Johnny Carson, the television talkshow host who dominated United States broadcasting for 30 years, died on Sunday at his home in Malibu, California. He was 79.
Carson presented the Tonight Show from 1962 until his voluntary retirement in 1992, turning it into a national institution. He presented the Oscars five times in the 70s and 80s but did little other outside work.
The late-night hour of the programme and Carson’s style earned him the soubriquet ”the last man America sees before it goes to sleep”.
Billy Wilder, the film director, put it another way, calling him ”the Valium and Nembutal of the nation”.
The show followed a formula that has been frequently imitated: it opened with the host’s sidekick, Ed McMahon, announcing ”Heeeeere’s Johnny!”, before Carson launched into a topical monologue that always included between 16 and 22 jokes. The show would continue for 90 minutes, later reduced to one hour, with gags, guests and skits, usually with Carson appearing in costume to play established characters. Its greatest hit was the on-air wedding of the singer Tiny Tim to a woman called Miss Vicki. The December 1969 broadcast attracted 58-million viewers.
Right up to his death, and more than a decade after his retirement, Carson continued to contribute jokes to TV host David Letterman, one of many comics mentored by Carson.
On Sunday Letterman said: ”He was the best, a star and a gentleman.”
Bette Middler, who sang a song to Carson on his final Tonight Show, said: ”He was a little bit of devil and a little bit of angel.”
The comedian Jackie Mason said: ”He made more stars than anybody in the history of show business.”
Joan Rivers, who owed much of her success to Carson, although the two subsequently fell out, said that he was ”an amazing man and an amazing mentor”.
McMahon said Carson was ”like a brother”.
Such was the success of his show that Carson was able to face down the NBC network behind the show, sometimes over money, sometimes over hours. But NBC would have been crazy to defy him: some years the Tonight show earned 20% of the network’s profits. By the end of his career, Carson’s annual $5-million salary reflected that success. – Guardian Unlimited Â