Carson
You can tell a lot about someone from the way they leave. Johnny Carson left smart — he knew things were changing, the TV audience becoming balkanized; he didn’t want to be seen to be hanging around or losing ground in the ratings. He not only left at his peak, he was smart enough not to do “projects” just to keep himself in the spotlight. You scarcely saw him again. A very disciplined, fastidious performer.
He used to be criticized for being “plastic”. But he saw himself as an entertainer — he had the gift of knowing his limitations. Entertainers change with the times — Carson changed as much as he could. Carson had the unfortunate aura of a time when preening males had the affectation that boozing and womanizing was cool; women were objects then and the real status was proving to your friends that you had “scored”. Howard Stern said that his mother used to think Carson was arrogant; Pauline Kael said the same thing in other words — she felt Carson was condescending. Carson was a target, sometimes the arrows flew true.
Although comedic skills are emphasized in the tributes, I think it was the decency Carson projected that the public responded to. I remember seeing Carson show a photo of his deceased son — a young man who looked great in sunglasses, standing by a jeep. It was touching. I remember hearing Carson discussing a tennis match he saw on TV and commenting that the announcer made fun of the hard to pronounce name of a player. Carson said: isn’t that the dumbest thing you ever heard of? Laughing at a name? He was pissed. Speaking from an inner decency to a country with people from all over, without intent, Carson affirmed an honorable standard of behavior. It was winning — unifying.
It is interesting that the most heartfelt tributes are coming from those to whom Carson gave a break. Carson liked talent — he wasn’t small in that way — and Letterman, Midler, so many others, said that he gave them a career. Carson would have said, as Steve Allen said before him, that he was lucky to have them appear on his show.
Steve Allen was the real ground breaker, but his show didn’t last as long. The format and range of talk shows was set by Allen, a peculiar pop culture genius, with talent as a pianist, a schoolmarmish love of learning; a true love of talent that set the standard that Carson carried forward.
