Fare-wellllllll Johnny!

One of television's Kings was eulogized on the blue cathode ray machine today, as word spread of the passing of Johnny Carson. Larry King rolled in for a Sunday shift, pulling in Carl Reiner, Don Rickles, Dick Cavett, Mike Douglas, Phyllis Diller, Joan Rivers and a cast of Hollywoods past and present comedians to mourn the man that made their careers.

Having been out of the public eye for years now and rumoured to be sick for a while, it didn't come as a huge shock to hear of his passing, but yet surprised the many who spoke out in respect of the former late night Czar.

Carson's Tonight Show was the definition of "must see" television in the sixties, seventies and eighties, with the ever present Ed McMahon by his side and Doc Severinsen with the band, they ruled American television for over thirty years. The must not miss moment of any Carson show was his monologue, the three or four minute recap of what had happened in America on any given day. Through Vietnam and a seismic change in the US social structure, from moon landings, streakers and Presidents named Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan and Bush would find their programs under a comedic microscope, a daft plan by any of them would be fair game and would suffer mercilessly either in a monologue or a skit. But like a good general purpose everyman, Carson was much more than that.

His show would mix politicians with actors, singers with animals, the serious and the slightly insane could find themselves on the same show on any given night. A young unknown politician named Bill Clinton would begin to build his quest for the White House on the Carson show. Taking Carson's jibes in stride while finding a vehicle to place his name on the average American voters mind.

At times his show could be incredibly politically incorrect by today's standards, double entendres and close but not quite risque material was greeted with glee by an audience that never abandoned the master of late night television. An unwritten rule in show business is never work with animals or children, yet for Carson some of the best and funniest moments on the show came from some precocious six or seven year old seeming to get the best of Carson, likewise a chimp, bird, bear or any other member of the Animal Kingdom seemed to produce the best ad lib moments on the shows.

But by far the real winners on a Carson telecast would be the stand up comics, his show was the lab for many of our most popular comics past and present. An invitation to appear on the Carson show was akin to an audience with the Pope or a session with Royalty. Careers would zoom overnight if success was found on the Tonigh Show stage. Through the years young talents such as Jerry Seinfeld, Andy Kaufman, Freddie Prinze, Don Rickles, Bob Newhart, Jonathan Winters, Joan Rivers to name only a few would be the recipients of career success from a stint on the Tonight Show stage.

Carson seemed to have a special spot for the stand up comics, the lone gunslingers of the entertainment industry. He would set them up, let them do their stuff and if they made the best of the opportunity they would soon be on the set chatting with Carson. If you track the ones that have had the longest careers and made the most impact on the entertainment industry, you'll find a path back to the Burbank studios.

When Carson retired many had challenged but none had toppled his throne. He went out on the top with the road littered with the efforts of a Sajack, Thicke, Bishop, Cavett or Rivers along the way. His show became a template for television programming on all networks, any show with a host and a sidekick can trace it's DNA to Johnny Carson, who took what Jack Paar had started and turned it into an American cultural institution.

When you watch the clips over the next few days as the ET's, Inside Hollywood and such put forward their Carson specials you'll see a lot of corny material. Stuff that many of today's audience may find quaint, reflective of a different time and certainly of a different era of entertainment. But an era that built the blocks of the industry today.

But if you listen to the monologues, the timing of his bits and the by play with Ed McMahon as well as the nightly guest list, you'll find a timeless quality that lives on today on many of today's show both daytime and nighttime. In fact as his days apparently were declining this week, word leaked out that he still kept in touch with comedy providing a joke or two once and a while for the David Letterman show! It was one stop shopping for what was current in America's Day, an escape from troubled times for an hour a night, guaranteed to give you something to laugh about when perhaps a laugh was hard to come by. In short it was what Entertainment was supposed to be, a barometer of our times and entertaining as well!

His longevity and much respected status a testimony to his and his show's importance through the years. Long time fans of which I am one, said goodbye in 1992 now they do it again, this time for a final time!