Bye Bye Johnny
By I vividly remember Johnny Carson’s last show, in 1992. Why can I remember the year? Well, the same night I saw Lou Reed at the Theatre St. Denis (great show, ninth row centre) (Canadian spelling intentional). I got home and found out that the Expos had fired Tom Runnels and hired Felipe Alou, so it may have been the day that saved the franchise were it not for the fucking owners in 1994. And then I watched Carson’s last show.
He wasn’t Lenny Bruce, or Richard Pryor; he wasn’t cutting edge. But the sheer unwatchability of Leno demonstrates the difficulty of pulling off entertaining mainstream comedy. He earned is iconic status.