<$BlogRSDUrl$>

Drooling on the Pillow

Sunday, January 30, 2005

Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye 

Colby Cosh respectfully declined to provide commentary upon Johnny Carson's death, simply because, while he understood and repected JC's importance and contributions, he just wasn't that much of a fan.
“When people get outrageous, you have to capitalize on their
outrageousness and go along with it. The only absolute rule is:
Never lose control of the show.”

Bad rule. The reason a certain age cohort of North Americans
stopped caring about the Tonight Show was precisely that its
host was never at any risk of losing control. All the best-
remembered moments from Letterman's shows--Crispin
Glover's karate kick, Harvey Pekar's Mexican standoff, Andy
Kaufman vs. Jerry Lawler, drug-addled Farrah--have been
segments in which things went completely pear-shaped and
unprofessional. Letterman, who has always worked to channel
Carson, was never comfortable on any of these occasions, but
his ill-confined anger just made things that much more
interesting.
That's true for me, as well. As a teenager interested primarily in crapping on the toes of anything revered by my parent's generation I couldn't stand him. Not to the extent of Lawrence Welk or John Wayne, but he was not my idea of comedy. Later, when I was not quite the fool I was when younger I did appreciate his remarkable professionalism and he did make me laugh. But I'm a Letterman guy. And pretty much for the reasons Mr. Cosh states.
Posted by: Sluggo / 2:26 PM
|
Weblog Commenting and Trackback by HaloScan.com Listed on BlogShares