Was Johnny Carson really that good?

[accipiter]

I'm young so I never saw his show, and the few clips I've seen leave me cold.

I like Letterman. Can't stand Leno.

So was Carson something special?

[Aristus]

1. Yes, he was. Even when he was bad, he was good.

He was kind, funny and never, ever vicious.

Only time I saw him angry was when he read on air tabloid reports about his wife.

Funny, and never vicious. That's pretty rare today.

[accipiter]

4. that sounds cool

[fluffernutter]

12. good description, Aristus. he was special

he had such a sweetness about him, and he was so quick to find a joke and play it up with facial expressions and getting others to laugh before he cracked.

[Aristus]

18. "This is the kind of crowd that would send an Arrow shirt to

General Custer!"

That was one of his best bomb-defusers. :7

[meisje]

2. Young Americans YAS SIR!

YES!

[Daphne08]

3. Yes, he really was.

[KitchenWitch]

5. try and rent the best of carson DVDs

this is some funny shit, and actually most of it is very timeless!

[elperromagico]

One of the best interviewers in late night history, certainly.

Carson would actually sit back and listen occasionally, rather than always saying, "You know, that reminds me of a story..."

[Boswells_Johnson]

6. Nobody has ever been able to touch his monologues either.

[Hepburn]

7. Yes, he really, really was.....

....he was an original and never afraid to admit when he bombed a joke. He could laugh at himself and he was NEVER mean or cruel to people. He was just a special man.

[madinmaryland]

8. He was unique. There will never be another.

As someone else said when he was bad, he was still funny.

[candy]

9. I like Letterman himself but hate his show---

The "Will it float?" with those two idiot chicks and the boring "Top Ten" list just turn me off.

I love his monologue and interviews though.

[Skittles]

10. no

same mystique that Reagan had

[Tikki]

36. I agree....eom

[PartyPooper]

11. If you have to ask the question, you didn't know him.

Obviously, you are too young to have known or appreciated Johnny Carson. And, that's too bad.

But, he was a class act all the way. He personified late night television for 30 years.

There is nobody today that even comes close to the guy.

:-)

[Spiffarino]

13. Yes he was

I watched his shows back when I was a tiny little kid in the '60s. I didn't get the humor then, but I liked Johnny. He reminded me of the people I knew in the Midwest - kind, talkative, generous - and I could relate to him.

As I grew up I made it a point to watch him whenever I could. He rarely disappointed. Even on his worst night he was better than most.

Lots of performers can entertain you once in a while; even fewer can do it on a weekly basis. Johnny did it almost every day and, like all who are the best at what they do, he made it look easy.

[SuffragetteSal]

14. Yes!

I grew up in my adolescent years watching late night television, sitting with my boyfriend on the couch making out! I am sorry you didn't get a chance to do the same thing (although you can try it with Letterman and see what happens). Johnny was the real deal. Everyone that knew him through his acting, his comedic talent and his personality loved him.

[Enraged_Ape]

15. His show was like being invited to a cocktail party every night...

with a lot of funny, smart people. Carson kept the entertainment rolling even when a guest or a joke didn't work quite right, and he made it all look completely effortless night after night, year after year.

Yes, he was something special.

[pbartch]

16. HE WAS TOTALLY AMAZING.

There is no one that would call Johnny "cold"....he had humor, warmth, class and intelligence.

[prairierose]

17. Yes, he really was that good and....

he wasn't mean or vicious. He didn't swear every other word and really did not make jokes at other people's expense. And even though many of his jokes & sketches were really silly, they were NOT stupid as so many are today. In fact, to understand many of them you needed to know something about current events. They were not disconnected from the world. Neither Letterman nor Leno can hold a candle to Johnny. Even though, he's been off the air for so many years, there are many nights when I go looking for his show at 10:30 and miss it again.

Besides, the monkey peeing on his head was absolutely priceless.


:toast:

[barb162]

32. remember the baby lion or tiger that crapped on his shirt?

