Johnny Carson...Over-rated?

[ER]

Granted about the entirety of my viewership of The Tonight Show in the Carson era consists of my having been allowed to stay up and see his final show in May 1992, but after hearing for years that the man was the epitome of great talent who set the universal standard for all time as to what a host ought to be, I rented some DVD anthologies of highlights of his work and I have to confess...I just don't see that he was all that. Johnny Carson was good-natured, moderately entertaining, affable, quick-witted, but no more so than many others. I know times change and he did his thing in another era, in front of other generations with different sensibilities, but he seemed so silly with his innuendos, his double-entendres, his tiresomely inane sketch bits, his suggestively risque banter with guests. He also was out there doing his show at a time when he had very little serious broadcast competition over most of the course of his thirty-year run. When he had competition, his dominance of the genre became less secure. Ratings aside and just talking demonstrated capability here, the man is the eternally-reigning King of Late Night, why?

[Jack]

He was just a pleasant guy that people enjoyed spending their evenings with.  Made you chuckle once in a while, that's about it. 

[schmendrik]

What was it about Carson? It wasn't his monologue, which was so uniformly lame he made a schtick out of the lameness. It's not that he was some Great Talent. You watched Carson for the outstanding talent he'd have on, for the surprising things that would get said when he'd be talking to them on the set. They were obviously having a good time, and it was a nice, relaxing way to spend an evening. It was rumored that many kids were conceived by the lights of Johnny Carson.

[BoyScoutKevin]

It was watching every year, Ed Ames, who at the time was playing Mingo on "Daniel Boone," throw a tomahawk at the outline of a cowboy, and hitting the outline of the cowboy in the crotch with the tomahawk. It still makes me giggle, just thinking about it.

[ghouck]

But do you remember what Johnny said in response?

[ER]

Ha, yep, the hatchet throwing segment was in one of the Best Of DVD's I watched. Carson's reply was the epitome of himself.

[Hammock Rider]

   Back in the days of only 3 broadcast channels his show was part of the Public Dialogue. Nowadays there are dozens of shows you can watch at night thanks to cable and tivo but back then after the news there was.....Johnny! His show was what you talked about at the water cooler back when they really had water coolers. Also it was a pleasant way to wind down the evening right before bed. And every now and then there was a chance a marmoset would relieve itself on Johnny's head. 

[Dave M]

If you can manage to stay on the air for 50, 60, 70 years, your Best Of episodes are going to rock.