Posted on 01/31/2005 7:23:30 PM PST by John W
Thank you for posting that. It was truly enjoyable reading.
I enjoyed the tribute too.
Dave is right --- we've had to say
good by to Johnny TWICE, but this
time it's final. He was the greatest.
I knew Johnny loved Jack Benny and Bob Hope,
but did not know that he thought they both
stayed "on" too long and that he didn't want
to make that same mistake. He accomplished
that too.... he left near the top of his game.
I don't know, maybe the "Howard hughes" syndrom. When Johnny retired from the show he completely left the public eye. Entertainment Tonight was not doing stories of what is happening in his life every week. The only time I remember him on the news was when he had bypasss surgery, and even then it was limited as to how much info came out. Ask yourself, where are all the paparatzi pics of Johnny from the last 3 years?
The simple fact of no news makes any news BIG news.
Yes, you do have a point there. Good call.
I understand. I'm not sure what it is about people, but some see a person and crack up, other see them and sit there without a reaction at all.
That really is the way it is with most commedians. The lucky ones, affect a larger segment of the public in a favorable mannor.
I used to like Steve Martin a lot. Others found him flat as could be. Gotta admit, I've been soured on the guy after so many bombs and realizing the crowd he runs with.
Its good Johnny was there for the stupid people.
They need to laugh too.
Damn straight. Guaranteed by the Constitution. Just ask Pelosi and Reid.
Bob has some skills, but never on the same level performing skits and humor as Carson was with the likes of Red Skeleton, Bob Hope, Benny, Sinatra and so on.
This is like you comparing the driving skills of your mailman to that of a formula one race car driver.
thanks again for the post...that was a great show and great performance by the orchestra....
NEW YORK - It was Johnny Carson's last monologue and, predictably, it drew plenty of laughs.
David Letterman paid tribute to Carson, who died Jan. 23, by delivering a "Late Show" monologue Monday composed entirely of jokes the retired "Tonight" show host had quietly sent him in his final months.
Only after the monologue was through and Letterman was back behind his desk did he tell the audience who had written the jokes.
There were some topics Carson couldn't quite resist in retirement: Paris Hilton and Donald Trump's hair.
Letterman set up one joke by noting scientists had been working on an airplane that flew 50 miles above the Earth. Only two man-made objects were visible at that distance, he said.
"One is the Great Wall of China," Letterman said. "and the other is Donald Trump's hair."
Letterman said Hilton's dog, Tinker Bell, was missing for a few days because it was "with the Taco Bell chihuahua making a sex video."
Another joke noted Democrat John Kerry, under fire for his Vietnam service record, was criticized for throwing away some of his military service medals.
"Not to be outdone, President Bush threw away his National Guard spotty attendance records," he said.
One of Carson's former producers, Peter Lassally, told Letterman the one thing Carson missed after retiring in May 1992 was his nightly monologue. Carson would read the newspapers in the morning and write jokes, often calling Lassally and delivering them over the phone.
Only after much prodding did Carson agree to send some to Letterman.
"He was delighted that you did them and that the audience laughed at them," Lassally said.
Getting a call from Carson with jokes was "like Christmas morning, for God's sake," Letterman said.
It was an indication that Carson considered Letterman his rightful heir, even though NBC chose Jay Leno as his "Tonight" show successor. Leno paid tribute to Carson a week ago with a show that featured Carson sidekick Ed McMahon. Letterman's show was in reruns last week.
Letterman played a poignant clip from a few years after Carson's retirement. Carson walked onstage to deliver Letterman's top ten list and Letterman motioned to have him sit behind the desk. Carson did so and beamed, back in the driver's seat and soaking up a standing ovation. But before saying anything, he shook his head, smiled and walked offstage.
Carson felt some comics _ Bob Hope and Jack Benny, in particular _ stayed on past their prime and he didn't want to do that, Lassally said.
"He knew he wanted to be remembered as he was _ at the top of his game," he said, explaining Carson's disappearance from public life after retiring.
Letterman paid a warm tribute, saying he owed Carson for his career. NBC offered Letterman his own show after being impressed with his performances as a "Tonight" show guest, he said.
Everybody who's doing a talk show, himself included, is secretly doing Carson's "Tonight" show, he said.
"The reason we're all doing Johnny's `Tonight' is because you think, `Well, if I do Johnny's "Tonight" show, maybe I'll be a little like Johnny and people will like me more,'" he said. "But it sadly doesn't work that way. It's just, if you're not Johnny, you're wasting your time."
Letterman recalled so looking forward to Carson's nightly appearances that he was mad at the guest hosts on the nights Carson wasn't working.
"Johnny Carson was like a public utility," Letterman said. "At the end of the day, you wanted him to be there."
Probably as you say, I was just talking about how I and a great many others perceived his on-air personality. I don't know about his personal life although I do recall him talking about all his ex-wives. I stopped watching TV about 15 years ago--except for the Antiques Roadshow and the occasional special event like Bush's address yesterday.
The liberal media, and their cultural engineering agenda would fall apart if all of us followed your lead.
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