Both Johnny Carson and his successor David Letterman have had an enormous influence on American politics in the last half century. Since posting this item Letterman's last show has come and gone(May 20, 2015. It was announced soon after that comedian & political satirist Stephen Colbert would succeed Letterman. This short piece of writing is a personal reflection on the first two men.-Ron Price, Australia
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Part 1:
"Johnny" Carson(1925-2005) was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years (1962–1992). The show began on 1 October 1962, one month after the start of my travelling-pioneering life for the Canadian Baha’i community. At the time I was doing my matriculation studies in the small town of Dundas Ontario and had just completed my last season of baseball as an adolescent in the town of Burlington. The month and year I moved to Australia, July 1971, and started my teaching career in Australia Carson stopped doing shows five days a week.
By the mid-1970s Carson had become the highest-paid person on television at about $4 million a year, now equal to more than 13 million. I had become a teacher in a college of advanced education, now a university, and was helping the Australian Baha’i community with its Five Year Plan(1974-1979).
Part 2:
In the winter of 1980 I was recuperating from an illness and was unemployed, although I tried an unsuccessful stint as a taxi-driver in June of that year. That same winter and at Carson's request, the show cut its 90-minute format to 60 minutes. By the time he retired in 1992 Carson had become an American institution, a household word, and the most widely quoted American. During his 30 years as a talk-show host he remained in the outer-orbit of my life. I had hardly ever seen him on TV. -Ron Price with thanks to Wikipedia, 21/10/’11.
You were always on the periphery
of my life, Johnny. I did not have a
TV back then until ’77 and, from ’77
to ’92, I was busy working 60 to 70
hours every week that I went to bed
early and don’t recall ever watching
your show…….Now I am retired and
watch late-night TV and Letterman
is in your shoes as Ed Sullivan had
been in your shoes back in the ‘50s
before you walked in his. They call
you the most private public man who
ever lived. On 19 March 1999 in my last
month as a teacher you suffered a heart
attack at your home in Malibu and died
some six years later: good luck Johnny
in that Land of Lights, that Undiscovered
Country as the Bard calls that afterlife!!*
Ron Price
21/10/’11 to 23/7/'15.