I’m embarrassed to admit I kinda thought he was already dead:
Jack Paar, who held the nation’s rapt attention as he pioneered late-night talk on “The Tonight Show,” then told his viewers farewell when still in his prime, died Tuesday. He was 85. Paar had taken over the flagging NBC late-night slot in July 1957; Steve Allen had departed some months earlier. Allen’s show was a variety show; Paar’s a talk show. “Like being chosen as a kamikaze pilot,” Paar wrote in “I Kid You Not,” a memoir. “But I felt sure that people would enjoy good, frank and amusing talk.” They did. Viewers loved this cherubic wiseguy, someone once referred to as “like Peter Pan, if Peter Pan had been written by Mickey Spillane.” Soon, everyone was staying up to watch Paar, then talking about his show the next day. Even youngsters sent to bed before Paar came on parroted his jaunty catch phrase, “I kid you not,” with which he regularly certified his flow of self-revealing stories.
How times change – Paar left his show briefly when the network censors wouldn’t allow him to say w.c. (for “water closet” or toilet). See this CNN article about Johnny Carson
My local PBS station just showed “The Best of Jack Paar”, an hour special, a couple of nights ago. Eerie.
There was a clip of JFK as a guest during the campaign. They took questions from the audience. One man said that since the Communists have people everywhere trying to convert others to their cause, why doesn’t the US have people doing the same thing? The gist of Kennedy’s response was that it seemed like a good idea. An early hint of the Peace Corps, perhaps? I don’t know the date of that appearance.
Don’t know why that stupid comparison strikes me - Steve, Jack, John & Jay have no other connectiion with John, Paul, George and Ringo.
I don’t think you can compare the archtypes, even. Steve Allen might pass as The Intellectual, but the other three hosts would be tough to divide into the Cute One, the Mystic and the Holy Goof.
I only know Jack Paar’s work from clips of the old show (and the PBS Documentary) but I have always thought he was very funny.
There is a quote that I absolutely LOVE:
"Immigration is the sincerest form of flattery"
The quote is attributed to Paar in a Book of Quotes that I skimmed once. I only know the quote from this book, the book doesn’t give any context or source.
Can anyone confirm this as a Jack Paar quote? Any insight on source (on air?) or context?