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January 23, 2005
GOODNIGHT, JOHNNY By now, you've
GOODNIGHT, JOHNNY
By now, you've heard. Johnny Carson, the king of late night and the most successful television entertainer in history, has died of emphysema. He was 79.
Johnny Carson was more than a talk show host and more than a late night pioneer. He became a legendary part of Americana, the man that the country went to bed with every night and made part of their homes. Carson was on television for 30 years -- far longer than any entertainer in televsion. And he wasn't just playing out the string; Carson was still winning his time slot and routinely trouncing all challengers right up until the end of his career.
Carson's genius wasn't necessarily in his comedy. He was never the edgiest comic out there; he was never quite the funniest. But, he was funny -- consistently -- for 30 years. He knew just how far he could go with a joke before it became too far. He knew what he could make fun of without offending his audience. He was able to be funny, charming and reassuring enough to get himself invited back into people's homes every night for 30 years. How many comedians can you think of who could be funny enough to stay on TV for that long without pushing the envelope? Prevented by format from going edgy, Carson stayed funny. That's one hell of an achievement.
But Carson's true genius lay in two things he did without equal. First, in the history of comedy there has never been a performer so skilled in recovering from a joke that bombed. Any comic has jokes that fail. Carson could react to a flop -- whether with a one-liner, a faux insult of the audience, or even with just a facial expression -- in a way that instantly won the crowd back, with the biggest laugh of the night. He was comfortable enough to make fun of himself, to make failure a punchline -- and that confidence made him even funnier. There will never be another comic who recovers that well from a joke that didn't work. He was as quick-witted as anyone who ever told a joke for an audience.
That quick wit also fed Carson's other great talent: he was the best interviewer in talk show history. While other talk show hosts rehearse the interview with their guests before they go on thei air, Carson refused to do so. Other hosts stick religiously to the script; Carson preferred to ad-lib and go down unexpected paths. He could do so because he was a great listener, and because he had that quick wit. Whatever a guest said or did, Carson could go with it and make it funny. Whether he was talking to Frank Sinatra or an 87 year old woman who collected potato chips that look like people, Carson was respectful of every guest, and could be funny with them. He was the master of funny reactions; he could take any situation and make it funnier with a faux-panic response or a one-liner. Try seeing someone do that unrehearsed today.
Perhaps Carson's biggest legacy is the impact he had on the face of comedy. For the entire run of Carson's Tonight Show, there was no bigger supporter of new comedians than Johnny Carson, no more coveted gig than a few minutes on the Carson show, and no bigger endorsement than Johnny inviting a new comic to the couch after he or she had finished their set. The list of up and coming comedians who got their first national exposure through Carson and then later became stars reads like a who's who of comedy from the 1960s through today. Rodney Dangerfield. Phyllis Diller. Joan Rivers. Rich Little. David Brenner. Jay Leno. David Letterman. Jerry Seinfeld. Tim Allen. Drew Carey. The list is so long, but you can pretty much get the rest of it by looking at anyone who had a sitcom or a hit comedy album from the 1960s to the 1990s. None of Carson's heirs mentor their field like Johnny did.
There are two tributes that I can think of that would be appropriate. Tomorrow night, Jay Leno should open the Tonight Show with Johnny's old theme... he shouldn't come out from behind the curtain -- when it's time for "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Johnny," the spotlight should just stay on Johnny's old mark before fading to commercial. And on Saturday Night Live, they should bring Dana Carvey back for one skit... and do one like they did when Rodney Dangerfield died, where someone doing an impression of the star would run through some of his best bits while standing at the Pearly Gates, trying to convince St. Peter to let him into heaven. When St. Peter says, "You were getting in anyway," the star says, "So how come you made me do all this?" St. Peter just says, "Because I just wanted to hear those jokes one last time."
Carson was a rarity -- an icon whose status grew bigger after he left the spotlight. He was as much a part of Americana from 1962-1992 as McDonald's or Coca-Cola. And we won't see his like again.
Good night, Johnny. And thank you.
