Two emotional clips from Johnny Carson’s farewell show.
Here is the tribute piece by Steve Martin, written after Carson passed away.
I still miss Carson.
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I first came to Carson through re-runs and, later, YouTube, and I saw something no one older than me ever told me: he really was hilarious. Not that people don’t say that, obviously, but so much discussion about him concerns his “class.” What they never talk about is how daring Johnny was, how he could push the envelope in ways that didn’t become obvious until the moment passed and, hours later, you jumped up and said “How the HELL did he get away with that?!” He had the ultimate ability to not care whether anyone laughed even as he would do things for them that no one talks recognizes for their comic absurdity (all that cross-dressing and pratfalls with animals). Where Letterman actively tries — or tried, at least, in his glory days — to pit himself against the audience to make a new kind of late-night comedy, Leno dumbs his stuff down for mass appeal and Conan/Craig Ferguson go for more surreal flavor, Johnny just went out and let it all happen.
That Steve Martin piece you linked to is beautiful. Martin is one of those people who seems to exist better as a wit than in his talents — though he’s often been hysterical on the screen, his projects are extremely hit/miss while his natural self is always funny — and he shined on Carson. I love that old bit where Steve came on and read from a “diary” he kept of all Carson appearances and just made fun of Carson relentlessly. Johnny could hardly breathe from laughing. Also, I only ever found Don Rickles funny on Carson and the old Dean Martin roasts. Everywhere else, he just came off too offensive to me and too forced with the ham-fisted “Oh, I kid because I love” BS at the end of his stuff. With Johnny, you knew it was true.
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When I was a kid I would sometimes sneak into the TV room and watch a bit of the Tonight Show when Jack Paar was the host. He was interesting and funny – but distant to me – I liked him but much of what he did went over my head. Later, when I could stay up for Carson I alway felt as if I was watching seasoned pros – people who were polished, professional and experienced in theater, Vegas or Hollywood. Most were good story tellers and Carson somehow brought out the best from his guests. And when Carson did his own routines I suspected he was doing the “PG” version of his Vegas gigs. He was funny, polished, sharp, clever … classy.
I guess, because I watched Paar* and throughly enjoyed Johnny’s humor, other than Craig Ferguson, today’s batch of hosts are bush league. Leno is not funny, Letterman is… just Letterman, sometimes funny but often just forced.
* One of the bits I recall from the Paar show – he narrated a mock documentary about how the locals in some tiny village in Italy did their seasonal picking of spagetti from spagetti trees. That was funny – and I still chuckle as I recall it.
Wonderful comments and perspectives, Will and Jake. I grew up with Carson – although at the tail-end of it. But interestingly enough, because Carson would have on these old-school guys – in many ways Carson was my introduction to people like Dean Martin and others. Who was this old schmoozy guy smoking a cigarette? Oh, he must be really famous. It was an education in the history of American entertainment.
I still remember seeing Steve Martin roller-skating around wearing the Egyptian headdress singing King Tut. I had to have been 11, 10 at the time – allowed to stay up late, maybe – and I thought: Who is that insanely funny awesome guy???
The comments about Leno and Letterman are well-taken. I also agree that in many respects Craig Ferguson has taken on that mantle very easily – the Carrie Fisher links you provided the other day, Jake, shows his willingness and openness to just sit and talk, with people he likes – something that doesn’t often happen, because those shows have become places where people come to pitch new projects. And that’s fine, but boy, it’s fun to watch two interesting people just TALK to each other.
Believe it or not, Jimmy Fallon has a little bit of that, too. If you can find it, check out when he had Neil Patrick Harris on, and Harris did a magic trick. That’s it, that was the whole segment. Harris probably had a TON of things to pitch – but he did none of that. He just entertained – Fallon and us, with a magic trick. It was so so old-school, and I find it so refreshing.
Jimmy Fallon is a dark horse, I think. His monologues, even among the realm of bad monologues — and they’re all bad, save for Craig’s unrehearsed absurdity and Carson’s ability to turn duds into gems — are terrible, but he’s got a great writing staff and, when he isn’t being too obsequious with guests and their promotional products, can be really candid and relaxed with them. I love that he invites Rachel Maddow on basically to mix drinks, not because he doesn’t want to talk about serious stuff like politics but because it’s this kooky side of Maddow no one talks about as much.
Also, the Monty Python reunion Fallon managed was inspired. As awestruck as he was, he actually had some fun with them (and his nonsense game “Wheel of Carpet Samples” was just perfect for visiting Pythons).
I think he still needs to tighten things, but he’s growing at the same accelerated rate as Conan back when he started, and I look forward to seeing how he progresses.
I’m such a sucker for late-night comedy. On one hand, it’s so hacky and banal, and it’s always been a sort of star-studded infomercial (though it’s far, far worse now). On the other, sometimes things happen that you never expect and it snaps you awake at midnight. Johnny pretending to be a dog to sarcastically protest having to advertise, jumping and slobbering all over Ed; Conan finding people in New York who play “old-time baseball;” Craig Ferguson doing an entire show as a hand puppet. When it’s on, it’s the most brilliant stuff on the air.
