Johnny Carson, Dead at 79.

[American Oyaji]

There goes Johnny.

LOS ANGELES - Johnny Carson, the "Tonight Show" TV host who served America a smooth nightcap of celebrity banter, droll comedy and heartland charm for 30 years has died. he was 79.
(more)

[deltaco]

RIP

[mr. sparkle]

Hard to believe. The man seemed ageless--timeless. I had heard in the last couple of years, he has been secretly kicking Letterman jokes.

[American Oyaji]

No big secret. He said as much.
But it also signifies how much faith he has in his former show and his relationship with his replacement, Jay Leno.

[Charles]

CNN and NBC are doing wall-to-wall coverage, with over a dozen "heeeeeere's Johnny" per hour, and at least 5 Bette Midler goodbye songs per hour. I haven't seen this sort of coverage since Ronald Reagan died. If I have to listen to Bette Midler one more time, I think I'm going to puke.


Come on TV networks, the guy was a COMEDIAN, not a head of state. There is no reason to have endless interviews with everyone who ever knew him, no reason for 20 minute reminisces with Jackie Mason and Ray Romano. And if you're going to show clips with goofy costumes like Carnak the Magnificent, you should show some of the Carnak jokes so everyone knows how truly lame they were. Here's a good example that I still remember from the 1980s:

A: Ghotbzadeh
Q: What do you do if you don't get enough wife-by-night.

Goats by day haw haw haw

Sure the networks think this is great TV, they've got lots of footage to use, already conveniently edited into highlight reels. But he hasn't been seen on TV since 1992, there is a whole generation of people that have NEVER seen Carson on TV. And even during his last decade on the Tonight Show, everyone said he was way over the hill, not bothering to work up any energy for the show, people were begging him to retire. So don't feed us a lot of bull about how he "retired at the top of his career" when that happened at least 15 years before he retired.

And don't feed us a bunch of bull about how he "changed the face of television," sure he was good at what he did, which was exactly like what everyone before him did, he hosted a talk show, just like all the other talk shows. He was a guy who told jokes between TV commercials.

So Mr. Network TV Programmer, please spare us all the endless tributes. It's sad he's dead but there are many more important things that happened today that are more worthy of news coverage. Carson retired and spent the rest of his life hiding from the public eye, his family is having no memorial service, why can't you respect his wishes and just leave him alone, instead of exploiting him for TV ratings one more time?

[Taro Toporific]

... But he hasn't been seen on TV since 1992, there is a whole generation of people that have NEVER seen Carson on TV?

I sort-of agree with Charles here. Johnny was only on TV for only 30 years during which he took off 2-3 days a week. Tamori (that guy always wears black sunglasses) is the host of several Japanese TV programs. On "Tamori Club" he has been working EVERDAY, often several times a day, since 1975. His "Waratte Iitomo!" has been broadcasting at lunchtime everyday for the past 29 years. It has been on the air more than five thousand broadcasts. And he is still working everyday.
"Tomodati no tomodati ha mina tomodati!"

[Charles]

I don't really mean to speak ill of the dead, but I do believe we owe them the truth. I don't think Johnny would approve of the way people have gone overboard gushing about his career, he'd be the first to admit he's just an entertainer, he was a humble guy.

[Taro Toporific]

On "Tamori Club"...
"Tomodati no tomodati ha mina tomodati!"

Hey wait a minute folks. Did I mistype this phrase? Shouldn't it be:
"Tomodachi no tomodachi ha minna tomodachi!" ???

Damn,tomodati sounds geigh, doesn't it?

[Charles]