and he was a guest voice on The Simpsons.

*moment of silence*




















*raises glass to Johnny*

On-topic ... Johnny's younger brother, Dick Carson, has been a longtime director of Wheel of Fortune.

Having read a recent article about Johnny occasionally sending jokes to David Letterman, it gave no clue as to his condition. In some ways, you could call Johnny the Cullen of variety programming: witty, knowing when to give the guest the spotlight, and even if there were personal problems offstage, he was 100% professional and made sure his audience was entertained. You're right, Randy - his leaving represented an end of an era. But maybe I'm a bit prejudiced because the guests Johnny featured are no longer living or rarely sought after. I relate much better to Tony Bennett than Hoobastank. It was it's own wonderful era. Saturday Night Live did a hard send-up of the Carson show years back with the Ed McMahon character making pointed remarks about Johnny's old actor references and not relating to a younger audience base. Whether it was a message from the NBC brass or it got them to thinking, somehow the writing got on the wall. The times were changing. Thank you, Johnny, for all the fun.

GSN might have to give Johnny a whole late night tribute week with both slots going to his shows, because he was all over the three G-T panel shows in the early 1960's (not to mention "Password") and made huge impressions on each one, not only on the panel but on the other side. Johnny shooting the apple off Garry's head with a bow and arrow, his strange take with Lucille Ball answering as if she were drunk, the third nighttime "Password" where Johnny was gleefully unnerved by his partner, and all his sparkling panel turns on TTTT and WML...get your tapes out and tape these and see the master before he was the master. And he's still the master -- nobody who's followed in his shoes has even come close to his skill, sense of humor, and sense of style.

You know, Dave referred to that article a few times during the taping of Thursday's show--when one of his jokes didn't quite get the laughs he expected, Dave said, "That wasn't one of the jokes Johnny sent me." Maybe I'm completely off base, but I wonder if Dave knew how much more serious Johnny's condition was and that it was his way of sending Johnny a quick on-air "I'm thinking of you" message without coming right out and saying it.

I join the millions who send condolences to his family and friends. It's a sad day.

Doug

I remember sitting in an empty Tonight Show studio back in 1983. Some of the crew was sitting on the audience stairs with their bag lunch. I wanted to see Johnny that night... but I decided to see Dream House instead. I never did make it back to see Johnny. Always wish that I had. Rest in Peace funny man. Late Night will always have you to thank for doing it best.


John

It is a sad day with Johnny's passing; he was The Tonight Show and I'm sure Leno will definitely pay special tribute to him tomorrow (and saving his usual "Headlines" bit till Tuesday). Even Ed McMahon and Doc Severinsen will be sharing their thoughts as well.

But it would be an even sadder day if Walter Cronkite becomes the next to go. So Johnny...heeeeeeeeeere's to you.

Jonathan Allen

Yeah. This one's a biggie. And he certainly had plenty of ties to what we talk about here.

Nobody, but NOBODY, knew more about HOW to be funny than Johnny Carson. That's what I admired about him...not just that he was inately funny himself (and god, was he), but that he understood what was happening that MADE "funny", for lack of a better term.

I can see St. Peter at the Pearly Gates now: "Well. I've been waiting to announce this one for a LONG time..." :)

Leno would be wise to pitch whatever he had planned for Monday's show and just spend the hour introducing Johnny clips. If that's not logistically possible, they should pick the first convenient day later in the week and pimp the hell out of it. I know what I'M setting the Tivo for tonight.

I'm headed downtown for a book signing. I am saddened that there is no Slauson cutoff in Seattle. It would be an honor to cut off my Slauson in tribute.

[QUOTE] I can see St. Peter...[QUOTE]

Class line of the day. Thanks, Chris.

..and I can imagine Letterman was up to date. Dave has more focus on himself than Johnny had, but the class is still there. Johnny picked the right one.

Peter Lassally (producer for Carson, later for Letterman, a friend of both) is saying on the news stations this afternoon that the "Carson is writing jokes for Letterman" story came from him, as a way of deflecting interest in Carson's health. And in typical fashion, the news-drones didn't seem to comprehend the remark.

I'd imagine that Letterman was apprised of the situation.

Wow....

I was stunned to hear the news. Oddly enough his name was out in the news at least twice in as many weeks -- the announcement of Johnny's contribution to Dave's show, and the ET story on Johnny seen going to the movies as incognito as possible...

He was looking a little older, obviously, but didn't look in frail health.

Hopefully NBC, GSN & Letterman do some noteworthy and memorable tributes over the coming week or 2.


We'll miss ya, Johnny.