I miss Johnny too.
Just a minute and half reason why amongst others:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJWuToYjKdo
Oh God, that is classic.
“Tempo, tempo!”
Jake – Yes, Fallon is finding his way. He is naturally a bit awkward, which actually comes off as quite endearing in the right circumstances, and the more fun he has, the more he can let that show. For a year and a half, I had an office on the famed 17th floor of 30 Rock, the home of the SNL writing staff. My office was next to Jimmy Fallon’s, which was strange – because I really had no business being on that floor. I had nothing to do with SNL (although, randomly, I happen to know the head writer – we go way back), and the only reason my office was there was because no one was paying attention, and that office was free, so there I sat for a year and a half. Jimmy Fallon was out of SNL by that time, but was obviously given an office for his own projects – so we were the two outsiders on the floor. Too funny and bizarre. This was before his show launched (just before), and he would have writing conferences in his office, and I could hear him and his friends playing basketball with a Nerf ball, and blasting music. I borrowed a corkscrew from him once. He was kind, polite, and self-deprecating, and left a very good impression on me – He assumed that I had a right to be there, even though he had no idea who I was, and we once fled down the stairs when a cab exploded at the entrance below our window (17 floors down) – and we both looked out our windows and saw black smoke filling the air. All the other SNL bozos were waiting for the elevator – the elevator?? After 9/11 you wait for an elevator?? – and he knew the way, and we ran down 17 flights together. Not speaking. Just running.
So I clearly have a kind feeling towards him, just from that weird time in my life when I saw him every day (through a snafu in office-assignment in 30 Rock), and watched his show with great interest. I know some of the writers on his staff – I think (so far) they are doing well by him. Play to his strengths. Let him be awkward. That awkwardness comes off as sweet and sincere, rather than anti-social. I’ll be interested to see what happens, but so far I am very pleased with the results.
How about the Craig Ferguson show where he just sat and talked with Stephen Fry for an hour, with no audience? It was his response to the Conan O’Brien debacle, and he made the statement early on in the show that he wanted to see what could be done with this talk-show format, and see what would happen. It was riveting. Wonderful conversationalists are certainly a dying breed, and watching those two old friends talk about life, and drug use, and humor, and careers was amazing television.
Fallon might have the best team of writers of any late-night show right now (though I think Conan will take that back when he starts back), and they’re really finding what works and what doesn’t and making that show better by the month. Plus, I like that, compared to Leno’s sneaky egomania and Letterman’s defeatist attitude, both of the late-late hosts seem so happy to just get out and do silly stuff (the Mickey hand waving between Craig and Jimmy was one of the most endearing things I saw this year).
And I adored the hour-long chat with Fry. I kind of wish Craig had kept the audience just because I believe as many Americans as possible should have direct exposure to Stephen Fry (I found out he came to Auburn University to shoot his 50-state tour only after he left and I cried for hours), but I love how Craig spent the month that all that crap was going on just messing with the structure. There was also the episode where he talked to Eddie Izzard first and moved his monologue to the middle. I love that his piecemeal way of assembling shows creates the facsimile of being live and linear, only to call attention to it all the time — it’s like Shirin, but with swearing puppets (still as darkly lit, though).
And it’s so strange to think that all of these disparate shows grew directly out of Carson. Johnny was always gracious to mention that other people had talk shows when people said he was the only one, but even on the occasions that Merv Griffin or whoever beat Johnny in the ratings, they were also-rans. He could do it all, and it’s strange to see how each of the late-night shows now, even at their best, can only embody one part of Johnny’s whole. Leno, much as I find him loathsome, does have the everyman charm, while Letterman has the ability to save a bad interview (though he does so through the opposite of Johnny’s affable nature). Conan has the love of old-school humor, Fallon the willingness to respect the guest as opposed to setting himself up for jokes. And Craig has the spontaneity and the ability to turn even the most abysmal of premises into gold (how many of his sketches are, on their face, barely written and messily executed, only to be riotous because of it?). It’s fascinating to go back and see all of these things, all the time, in Johnny.
Have you seen the mammoth, 15-DVD box set they’re putting out Tuesday called “Tonight”? I might have to start selling blood to get it.
Jake – I am thrilled about the box set of Tonight and will definitely have to wait for some mythical ship to come in in order to purchase it. Carson was noted for his generosity – not just to comedians (although Steve Martin’s piece speaks directly to that) – but to everyone. It was a joy to watch him converse. He didn’t try to score points off people (which is what Leno often does), unless the person’s “schtick” required that. Carson was a brilliant comedian – you can see it clearly in that clip here of him playing drums with Benny Goodman. He is obviously psyched to be playing drums with that band, but he also can feel, intuitively, what is funny in that moment. So he bosses Benny around a couple times – to kind of take the edge off the particular pitfalls in that moment (him seeming self-important, or like he thinks he’s great, or whatever) – and the audience laughs, almost with relief – The whole thing is magical.
The late-night talk-show battleground is really interesting right now … I’ve enjoyed watching the whole thing play out. I love Conan too.