Farewell, Johnny Carson

I was very shokced yesterday when I heard that Johnny Carson had died. Just last week on "Entertainment Tonight" and other shows, they were talking about how even though he retired from show business, he was still writing jokes and giving them to David Letterman. He was only 79, and had suffered from emphysema.  I feel confident that even people living under a rock knew who Johnny Carson was.  "Heeeeeere's Johnny" will be heard in our minds forever.

Johnny Carson had been married four times, and was divorced three times.  He was almost the male version of Elizabeth Taylor or Zsa Zsa Gabor.  But his multiple divorces amde for many jokes furing his thirty years as hose of "The Tonight Show."

Grandma and Grandpa were big "Tonight Show" fans.  They loved Johnny Carson.  They stayed up late during the week waiting for Mom and Dad to get home from their second-shift jobs at B&W, and they would faithfully watch the first half hour of "The Tonight Show."  As a kid, it was a special treat if I got to stay up late and watch it with them.  On occasion, if I'd behaved during the week and took a nap when I got home from school, Grandma would let me stay up and watch it with her and Grandpa on a Friday night.  My favorite part of of "The Tonight Show" was when Johnny would be "The Great Carnac."  As a little kid, I didn't understand half of the jokes Johnny Carson told, but when I heard Grandma and Grandpa laughing, I knew it had to be funny, so I laughed too. 

In addition to his legacy with "The Tonight Show", Johnny Carson will also be remembered as a star who helped out the young, unknown comics.  If it weren't for him, we wouldn't be laughing at Joan Rivers, Jay Leno, Bill Cosby, Jerry Seinfeld, George Carling and David Brenner, just a few of the many he helped during his career.  I think Johnny was simply giving back what he'd been given; comic legend Red Skelton hired a young, unknown comic named Johnny Carson as a writer for his show, and even let Johnny host his live show when he was injured during a rehearsal. 

I was a faithful watcher of "The Tonight Show' until Johnny retired in 1992.  Since then, I bet I haven't watched it twenty times.  It wasn't the same without Johnny Carson; it never will be.