No more to come...


"Who Do You Trust" was mentioned only in passing, but it's important to his Tonight Show era, as it was because of that that NBC had to go with guests hosts until 10-1-62 when Carson became available. Carson made some references to that on WDYT ("ABC, the network with a heart...") There was even some talk that if one of the guests clicked, they'd rip up the Carson deal, but not even NBC could screw over Fate like that...

It's also, of course, where he began his long relationship with Ed McMahon.

I had the good fortune to see Mr. Carson back in Oct. 1968, when he'd still hit the road on weekends for a few extra bucks, at the Wisconsin State Fair. He mostly did a standup routine, including the questions-from-the-audience bit. ("Where is the men's room? ... I believe the nearest one is in Pewaukee.")

What can you say? The man was a master of timing, including knowing when to sign off. And he's been missed ever since.

Man this is a shocker. I'm really sorry to read that.

I can't think of too much to say, except that I do remember staying up some nights to catch him on the Tonight Show. And even though I was only 9 or 10 when he went off the air, and even if I didn't understand most of his jokes, it was still fun to watch.

He'll be missed.

We don't have to wait long. Tonight's Dateline NBC will have a tribute, and MSNBC will follow at 8:00 with their own.

Ed McMahon with Larry King tomorrow (Monday) evening.

Hiiii-yoooooo !!!

I know that Johnny did a couple of game show spoofs with the "Mighty Carson Art Players"...One of which could be seen in the show opening montage during his final years -- The 10,000 Gallon Pyramid.

Anyone know the premise behind that skit, or any others he did over the years on The Tonight Show?

Oddly enough...When my family first got a VCR in 1983, the first program taped was his Anniversary show from that year. The 2nd was PYL. I am fortunate that I have quite a bit of Johnny in my VHS archives to remember him by.

The drone on CNN--Fredericka Whitfield--interviewed Joan Rivers, among others, this afternoon as the same 45 seconds of clips played over and over and over. Said drone asked Joan how long she and Johnny had "been close friends". Joan had to inform the news hound that the two hadn't spoken since she signed the contract with FOX close to twenty years ago.
Guess this rift was kept hush-hush and I just happened to find out about it from a confidential source. Certainly, a major entity of the ilk CNN is can't be troubled to know about such unconfirmed gossip nor could any of its "stars".
Earlier today, this conversation took place:
ME=Did you hear Johnny Carson died today?
BROADCASTING MAJOR {truly, that's what she is} (aged late teens to early 20s)= Who's that?
It was tempting to tell her he's the guy who replaced Jack Paar, but I was feeling old enough as it is.

I was watching that interview, dumbfounded. At first I thought this Whitfield person was just a bad interviewer (which is probably true as well). But as the interview went on for a minute or two, it suddenly occurred to me -- SHE DOESN'T KNOW! She's actually interviewing Joan Rivers to get her comments about her dear friend Johnny. Train-wreck bad and mind-numbingly stupid. Where's a decent producer in her ear when one's needed?

Meanwhile, FOX News had someone a few years older who was lecturing his two much younger colleagues about Carson's Tonight, referencing Orson Bean, of all people. MSNBC, which naturally had the best archive footage, was interviewing -- one of its own reporters, who had worked as part of Carson's legal team once upon a time. Weird, weird afternoon of reporting.

BTW, kids, when you're talking about Carson's final shows, Bette Midler sang to him on his next-to-last program, not the last program. Count how many times that mistake gets made in the next couple days. His last program had no guests.

I feel very old tonight.

I think it during the late-1970s, when the US was in the grips of an energy prices, with gasoline prices skyrocketing. The show was a "Chuck Embarass" production.

That skit was one of many that was part of the syndicated "Carson's Comedy Classics" in the mid-1980s.

Well, I too, was shocked to see this news. My last remembrance of Johnny dates back to 1996 - the year the public learned just how generous and thoughtful a person he was. He was *extremely* kind to the Combs family, and preferred to remain annonymous for the help he had given. There's not many folks like that anymore.

I sure hope GSN does a tribute to him!

To the Carson family: I hope knowing how much Johnny was admired and loved will bring you some measure of comfort. God Bless.

RIP Johnny

I can't think of a fitting tribute. All that comes to mind are three words that will undoubtedly leave (some of) us the way Johnny probably intended:

Sis. Boom. Bah.

Does Walter Cronkite have some high level of importance over anyone else?

Anyhow....although I've never really was afforded the opportunity to see Johnny's work--sad to see him go nontheless.

