Johnny Carson, King of Late Night, Dies

7 minutes ago

By JEFF WILSON, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES - Johnny Carson, the "Tonight Show" TV host who served America a smooth nightcap of celebrity banter, droll comedy and heartland charm for 30 years, has died. He was 79. "Mr. Carson passed away peacefully early Sunday morning," his nephew, Jeff Sotzing, told The Associated Press. "He was surrounded by his family, whose loss will be immeasurable. There will be no memorial service."

Sotzing would not give further details, including the time of death or the location.

The boyish-looking Nebraska native with the disarming grin, who survived every attempt to topple him from his late-night talk show throne, was a star who managed never to distance himself from his audience.

His wealth, the adoration of his guests _ particularly the many young comics whose careers he launched _ the wry tales of multiple divorces: Carson's air of modesty made it all serve to enhance his bedtime intimacy with viewers.

"Heeeeere's Johnny!" was the booming announcement from sidekick Ed McMahon that ushered Carson out to the stage. Then the formula: the topical monologue, the guests, the broadly played skits such as "Carnac the Magnificent."

But America never tired of him; Carson went out on top when he retired in May 1992. In his final show, he told his audience: "And so it has come to this. I am one of the lucky people in the world. I found something that I always wanted to do and I have enjoyed every single minute of it."

Nearly all of Carson's professional life was spent in television, from his postwar start at Nebraska stations in the late 1940s to his three decades with NBC's "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson."

Carson choose to let "Tonight" stand as his career zenith and his finale, withdrawing into a quiet retirement that suited his private nature and refusing involvement in other show business projects.

In 1993, he explained his absence from the limelight.

"I have an ego like anybody else," Carson told The Washington Post, "but I don't need to be stoked by going before the public all the time."

He was open to finding the right follow-up to "Tonight," he told friends. But his longtime producer, Fred de Cordova, said Carson didn't feel pressured _ he could look back on his TV success and say "I did it."

"And that makes sense. He is one of a kind, was one of a kind," de Cordova said in 1995. "I don't think there's any reason for him to try something different."

Carson spent his retirement years sailing, traveling and socializing with a few close friends including media mogul Barry Diller and NBC executive Bob Wright. He simply refused to be wooed back on stage.

"The reason I really don't go back or do interviews is because I just let the work speak for itself," he told Esquire magazine in 2002 in a rare interview.

The former talk show host did find an outlet for his creativity: He wrote short humor pieces for The New Yorker magazine, including "Recently Discovered Childhood Letters to Santa," which purported to give the youthful wish lists of William Buckley, Don Rickles and others.

R.I.P. Johnny!!

I just saw the news when I got on the computer. What a great life he had...

OVATION Mike, Hey, Thank's for the cool review!!! :-) That raelly Makes My Day! Also- And telling folk's about us! That mean's so very much! I've said it 'afore, n' I'll say it again, Thank's for being a cool freind from across the big freindly water's of Blue! Much Prayer's, and ATN KARMA, is alway's Coming your way! believe it!

~~before dawn~~

ZENFISH- Okay, I understand! I am sure thing's are going to work well for You! Yes, I am healing up nice! except for the terrible bachacehs, in the morning, But they will soon go fly away. Thank You kindly for asking! And the same here, Hoping the You are well! And thank's for being My freind!

Johnny Carson, You will be missed!

But God, Has Welcomed You Home!

And many prayer's for Your entire Family!

Hey Joe ! :)

My name is alex i'm new to this forum, I leave in france and i play guitar since 12 year's.

I play with a Ibanez ergodyne, I install two pickups di marzio, a fred and a Paf Pro. But I have a small problem, I must choose a simple pickup and I have some difficult to choose.

I would need some councils

Sorry for my english :p

hey wow first post

i realy want The Souls of Distortion tab but i cant find it anywhere. does anyone have it?

thanks

yes Alexandre, we always miss you :)

962: that british quote was from the ignorant Namm Man. He's an idiot. I dont understand why he doesnt post his political shit on a forum that discusses politics. He's a troll. There is a LOT of snow here, and its quite pretty actually! you should come down to wisconsin sometime!

Namm Man: very creative, asshole. Faggy isnt as creative as..

N orth
A merican
M onkey
M ater

As I said, you need to find a job at the zoo in order to procreate monkeys. FU :) LOL

Suzie! I got real drunk last night and changed my name to barry manilow. lol...then I forgot my password and couldnt log on and change it!

Steven Wilde: Hey bro! whats happening! Last night I went bowling but sucked so bad that I decided to get tanked and then became worse. It was a good time and a fun realization that my alcohol tolerance went super duper low...! Did you put up the new tracks on the website? I have been learning how to play Judas Priest's painkiller and its coming out to be pretty good. thanks to clarky for the help. btw, you rock!

ovation: do you know how to make sushi? I need some lessons.

ive been playing guitar for about half a year.. im not that bad considering that i havent been playing for to long.. whats the best way to build up my skills and get better faster?

thanks

Hi Joe and everybody else here...

I'm on a Mission... I have allready seen G3 twice, in 1998 and 2004, nd I have seen a bunch of amazing players. But there is one man, I would just love to see in the G3 lineup on a European tour.

Michael Angelo Batio!!!

So all You fellow Shred-loving Europeans, raise your voices and Shout:

This is a funny Eric Johnson autographed guitar auction

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=29931&item=3868562725&rd=1

WOW

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=29873&item=3867928088&rd=1

damn!!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33043&item=3776812023&rd=1

anyone wanna give me a birthday present?

The band I'm in is now official. Last night about 1/2 way through rehearsal we had the cops show up!! That is so cool. He said that off the record we sounded pretty good. He had sat outside and listened for a bit. It was only 6:30PM. We've only been practicing at my drummers house for about a year. This was also the first practice of the new year so we had the money from our New Year's gig waiting for us. So what does a music guy get with gig money? Strings and CDs, what else. I'm jammin Vai's Flex-Able right now. Then maybe some Linkin Park, G n R, or some Y & T. I think makes for a good afternoon.

Joe,

Glad you seem to have beaten the pneumonia... been fortunate that Ive never been that ill. I'm new to the site, but I wanted to say what a great show you did here in St. Louis in October... looking forward to your return. Hope you are back to 100% soon!!!

Best regards,

alex_z, you need to choose a single-coil pickup for the middle position on the Ergodyne, right? I would strongly recommend checking out DiMarzio's HS2 pickup. It ought to compliment the PAF Pro nicely, especially when combining the two for a crisp clean sound. It's powerful enough to work with the Fred too.....anything too gentle and the middle/bridge pickup combo will sound thin and useless!

Cool man, wisconsin has been added to my tour list! hehe, I should do some costing some time and work out the logistics of visiting all you guys that I want to visit!

I just checked out those auctions.....the JS10th is cool, but the words "this one is for lookin at, not for playin" made me chuckle. what a load of bollocks, guitars are made for playing, that's the whole point! hehe

Jazzzzzzzy- glad to see you back as Jazzzzzzzy- Barry Manilow has always given me the creeps! Sounds like you had a good night though :-)

962- I know what you mean, e.g. various areas in Spain could be to avoid if you don't want to live next door to loads of ex-pats. Some people do though, and I can understand that as well! It's a good idea to have a plan though...

962: damn right. the troll needs to do his research. and LMFAO, "a load of bollocks!" hahahahahahahahahaha! you're totally right, guitars are made for playing, not for looking at. have you looked at www.chellee.com Some sweet ass guitars there. OCPS got his from there...man, those guitars look too sexy...I love how the horns look so funky. Reminds me of Les Claypool's bass guitar...I love that funky stuff. later man!