Sad Farewell....

[californiagirl]

... to a great man and comedian- Johnny Carson. Had just heard on the radio not 2 weeks ago that he was writing for David Letterman. He will surely be missed. Dateline scrapped their Sunday show and replaced with a tribute. Fitting.

[Bucko]

I know it is trite, but he truly was one of a kind -- everyone else is a wannabe IMHO.

He made me laugh ...

[PinotEnvy]

I havn't watched the Tonight Show in years, but I plan to plop myself in front tonight. I trust Jay will have a nice tribute to his predicessor.

[winoweenie]

Left shoes that'll be almost impossible to fill. He and Ed were a couple of the funniest men ever on the air, EVEN sober. WW

[wineguruchgo]

I missed him in 92 when he left the air and loved the fact that he kept his private life private.

He was a comedic genius and he made me belly laugh on more than one occasion.

Unfortunately my vcr didn't tape his final episode which I understand was touching. I'm going to rent it so I can finally see it.

He will be truly missed.

[wondersofwine]

Commentators speak of Bette Midler singing to him on his final show. I'm 90% certain that it was on his next-to-last show. I think the final show he had no guests and just talked to the audience. I may purchase the video or DVD that has Bette Midler on.
Johnny contributed several large sums of money to the University of Nebraska for the journalism and theater arts departments. He also was asked one year to select the yearbook beauty queen (I think from photos sent to him) and that year it was one of my Theta pledge sisters, Marilyn Masters. I met Johnny's sister at a Theta meeting in Monterey area, California. I think she lived in Carmel area. I saw him perform live once at the Nebraska Centennial celebration. He appeared at the Pershing Auditorium in Lincoln and killed the audience. Some of it was geared to local things like the small Lincoln airport with one limo driver or luggage handler or something like that.
One of the funniest shows that I haven't seen in tributes so far was when Dolly Parton made her first appearance. Her repartee with Johnny (whether scripted in advance or not) was hilarious and seemed ad lib.

[Innkeeper]

I'll never forget seeing live Ed Ames and his tomahawk. Imagine being doubled over with laughter and then have Johnny say, "Gee, I didn't know you were Jewish."

The last show was a monologue. Bette and Robin Williams were on the second to last show.

[wondersofwine]

Another thing that cracked me up was the dancing Judge Itos from the O.J. trial. My sister and I saw it together and were FOTFLOL. To Beach Boys "Fun, Fun Fun 'Til Her Daddy Took Her T-Bird Away" they sang about Fung, Fung, Fung tries to put O.J. away (Fung was an expert witness on DNA). It had a line about Kato Kaelin going to the drive in, etc. And I loved the skit in lumberjack garb with hat with flaps hanging down, etc.

[hotwine]

Johnny was my all-time favorite. None like him. The other guys are still trying to get a fix on his style of comedy. Just wish his show had come on earlier in the evening.... tough to stay up long enough to see it when you have a many-years-habit of getting up at 0400.

[PinotEnvy]

WOW,

OJ and the Dancing Itos is of the Leno era. Johnny had already retired by then. That being said, that was a funny bit though.

Myself, I always loved Carnac. The jokes were bad, but thats what I loved about it.

[wondersofwine]

Yeah, I liked Carnac too. And I thought after I had posted that perhaps the O.J. trial was in the Leno era. Sorry for the confusions.

[PinotEnvy]

Just sitting here remembering back to my days in Jr Hi. We had an assignment to make our own commecials as a presentation. I did my own version of Tea Time Theater, including the fork in the road bit. I only needed the Tea Time blond to complete the bit.

[Georgie]

and let's not forget the animal episodes! Carson was a great sport with those critters.

[stevebody]

I happened to be watching on several of those nights that have become legend. The night he interviewed Arnold Palmer's wife was brilliant. (Out of respect for any ladies amongst us, I won't repeat the exchange unless asked. I assume most of you remember it) I never watch the Tonight Show now. I like Leno well enough but he has the hardest gig in show biz: following Carson. Can't be done, really. He was the essence of cool and humanity, from era to era.

[PinotEnvy]

Mrs. Palmer's quote was funny, but the Zha-Zha Gabor one was even better. I can't post that quote either, but it involes her bringing her cat out with her.

[This message has been edited by PinotEnvy (edited 01-26-2005).]

[Bucko]

The Carnac insults were the best:

May a rodeo cowboy bust your sister.

May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your sister's hoop skirt.

May your wife gain intimate knowledge of a diseased camel.

May your only son aspire to become a eunuch ...

[Georgie]

So funny. and just where and how were the Carnac questions securely kept before showtime?

[wineguruchgo]

Pinot Envy,

"Zha-Zha Gabor one was even better. I can't post that quote either, but it involes her bringing her cat out with her."

It's funny because I was going to say it was Rachel Welch that said it. Yet when I did a google search on it Urban Legends is saying it never happened because it wouldn't have gotten past the censors.

Hmmm....

[PinotEnvy]

I did a quick search on this and found an urban legend web page on it.

http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/zsazsa.htm

Re: Raquel Welch, it says
"it has also been told about Raquel Welch, Ann-Marget, Dyan Cannon, and Farrah Fawcett-Majors, among other."

This page also has a 1989 video clip of Jane Fonda asking Johnny about that where Jane says the words. Johnny says No, I think I would recall that.

My appologies for falling victim to the legend myself.

[Kcwhippet]

Be aware snopes has some inaccurate information. Don't know how they come up with some of their "facts" because actual documentation has proved them wrong more than once.