I don't want to veer too off topic, but when Walter Cronkite does die, you can bet it'll be all over the news. Walter had a longetivity of over 20 years in the news. Nobody thought that any news reporter would surpass him. Dan Rather, his successor, ended up in the news business longer than Cronkite.
Walter had said in an interview that if he knew at that time that he was going to live a lot longer, maybe he would've stayed in the news a while longer.

Back to Johnny, yes, the young lady interviewing the stars did seem out of the loop asking them about their thoughts on Carson. In all fairness, Carson was out of the spotlight for 13 years. So, there are many 20 somethings that never knew who Johnny was. As nice as the accolades are, most of the celebs that called in to CNN all said pretty much the same thing... he was a nice guy, funny guy, yet extremely private, and very few of the people that were associated with him on the show saw much of him off camera.

Possibly the biggest surprise call came from Soupy Sales. Fans of Soupy are probably aware that Soupy's health isn't that great. Soupy did sound very hoarse, and spoke a lot slower than we might be used to hearing.

Walter also said once "My idea of retirement is to stay in a dark room all day playing Space Invaders."

I knew I liked Walter after I read that line. :)



Um: SHE'S A JOURNALIST. Or alleged to be one, anyhow. Her job is to DO RESEARCH if she doesn't know her subject, and at least LOOK like she knows what the hell she's talking about.

I remember when people who actually practiced journalism sat behind those desks, not some flavor-of-the-week who gave someone a good hummer once.

What is the sound a sheep makes before it explodes? That Carnac line still makes me laugh to this day. Johnny was the greatest. Previous posts have mentioned 'class'; he had this aire about him that wasn't snooty or 'look at me'. He just did the show and let the guest shine. I remember sitting in Studio 1 watching 'Weakest Link' and just looking around in awe at the place that Johnny once was. I remember looking forward to watching 'Tonight' more after graduating high school (in 1992) only to have my plans dashed by his decision to leave.

Sis Boom Bah indeed.

Josh

Actually, it was FOX's Jamie Colby who was on Carson's legal team right out of law school. I didn't watch CNN's coverage, and from what I hear, I'm glad I didn't. MSNBC and Fox did have great coverage of the story.

sshuffield is correct. My apologies for getting the two networks switched up in all my channel flipping.

I brought this up in a post when Alan King died, but it bears repeating. King was Johnny's lead guest the night of that "Sis boom bah" joke (in August 1981). When Johnny cracked the punch line, Ed McMahon was convlusing like he hadn't convulsed for years, and Johnny started to crack up himself at the reaction (he couldn't get another Carnac question for about a minute and change--that's how strong the reaction was). After the bit was over and King came out for his interview, Carson openly lamented to him, "I broke the cardinal rule of comedy. You're not supposed to laugh at your own joke." King reassured him, "You're entitled." While that particular exchange was brief, it was a pleasure to see two of the greatest comics of any generation essentially comparing notes, as it were.

During my recent visit to L.A., I took a free day to go to the Musuem of TV and Radio in Beverly Hills (I had been to the one in NY a number of times). That "Sis Boom Bah" episode happened to be one of the ones that I viewed in the Screening Room. 23-24 years later, (like you) I'm still laughing (even as I'm typing this).

I did hear on the news that Leno does plan some sort of tribute tonight (and while I side with Chris L.'s suggestion that Leno bump all of tonight's guests and do the whole hour on Carson, I have a feeling it's not going to happen).

Doug

Well, let me again say that I understand the realities of the business and I totally understand that there are many business reasons why Leno couldn't clear the slate tonight. (And if were a REAL slate of guests, ya know, in the Robin Williams / Tom Cruise echelon, I'd believe that. Paris Hilton can blow me. God knows she has everyone else.) I have no doubt he'll have something appropriate to say (in fact, since I was so hurried to get out of the house yesterday, let me set the Tivo now while I'm thinking about it...GOD I love Remote Scheduling), but I do think it would be feasible to take a show later this week, maybe, and just make it an hour of Johnny clips. Or book some of the traditional Johnny guests and reminice for an hour. I'm sure NBC is gonna do a huge special of some kind, but the Tonight Show should pay their own personal tribute. Especially since Johnny is the reason Leno isn't playing Ha-Ha's Comedy Emporium right now.

NBC didn't do a whole heck of a lot to tribute Milton Berle or Bob Hope when they died as I recall. I hope they'll do a bit more for Carson.

The hour-long tribute that ran as "Dateline NBC" last night (and was re-aired on MSNBC later in the evening), as well as another tribute hour that MSNBC did, gives me the impression that these shows had been sitting on the shelf for a while. He was almost 80 so I'm sure NBC wanted to be prepared. Will there be anything more? I tend to doubt it. But it makes me wonder how many similar celebrity tribute shows are sitting in the can, waiting for their moment.