[AwakeAtLast]

19. You have to watch more than a few short clips.

I was in college when he retired, but I remember many shows when I was allowed to stay up that late. His monologue was good, but I was always fascinated by his interviews. Some really great moments happened with people who are no longer around.

I always thought Letterman was the replacement for Mr. Carson. I still don't like to watch Leno that much. But now that I live in a state that broadcasts late night at 11:30 p.m. instead of 10:30 p.m., I don't watch that much late-night period.

[Maddy McCall]

20. You had to be there.

Yes, he was the best.

[BrklynLiberal]

21. It is kind of difficult to judge a 30+ year career by a few clips.

[DUgosh]

22. Bedtime was after Johnny's monolog

Growing up in the unstableness of the sixties, in a very disfuntional family, when "Dad" was never there, or very drunk when he was, and
"Mom" pretended nothing was wrong, and that we lived in the perfect time and had the perfect family, the monolog was like getting "tucked in" at night. Johnny Carson was the only dependable, stable thing in my childhood. A constant.

[accipiter]

30. that right there

is a true testament to the man...

I hope he knew what he meant to so many people. I assume he did.

[carpetbagger]

23. Yes, he was.

His show had a balance that talk shows today lack. There was humor, but beyond the monologue, it was a humor that wan't forced. His conversations with his guests were intelligent, but he didn't place himself and his guests on an Oprah-esque pedestal of self-perceived enlightenment. He was well-informed, but you never really knew whether he was a republican or a democrat.

Letterman came on the scene almost as a spoof of Carson. And it worked for him, although I don't think it's worked for the generation of talk-show hosts who tried to replicate it- they come off as sarcastic, although I suppose that could just be because our entire culture is consumed in sarcasm.

As another poster said, it was like being invited to a cocktail party every night. There were moments of both high humor and slapstick, good music, but mostly people talking to a person who could make a conversation interesting to listen in on. That's something that few, if any, in the current media environment, can do. Not Leno, not Letterman, not Larry King, not any of them.

[solinvictus]

24. Carson..

He was of the old school of comedy, meaning that you could jab at someone without malice. His monologues, sketch comedy, and overall demeanor made him famous because of his subtle, straight man humor.

[Acryliccalico]

25. Defiantly YES he was that good!

[proud2BlibKansan]

26. Yes

best monologue ever.

[bobthedrummer]

27. Yep, he was that good.

[Shopaholic]

28. Yes.

I hate that so many of you don't have memories of him doing the Tonight Show.

[onecent]

29. Carson was SO powerful for 30 years that if he gave you his

sign of approval - you became a mega star. He was phenomenal.
Out of this world. I cried the night he retired, and never dreamed he wouldn't return to entertain those who loved him.

[barb162]

31. it's like seeing a 5 second clip of Cary Grant or Marlon Brando

in their prime and not thinking they were that good. Carson was terrific. They should run his 30 years of shows on late night TV. Why they aren't doing it anyway is beyond me. He is a thousand times better than Leno. He was a true gentleman who was genuinely funny, very smart and who had a ton of class. Leno, Conan, etal have next to no class or talent in comparison to Carson.

Letterman basically modelled himself after Carson and I can see certain moves that Letterman does that are taken with the best intentions from Carson. Letterman is probably closest as a human can be to Carson IMHO but even he can't touch Carson

Many of the clips I have seen the stations running are not exactly the best of Carson. He played the audience like a genius, like Mozart composed music. He was that good.

[RandomKoolzip]

33. I was 17 when he retired, so.....

What I remember about Carson was that his voice, when I was really young, was soothing and his demeanor was relaxed yet uproarious. Like another poster has said, watching his monologue in the scary Reagan years was like getting "tucked in."

As a sullen teenager, I often skipped Carson, because his reliance on guest hosts was getting annoying and Letterman's show was genuinely a dangerous piece of TV; on Dave's program, you never really knew what would happen, whereas Carson's appeal was that you ALWAYS knew what would happen...the former appealed to me more as a young'un (and still does,) but now that I'm a little older, I can see why the latter is just as valuable.

