ISU Bengal

Issue date: 2/2/05 Section: News

Media Credit: KRT Campus Johnny Carson, one of the most influential and beloved entertainers in American history, died Sunday morning after a long battle with emphysema. He was 79.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Johnny Carson, one of the most influential and beloved entertainers in American history, died Sunday morning after a long battle with emphysema. He was 79.

Carson hosted NBC's "The Tonight Show" for nearly 30 years and became a staple of American television before retiring May 22, 1992.

While the entertainer kept out of the public eye in his retirement, news surfaced last week that Carson still provided "Late Show" host David Letterman with material on an occasional basis.

Eddie Geller, president of Theatre Strike Force, a UF improvisational comedy group, said people loved Carson because he was a mainstay who was exceptional at his job.

"During his time at 'The Tonight Show,' the comedy he did was really original and was something that was very entertaining," Geller said.

Some felt the void left in late night television was never filled after Carson's retirement. Even Letterman, whose show borrows its formatting from Carson, said all late-night successors are just "pretenders."

Ed McMahon, the sidekick and straight man on "The Tonight Show," was best known for introducing Carson into people's homes nightly with a cry of "Heeeeere's Johnny!"

McMahon said Sunday that Carson was "like a brother to me."

"Our 34 years of working together, plus the 12 years since then, created a friendship which was professional, family-like and one of respect and great admiration," McMahon said in a statement. "When we ended our run on 'The Tonight Show' and my professional life continued, whenever a big career decision needed to be made, I always got the OK from 'The Boss.'"

Josh Breit, a Theatre Strike Force member, said Carson is deserving of the praise he gets because he was ahead of his time.

"I don't know if anyone will surpass him because he was the first," Breit said. "He was the pinnacle."

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 "The Tonight Show."

Carson chose 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."

Through it all, Carson simply refused to be wooed back onto the stage.

"I just let the work speak for itself," he told Esquire magazine in 2002.

While he said he feels no one will be more loved than Carson, Breit said he thinks "Late Night" host Conan O'Brien will be well-respected.

"I think Conan is very, very funny," Breit said. "I think he has a good shot [to be remembered], especially since he started out so young."

Though he didn't grow up with Carson on the air, Geller said he felt the effect Carson had on him was undeniable.

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