I sure miss Johnny Carson

Another sleepless night. I really wish Johnny were on TV. That was my routine for the first 20 or so years of adulthood, watching Johnny before going to bed. My parents watched Johnny Carson and I remember sitting upstairs on the top step and listening to the jokes and to the conversations, listening as mom and dad laughed. Dad would always be a little perturbed when Johnny would make a local joke about California, because no one in NY knew what he was referring to. But I just loved Johnny. I adored his sense of humor. He was so quick witted. I didn't care much for the characters he played, but I loved listening to him ad lib lines as his guests went on talking about their latest movie. He was always dressed so sharp. He was one of the most intelligent men on TV. I remember when Jodie Foster was a young girl, and attending the expensive French school she was in, she had a conversation completely in French with Johnny. My mother, who was fluent in French said he spoke perfect French. I remember he loved to go to the Keukenhoff in Holland and when we went as adults, I had always secretly hoped we would run into him. He was so good with people from all walks of life, from celebrities, to writers, to the child actors and musicians who came on, to the various oddballs that would do their thing, like the potato chip lady. I still remember that night when she thought he had eaten one of her prize potato chips. I loved the animal segments with Joan Embrey and Jim Fowler. The Tonight show with Johnny Carson was such a staple in American Society for so many years, I truly felt our nation paused with a sad sigh on the last night of his show, when Bette Midler came on and sang to him. I've ordered some of the CD's of his shows, but none of them show a whole show, just little bits and pieces of segments here and there. If there were any way of ordering whole shows, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I enjoyed the comfort he brought into my home every night all those years.

Some of my favorite Johnny Carson quotes:

If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead.

I know a man who gave up smoking, drinking, sex, and rich food. He was healthy right up to the day he killed himself.”

Happiness is your dentist telling you it won't hurt and then having him catch his hand in the drill.”

“Never use a big word when a little filthy one will do.”

Your chances of getting struck by lightning go up if you stand under a tree, shake your fist at the sky, and say "Storms suck!"”.


Never continue in a job you don't enjoy. If you're happy in what you're doing, you'll like yourself, you'll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined

We really loved you Johnny, RIP.