[Thurston Howell IV]

34. Carson was very special

I watched him almost every weeknight for more than a decade (mid-60's through late 70's) and I agree with all the compliments that previous posters have made. Something I find interesting is that, in my experience of the media culture, Carson is the first celebrity who has died of whom the all the positive post-mortem compliments ring true.

I don't think you'll be able to capture many of the qualities of the experience of watching him night after night by just viewing highlight clips. It reminds me of something a movie reviewer wrote concerning the difference between light entertainment and "lite" entertainment. Light entertainment involved interesting characters with appealing human qualities who we enjoy spending time with (vicariously), while "lite" entertainment involves stereotyped characters acting out stories with thin plots that distract us for a couple of hours.

[fortyfeetunder]

35. Another yes, he was that good!!

I watched Johnny for a good part of the 30 years, considering I was about 5 when he started...and I used to sneak up late at night outside my parents bedrooom and listen to the show. I vaguely remember Jack Paar, dayum I was a toddler nightowl!

Johnny's brand of comedy was classic all the way. Good mockups of vaudeville and the physical comedy. Johnny had a way of making an audience crack up just by the deadpan expression. He was priceless.

I thought his greatest contribution to show business was giving young comedians their first opportunities to perform. And he didn't limit appearances to comedy; classical musicians, actors, magicians, all got an opportunity.

The one thing Johnny Carson's show did for me was generate an interest in visiting the San Diego zoo. Those moments were priceless, as was all his animal guests.

IT wasn't all about Johnny though. By the time I was in high school, Doc Severinsen was every band geek's idol. And Ed McMahon's deep, raspy voice with Heeeeeeeeeres Johnny was a household word.

So yes, Johnny's passing was the end of an era. We aren't ever going to have a late night show of the caliber that Johnny presented.

I am so sorry Johnny retired in the early 90's. He missed the opportunity to joke about Clinton and Bush. However, in terms of political comedy, I think Jon Stewart is taking up the slack there.

I will agree with another poster recommending seeing the best of Johnny. I saw the first volume last month while donating platelets at a blood center. I had to stifle my laughter because I didn't want the blood center technicians to think I had thrown a fit!

[TroubleMan]

37. Yes ... he was

nt.

[MrScorpio]

38. Johnny was the king

Every night he hosted was a special night. Towards the end, he had a lot of guest hosts. I always wanted to see Johnny. Because it really wasn't the Tonite Show without him.

He had a special way of bringing you into the studio with him. It was his way of making everyone feel welcome. He loved new talent. You had the feeling that if you were a new comic, the place you wanted to be was on his show. He had a special way of making both celebrities and non-celebrities feel as if he was their friend.

My favorite of all his guests was Rodney Dangerfield. After Rodney did his standup, you knew that it wasn't enough. Rodney would sit down and continue his shtick until he was all out jokes and Johnny would sit there and crack up just like the rest of us.

When Johnny left the Tonite Show, I didn't care for it anymore. Without him, it was never the same.

[VOX]

39. When Carson retired, he took the late-night talk show with him...

**That's** how good he was.

Nobody, I mean **nobody** can do what he did, as well, as consistently, and as long.

He wasn't a comedy genius, but he made you laugh, hard, and he made you connect. He was genuine, and had an abiding respect for his guests, whether they were a grandmother from Iowa, or Frank Sinatra, or a green stand-up comic just breaking in.

His wit is now woven into everyday life -- there are Carson bits and mannerisms in our everyday speech ("How cold was it?").

I still can't believe that he's gone.

[B Calm]

40. Johnny was a class act. 100 times better than Leno!

[arwalden]

41. The last of the great comedians is gone...

... unfortunately there is very little real humor left on TV (or anywhere else, for that matter). Most of the time, what passes for humor is nothing more than rude, crude, cheap sex, vulgarity, and personal insults. And even then it's propped up by the omnipresent cacaphony of the laugh track!

>> and the few clips I've seen leave me cold. <<

That's a shame.