They had just done the Hope 100th birthday tribute, which I think was rerun on the occasion of his passing. Berle I can't speak to.


LOL. You are correct, of course. But for every business reason he "couldn't" clear the slate, there are many more other reasons why he could and should clear the slate. He already made the mistake once, upon getting bad advice from his agent/producer, to not saying one thing about Johnny when Jay took the full-time gig. And he was universally creamed in the press for it. Anything short of at least a full one segment tribute would probably cause the same creaming. It'd be generous of Jay to do even more, but given that the relationship between Carson and Leno was much colder than the relationship between Carson and Letterman (we all know Dave would've been Johnny's choice to succeed him) that's why I feel that the slate won't be cleared.

Doug -- and the countdown to 1000 continues

Well, a hummer costs 85-90k, so I'm sure it was money well spent(ducking)

I wasn't able to read this whole topic at once, but was Johnny C. a panelist on Password a couple of times?(Ludden version)

Mark Evanier reports that Paris won't open her mouth (as Chris L. said, she's done it for so many) on tonight's Tonight; instead, it'll be Jay and a group of the Carson-era comedians, supposedly including Bob Newhart and Don Rickles.

You are correct, sir!


It's a shame that Dave's show is a rerun tonight (per cbs.com) -- I'm sure Dave would've had a nice tribute as well, although most of his work with Carson is under lock stock & barrel with NBC.

But then again, I wouldn't be surprised if there was some sort of :30 or :60 tribute prior to the show's opening with or without a voiceover from Dave to mark Johnny's passing. They could easily take out the short 'show the audience' segment in the second half hour to compensate.


One of my favorite Carson eps I have on tape is when Dave was on with Johnny:

The last time Dave was on with Johnny prior to this particular ep, Carson's posse kidnapped Dave's beat up red pick-up truck and brought it on stage to show how ugly it was. According to Johnny, it was a neighborhood eyesore in Malibu as Dave kept it parked close to the street.

Somewhere during the transport, one of the truck's headlights was broken.

So the next time Dave was on The Tonight Show, they had also booked Judge Wapner, and they actually had Dave seeking damages in a "People's Court" small-claims setting.

Needless to say, Wapner ruled in favor of Dave, and was awarded a little over $50.

That's fabulous. That will be a money show. Set yer VR's, kids. D, P, C, whatever you have, doesn't matter, make sure you roll on this somehow, this will be a keeper.

(And a fine fine way to see just how well TivoToGo (which I finally got the upgrade for over the weekend) works. Now I need to find me the best inexpensive progressive-scan DVD player out there, as my old machine won't play burns. Time to upgrade!)

It would be classy of the Tiffany Network to do that, and in fact wouldn't surprise me. This loss should not know network lines. I don't know if I expect Kimmel to do anything formal, but he should at least say something, because really, without Johnny's success, Kimmel's still chugging beers with Adam Corolla. At best.

For some reason I'm reminded of a night when Carson was on Late Night, I dunno if he was pimping the Anniversary Show, or what it was, but when he came on set, he brought with him a cardboard fold-out desk, which he unfolded and set up in from of him next to Dave's when he sat down, explaining, after the expected comedic pause, "This is the only way I know how to talk to anyone!"

I saw Joe Gariogla(sp?) on CNN today paying tribute to Johnny. I thought Joe G. had died himself, guess I was wrong. BTW, for those who wonder who he is, he hosted TTTT in the '70s.

FYI--that night was part of a week where Dave did his show in Burbank, and they booked Johnny as a guest (Johnny plugged the appearance on that night's TONIGHT SHOW, starting a joke that he said he would finish on that night's LETTERMAN). Trio recently ran the LETTERMAN ep.

And per NBC.com, the guest list for tonight's LENO includes Ed McMahon, Don Rickles, Bob Newhart, Drew Carey and k.d. lang (one of her earliest network appearances was on CARSON when she joined Roy Orbison in a duet of "Crying" [recorded for some movie soundtrack]--I think Letterman had had her on before that).

Doug -- and the countdown to 1000 continues

Late Night did a week of shows in LA, May 1985.

I believe the end of the bit with the desk was "David, in another ten years you will have this desk." Gotta go check the tape.

You are correct, sir. Dave set him up for the line by saying, "You know something, I think your desk is bigger than mine." :)

Doug -- and the countdown to 1000 continues

He also, um, played a little baseball once.