Johnny Carson has died at 79. Reports are he died of emphesema.
I was 14 years old when Johnny Carson retired, and I lived in Trinidad at the time so unfortunately I never got to see his show. However, from what I have read and seen he was a pioneer in the late night show industry and a legend. When I first saw the movie "The Shining" and Jack Nicholson's character makes the famous quote "Here's Johnny", I never realized this was in reference to Johnny Carson, until I was told later on. Carson will be missed by many.
I was around 13 or 14 when he retired as well. I grew up waiting in anticipation as the Carson show came on. He was part of my childhood and early teen years, he will be greatly missed. My favorite part of the animals he would bring on the show, or when he did his swamy routine. See if you remember this....
"carson puts a card up to his forehead and says, 'shish boom bah!'. After he turns over the card, he reads what the sound was for, 'the sound a sheep makes when it blows up!'" This was the funniest swamy skit I remember!
I had forgotten about the swami skits. They were really cool!
Johnny Carson: 'King Of Late Night' A Man Unknown
This year marks the 50th anniversary of when Johnny Carson took over The Tonight Show. For 30 years, Carson reached a nightly audience 15 million people, but he was also intensely private. Guy Raz talks with Peter Jones, director of a documentary looking at the Carson's public and personal lives.
Source: Arts & Life
My dad was like a super fan of Johnny Carson and watched all his late night shows. I think it was Johnny Carson that really started the whole late night television thing.