Johnny Carson comes to...the fork in the road. 1925-2005

It was announced over MSNBC cale about 1:50pm ET that Johnny Carson has died. Cause: complications from emphysema.

Thanks for showing that a whitebread guy from the midwest could be funny, paving the way for Dave Letterman et al. Thanks for maintaining the big band, schticky Vegas comics, etc. in a bubble of sublime cultural irrelevancy. Thanks for Carnac, Art Fern, Floyd R. Turbot and asking Zsa Zsa to move the damn cat.

Requiescat in Pacoima.

Our resident “Angel Of Celebrity Death” Eve beat you to it by a few minutes (no doubt her’s got in while you were typing, with such a short time difference, so I’m not accusing you of not noticing it or not searching.)

And not to kick a man when he’s down or anything, but the cat quip probably never happened. http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/zsazsa.htm