I saw an advertisement on T.V. a while ago where they were selling tapes of the old Tonight Show. It reminded me that I haven’t heard anything of Johnnie Carson in a long while. Is he dead? Or is he just quietly retired, out of the public eye?
I think he should “guest host” the Tonight Show once in awhile so that Leno character could see just what funny is. IMHO.
He’s very quietly retired.
From my Dictionary of Outrageous Quotations, not an entirely accurate source…
He said this before he retired, but it would probably be fair to assume that he wouldn’t guest host The Show unless he really wanted to.
He did make that appearance on The Late Show, in fact, I think he even sat at Dave’s desk. There was talk of Johnny guest hosting The Late Show as a way of sticking it to NBC for going with Leno, who he didn’t want to be his successor.
I sort of took Johnny for granted when he was still on the air. But when I see the clips from those tapes the sell late at night, I now appreciate him a hell of a lot more…compared to a lot of what now passes as TV “comedy” on SNL, Leno, Kilbourn, etc.
I think he still does some executive producing, and is still a big shot in show business. He was ill for a while, but last I’ve seen of him (not in person unfortunately, just on E!, Entertainment Tonight and such) he is in good health.
If I remember correctly, Carson did come on Letterman’s show, but refused to bite when Dave invited him to sit behind his desk.
I think he sat at the desk and just smiled. I remember him having a look on his face like he was deciding whether to say anything.
Readers of The New Yorker this year have enjoyed the very occasional brief comic piece by Mr. Carson.
I believe there’s one of his pieces in the issue that’s on newsstands right now.