Goodbye, Johnny

I know that this blog is resembling paparazzi celebwatch recently, but Johnny Carson's passing has invoked some memories that beg to be written about. When I was growing up, Johnny Carson was an institution at my house. My dad is a night owl who loves a good joke (two traits he passed on to me), so as I hit high school, it wasn't uncommon to be called into the living room to watch the monologue or to see who Johnny had on the show. Dad would be laying on his stomach on the floor, with his chin on his fists while his elbows dug into a couple of pillows to prop him up, and with his knees bent so that his feet (always in dark socks) were up in the air. And he would chuckle at the jokes and explain who unfamiliar guests were and it was always a good chance to laugh together, especially since we tended to ruffle each other's feathers a good bit back then. So we would watch together for a while, then maybe I would head back downstairs to finish my homework, or if it was summer maybe I'd stay up and watch longer, but at any rate humor from Carson was a unifying force. And the guys on late night now are good, but no one can touch Johnny Carson. It's too bad to see someone like that slip from the world, even if he had been out of the public eye for a while.