← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · il ragno
Thread ID: 16392 | Posts: 11 | Started: 2005-01-23
2005-01-23 20:34 | User Profile
Dead at age 79 of emphysema.
Just a talk show host, I suppose, and nothing more - but I felt a little of the air going out of me nonetheless at hearing the news. Maybe it's the realization that the frivolous ephemera that mark the times of one's life will [I]all [/I] become answers to trivia questions and irrelevant ancient history before your eyes, if you live long enough.
2005-01-24 03:24 | User Profile
'Rachnid, Carson may have lacked Steve Allen's wit and Jack Paar's rebellious energy--but compared to Leno, Letterman, O'Brien & alia he was a shimmering diamond among cubic zirconia.
Johnny actually had on Classical Musicians, Novelists, Architects and Poets as guests. Today, it's all pop-kultur whiggers all the time...
2005-01-24 13:05 | User Profile
Carson was far better than Leno anyway. I used to laugh at his reactions when the baby animals would take a dump on him. :clown:
2005-01-24 14:04 | User Profile
Jay Leno is such a moron, asking his guest the most moronic questions; Letterman at the very least holds a decent interview, but his sidekick, bald little piano player/band leader is loathsome.
Carson's Tonight Show was definitely classic. Carson's monologues were so funny, and unlike Leno, Johnny knew just the right time to end his ditty, leaving you wanting more. With Leno's lengthy monologue/stand-up comedy act, it just gets old in a hurry.
2005-01-24 15:53 | User Profile
Carson was primarily a good thief. Carnac the Magnificent was a direct rip-off of Steve Allen's "Great Stevarino." Aunt Blabby was a carbon copy of Jonathan Winters' Maude Frickett, down to the glasses, wig and black dress. Johnny was shameless. To watch Carson today is to see how dated he is, though he was a genius compared to Leno, whose interviewing is painful to watch. Leno is even afraid to take a vacation for fear he would be so easily replaced. At least he knows how lame he is.
2005-01-24 16:34 | User Profile
Many nights did Carson keep me company when I was unable to sleep, he was a shinning star.
Funny part is that I never remember any of his shows, must be old age.
2005-01-25 17:22 | User Profile
[QUOTE=il ragno]Dead at age 79 of emphysema.
Just a talk show host, I suppose, and nothing more - but I felt a little of the air going out of me nonetheless at hearing the news. Maybe it's the realization that the frivolous ephemera that mark the times of one's life will [I]all [/I] become answers to trivia questions and irrelevant ancient history before your eyes, if you live long enough.[/QUOTE]
Very true, Ragno. When the icons of your youth start popping off, it becomes that much easier to see your own number somewhere down the line. A part of your defnining environment is gone forever.
I remember when Johnny Carson was the untried, young new comic of whom everyone was asking "can he ever replace Jack Paar?" Actually, Carson filled a very different niche from either Paar or the preceding Steve Allen, but he filled it exceedingly well. I stopped watching the [I]Tonight Show[/I] in the late Seventies (I never did get used to seeing Carson with white hair), but I almost always found at least part of his shows amusing, entertaining, informative or even all three. He was no classic entertainer of the Frank Sinatra magnitude, but what he did, he did with great skill.
Let us not forget, of course, that Allen, Paar and Carson were all three liberals of the most self-righteous sort. During the '68 elections, I clearly recall Carson saying flat out that he thought it was a disgrace that a man like George Wallace could even be [I]allowed[/I] to run for president (naturally, he got a big hand from the audience). Paar and Allen had the helm during less overtly ideological times, but there's little doubt they would have nodded vigorous agreement.
As a side note, I should say that of all three "classic" hosts of the [I]Tonight Show[/I], I preferred Steve Allen. Jack Paar was a bit too whiney and self-consciously bourgeois intellectual for my entire comfort, and Carson grew more and more Kalifornia Kool with each passing year.
2005-01-26 02:46 | User Profile
I didn't think Carson was funny at all, and I think Leno actually is. Oh well, to each his own.....
2005-01-26 03:26 | User Profile
Leno can be funny at times, but he sucks as a talk show host. The funniest thing on his show is when he reads the newspaper items sent in by viewers.
2005-01-26 04:06 | User Profile
When Johnny Carson had the tonight show, at least he had some interesting guests from time to time. In contrast to nowadays, a ding-a-ling host, talking to some other brain dead "celebrities". :wallbash:
N.B. Forrest - Glad to see you back again. :cheers:
2005-01-27 16:10 | User Profile
[IMG]http://www.johnnycarson.com/carson/images/carnac/dippittydew.gif[/IMG] The answer is "The Daily Show" ...
Where can you find John Stewart ripping off my expressions? ... [IMG]http://www.delafont.com/specialty_acts/Specialty_Images/jxmlmbr295.jpg[/IMG] Mmmmmm, Carnac has left the building!