Monday 24 January 2005

Johnny Carson 1925-2005

The Amerian broadcasting legend Johnny Carson died at the weekend. In stand-up circles Carson was like a god, as an appearance on his show could launch a career. Jerry Seinfeld for one has spoken of never wanting a man's approval so badly. In fact if you watch Comedian you can see Seinfeld and Garry Shandling talking about appearing on his show. Once you got there the next step up was being asked to take a seat next to him. Steven Wright's career was launched when he managed to chat with Johnny on his debut performance, practically unheard of.

Retiring from The Tonight Show in 1992, he never went back to showbusiness. There's an interesting book and TV movie about the bitter Leno vs Letterman battle to replace him 'The Late Shift.'

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