Via the NYT: Johnny Carson, America’s Late-Night Host for Decades, Dies
Johnny Carson, the droll, easy-going comedian who dominated late-night television for 30 years, becoming a national institution tucking millions of Americans into bed as the host of “The Tonight Show,” has died, NBC announced today. He was 79 years old.The cause was emphysema.
A shame. Carson was a class act and truly one of the all time giants of television history. It is still hard to believe the he has been off the air over 12 years (in some ways Jay Leno still seems like “the new guy” to me). Of course, my students know as much about Carson as I do about Jack Parr (maybe even less)–but such in the nature of my own aging. I always thought it was unfortunate that Johnny simply disappeared after he left The Tonight Show.
His was quite a career–and no one did late night like Johnny did:
During his reign, Mr. Carson was one of the most powerful performers on television, discovering new talent, rescuing old performers from oblivion and earning millions of dollars for his network, the National Broadcasting Company. In his heyday he generated approximately 17 percent of the network’s total profit and was, by any reasonable assessment, its most lustrous star since Toscanini. He held an overwhelming majority of the late-night viewers in the palm of his hand and his show was the biggest single money-maker in NBC history.
Too bad that his life was cut short by a disease no doubt brought on by smoking.
The Times has his last monologue and Frank Rich’s 1992 column on Carson.
I noted the news of Carson’s death at OTB.