Johnny Carson, The Only Entertainer Greater Than Krusty The Clown, Dead at 79

I figured I wrote a short obit when Susan Sontag passed, so it would be improper of me not to honor the memory of Johnny Carson, whose peaceful death at 79 paves the way for Conan O'Brien's official coronation as the New King of Late Night.

I remember Carson's days on The Tonight Show vaguely, as I was only 13 when he left the show in 1992. For me, watching Carson was one of those rare, exotic late-night pleasures that you rarely enjoyed, this odd old guy with a desk chatting with movie stars when everybody ought to be sleeping.

I worked on some of the old Tonight Show episodes at me previous job at the subtitle factory. It was the usual late-night tomfoolery. Carson with a monkey spazzing out on his head. Carson talking to some woman when he flubs what he's saying and cracks up. Carson with that bizarre swami hat on.

But these goofball antics can make you overlook the tremendous impact Carson's "Tonight Show" had on American comedy. In Jerry Seinfeld's documentary Comedian, he discusses how an appearance on Carson's show was how a comedian knew he (or she) had truly arrived. And if Carson actually asked you to sit down with him and do an interview after a set (as he did with Seinfeld), it was like the Holy Grail of television comedy.

So, even though we hadn't seen much of him publicly in the past decade, Carson's spirit will be missed. I'm sure we're in for some lame televised tribute in the near future. And then get ready for the onslaught of "Classic Tonight Show Moments" on DVD and elsewhere. In our crass society, death is just another excuse to move some units. And that, my friends, is weird, wild stuff.