Is Johnny Carson Still the King of Late Night TV?

Since October 2009, I've been working as a transcriber and a transcription editor with a media company to transcribe entertainment tapes. During the training session, when I was told what tapes we would work on first, the trainer told me it would be "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson." I remember one of the transcribers saying, "Is that all we'll be working on? That sounds like fun." I was neutral on the issue. I'd never watched "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" a day in my life. And I went from not liking the show much to becoming quite the Johnny Carson fan.

I started off watching the show and getting kind of irritated by how much Johnny Carson would interrupt people during interviews to ask repetitive questions and make jokes I wasn't really into (ex. the joke about the band member who he thought looked like Whoopi Goldberg because of his dreadlocks). Finding out about the 1976 blackface joke surely didn't help. I was kind of frustrated at first, but a job is a job. After a few tapes, I was temporarily moved to another project that had a more pressing deadline. And after that project finished in December, I went back to the Johnny Carson tapes.

For some reason, Johnny Carson talking over his guests didn't bother me anymore. I started laughing at Johnny Carson's jokes even when the rest of the audience didn't. I met a transcription editor who said she'd been in the audience during his show, so she had a real connection to it. I started to like the show a little more.

I went from being a transcription editor for the second project to a transcription editor for the Carson tapes, which meant I watched more episodes of "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson." And when I say more, I mean way more because I was reviewing transcriptions from approximately 70 reviewers nonstop in the month of February.

Then, I took a couple of days off on Valentine's Day weekend to work on a reporting project with another company, but I was kind of restless sitting in front of my computer without hearing The NBC Orchestra playing Johnny Carson's opening theme. So even though I'd told the media company I was going to be AWOL for two days, I still went back to the videos. This is when I knew I was hooked.

Even the things I didn't originally care for about the show, like Johnny Carson interrupting people, didn't bother me so much, especially when Judith "Miss Manners" Martin was on the June 15, 1990 show and kept interrupting him. Now if Miss Manners is allowed to do it, Johnny Carson is all right with me! And I've seen some talk show hosts struggling for conversation with their guests, but no matter who was on "The Tonight Show," Johnny Carson was on point and ready to chat.

I laughed at his quirky sense of humor and respected his pretty liberal views, especially in the 30 years that this show aired. He repeatedly voiced his opinion about supporting women's rights and more equality for gay rights. You can barely get that kind of support from today's talk shows and definitely not the media circus from government officials who still believe in the "Don't Ask/Don't Tell" policy. He made a point of talking about a plethora of issues, even ones that probably weren't his style. His guest lineup was so diverse that I started learning about other entertainers I didn't know before (ex. Dean Martin) with some of today's favorites (ex. Smokey Robinson). When Johnny Carson started talking about 2 Live Crew, that really blew my mind.

But what I really dug about Johnny Carson was when the audience didn't laugh at his jokes instead of getting mad at them, he'd just make a new joke or a sarcastic remark to them to make light of the quiet moment. Sometimes he didn't even have to make a joke. He'd just look into the camera, and the audience would crack up laughing. On my favorite TV comedy "The Office," I notice they do that too. I remember during my time at Northern Michigan University, a comedian named Cocoa Brown came onstage, got mad that we wouldn't laugh at her jokes, and instead of trying harder, she threatened to insult everyone in the audience from one end to the other. Right then and there, her show was over and she left the stage. That moment showed me who was a comedic winner and a comedic loser just that fast.

What was so magnetizing about Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show" was no matter what joke an audience didn't like, he still had that same energy in the next scene. He had the right blend of political, entertainment, musical and personal jokes. And if you didn't laugh at him, Doc Severinsen had a musical performance for him to dance to, which always got a laugh from me. Johnny Carson didn't seem to rest on one topic-outside of G.E. and making fun of George Bush and Dan Quayle-and when a skit wasn't working he knew when to never do it again. (Side note: George Lopez, please take notes from Carson and get rid of the Spanish goat and the hypeman.)

I'm not much of a talk show person. I can handle the occasional episode of "The Tyra Banks Show" and "Lopez Tonight" when there are good guests on. I like the "The Mo'Nique Show" when she's not screaming at the top of her lungs, asking guests about masturbation or having one of those unbearably sentimental "Family Matters" moments. I think just about every credible talk show has had some good episodes-minus trash like "The Jerry Springer Show" and you-are-not-the-father "The Maury Povich Show"-but "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" is the very first talk show that I'd want to watch repeatedly.

On Feb. 13, I watched the final episode of "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" that aired on May 22, 1992, after 30 years of him being on the show, and burst into tears. I couldn't believe I was so sad about watching that episode. I actually went back to transcribing on my two off days because I was happy that I still had a few more tapes to review. And when this project finishes, I can guarantee you I'll watch every single episode of "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" that I wasn't assigned to review or transcribe.

Johnny Carson truly earned his name as the King of Late Night TV. I'm too young to remember Arsenio Hall's show, but I do remember barking at the screen along with the crowd. And while Chris Rock is still my favorite comedian and I will always favor D.L. Hughley because he's incredibly nice in person, along with Damon Williams, Johnny Carson is definitely now one of my top five favorite comedians.