Maybe today's post was going to be about football. Or maybe it was going to be about the BBC writing competition that I'm going to enter assuming I can shit out a 2000-word modernized telling of one of the Canterbury Tales before I head to Tahoe. Maybe it was going to be a rant about how U2 is playing here the weekend of my 30th birthday and I can only go to one of the shows since friends of ours are getting married that Saturday. (On a side note, I was doing my usual bellyaching about these poorly timed nuptuals last week and I told the better half that as a result of her being in this wedding that "I'm accumulating a lot of capital and I intend on spending it.")
But all of that will have to wait. Today's post is about Johnny Carson.
His passing yesterday really made me start to feel old. Reagan died last year. Sinatra's been gone for a few years. So has Mickey Mantle. All these icons from the past 2 generations before mine are dropping like flies...and I'm rueing the day when it catches up with mine.
I actually didn't start watching The Tonight Show until I was like a freshman in high school. I had a TV in my room and would often turn it on late at night in a futile attempt at rebellion before one of the Ps would knock at the door and tell me to go to sleep. And to think...most of the time I was watching Nightline. But yeah, when I was about 14 I started watching Carson, and I got a kick out of it....Dr. Joan Embry, Ed McMahon, Carnac The Magnificent. I always thought it would just be old time movie stars yapping about lunch in the Polo Room at the Beverly Hills Hotel, but ol'Johnny was actually a pretty hip dude. Doc Sevrensen had the best jackets, too.
I remember watching his last show, and yeah I cried a little bit when he bid us all a very heartfelt goodnight. I didn't see the show the night before where Bette Midler sang to him, though. He pretty much faded away after that...he'd pop up during NBC's Wimbledon coverage and that was about it.
But yeah, Johnny, I'll miss you.
Every time someone asks what my dog's name is I always tell them "Carson, like Johnny." Truth is, that was the name he had when we got him from Anti-Cruelty. But now I guess it means a little more.
RIP.
But all of that will have to wait. Today's post is about Johnny Carson.
His passing yesterday really made me start to feel old. Reagan died last year. Sinatra's been gone for a few years. So has Mickey Mantle. All these icons from the past 2 generations before mine are dropping like flies...and I'm rueing the day when it catches up with mine.
I actually didn't start watching The Tonight Show until I was like a freshman in high school. I had a TV in my room and would often turn it on late at night in a futile attempt at rebellion before one of the Ps would knock at the door and tell me to go to sleep. And to think...most of the time I was watching Nightline. But yeah, when I was about 14 I started watching Carson, and I got a kick out of it....Dr. Joan Embry, Ed McMahon, Carnac The Magnificent. I always thought it would just be old time movie stars yapping about lunch in the Polo Room at the Beverly Hills Hotel, but ol'Johnny was actually a pretty hip dude. Doc Sevrensen had the best jackets, too.
I remember watching his last show, and yeah I cried a little bit when he bid us all a very heartfelt goodnight. I didn't see the show the night before where Bette Midler sang to him, though. He pretty much faded away after that...he'd pop up during NBC's Wimbledon coverage and that was about it.
But yeah, Johnny, I'll miss you.
Every time someone asks what my dog's name is I always tell them "Carson, like Johnny." Truth is, that was the name he had when we got him from Anti-Cruelty. But now I guess it means a little more.
RIP.
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