Farewell, Johnny

By Erik Pepple
210 west Pop Culture Editor [send email]

I always wanted to be called to Johnny Carson's desk.

As a kid, I harbored the quiet fantasy that someday after performing a set on The Tonight Show, he'd point and nod, and, in the ultimate act of comedic validation, I would get to sit down next to Ed and Johnny and trade words and observations about the headlines or life in general, maybe even take a jab at the number of his ex-wives. You know, the usual Carson banter.

As I grew older my allegiances shifted to David Letterman and an all-consuming desire to write comedy, more specifically comedy for Letterman. And as I honed my two-bit Lettermanisms on a table of 8th graders who would merely shrug. (Except for my friend Matt, who would serve as my surrogate McMahon/Shaffer and would gladly chortle at my bits and riffs and give me my music cues. Come to think of it, it's not surprising at all that they would shrug at my absurd lunch-table antics. It's more surprising still that none of them tried to punch me.)

As I gradually perfected this imitation, it became more and more obvious that as I was copying Letterman, I was merely riffing on the late-night persona that Johnny Carson had created. This is not to say that Letterman was merely an impersonation of Carson, but to say that Carson's influence is
incalculable. Even the most original comedian is merely a tributary of the comedic river Carson created. Carson's hosting skills and comedic genius were unparalleled. He had the kind of timing that would
make a Swiss watchmaker weep, and a bravado in his delivery that at times was so funny as to stop you cold in your tracks.

Now that Carson has died at age 79 (due to complications from emphysema), it's hard to even begin assessing his influence. Measuring the impact of Johnny Carson in comedy is like calculating the Beatles' influence on pop music -- it's so vast and far-reaching that it is nearly impossible to list all those
whom he has inspired. His influence resides in comedians who are probably too young to realize that they've been affected by him. The list of careers he kick-started is too long to ponder. Consider this:
Without Carson asking them to sit at the desk, Jerry Seinfeld, George Carlin, Dennis Miller, Bill Cosby,
David Letterman, Jay Leno, David Brenner, Joan Rivers, and so many others may never have reached the heights of their careers.

I remember watching the final episode of The Tonight Show with my dad. After Carson spent the monologue simply reflecting on his career, I could have sworn I saw my dad's posture slump as he internally recognized that the classic era of television broadcasting was over. And while the era wasn't officially gone, it is now with Carson's death. No doubt more poignant and more significant remembrances of Carson will be proffered in the coming days. (In fact, whatever way Letterman pays tribute has the potential to be one of the finest moments in broadcast history, as Letterman is so clearly the rightful heir to Carson's legacy. Carson actually felt the same to the point where, on occasion, he'd write jokes for Letterman's monologue).

In the end I carry with me the memory of Carson as Carnac, Carson bemusedly staring at Joan Embry as she wheedles around with a monkey, or needling Ed McMahon when the sidekick would chortle slightly louder than he needed to. While Steve Allen may have been ground zero for contemporary talk show comedy, Johnny Carson was the man who perfected it with a mix of irony and wit that to this day is as fresh, classic, and iconic as it was in its prime.