Returning to my apartment from the snowbanks outside my building, I fired up NY1, a local news channel which functions as a lesser, NYC-centric CNN. Within thirty seconds of doing so, I heard the news that Johnny Carson, host of The Tonight Show for 30+ years, passed away this morning.
Only four days ago, literally, I encountered an article about Carson that made me smile: the article, located at http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=656445, reported that Carson would, every so often, send David Letterman a joke to use with the latter's monologue. It also mentioned that he was battling emphysema and that, at 79, he was enjoying retirement. Finally, it added that Carson always privately regarded Letterman as the proper Tonight Show heir.
And then today's news reminded me that, despite being off the air since 1992, Johnny Carson was an icon not just of late-night television but of this country, sort of like a wittier, funnier Bob Hope. While I, like many of my peers, was too young to observe Johnny Carson's rise from small-time to big-time to national to An Institution, I remember watching how many guests expressed their respect and their love and admiration for the man who, for me, defined The Tonight Show, for restrained class, and the high standard by which the other late-night entertainers are and will be judged.
I happen to agree that David Letterman is Carson's heir apparent, and while that may be true, it won't change the fact that, as of this morning, we as a nation lost An Institution.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment