summer04

God bless you, Johnny. Thank you for sharing your unique talent and the gift of laughter with us.

jamierin

What a loss.

As soon as I turned on the TV today and saw his face on CNN I knew he had passed.

So many of our wonderful comedians had their start on the Tonight Show and have Johnny to thank.

Cassandra

Still am a Johnny Carson fan. Nobody did it with more class and humanity, and when he left TV, it was a changed world for many of us. He was an American institution, and let us honor his wonderful reflection of the best of all the parts of America -- Midwest, coasts, urban, rural, north, south, young, old, all of it.

annesherrod

I was shocked when I read it this afternoon. I cried when his last show aired ! I thoroughly enjoyed his shows growing up and into my early adult years.
Rest in Peace......

LTCM17

God Bless him!!
With him passed a time we can never replace!
I felt like crying when I heard!
Tears here ~ laughs in heaven!

zaneyjaney

Carnak reading the envelopequot;Opec"

Answer: "What do you call an Irish chicken?"

Sail on Johnny!!!!!!!
I'll miss you.

Katie2

Even though Ed McMahon is still alive, I can picture him introducing Johnny to the Lord, saying, "Heeer's Johnny!"

buttercup

He was a constant part of my life growing up. I remember my dad always settling in at 10:30, getting a little snack, and saying, "I'm just going to watch Johnny'w monologue." Of course, he usually watched the whole show. I remember the great conversations we had about things Johnny mentioned in the monologue. I loved summer when I could stay up every night and watch.

cigalechanta

when he wore the ear flap hat and checked wool shirt being from Maine!

PamSF

He was so wonderfully funny!! I'm too young(there's a thought) to have appreciated Jack Parr..but Johnny..how I miss him. I would return home from work around 11:30 pm and turn him on. What a treat it was to be off from work and hear the monologue.
May he breathe a bit easier now and know he made so many of us laugh! I still remember Bette Midler on his last night..she was fatouched?!!

elizabeth_reed

I was a fan, too. For years I usually fell asleep just after the monologue, unless there was a "visitor from the east" or Jim Fowler or Joan Embrey or Floyd R. Turbo (American), etc.

mclaurie

Tony Bennett just sang "I'll Be Seeing You" on the Today show in his honor. Oh my #39;(

lisettemac

I loved Johnny, too. Nina echoed my thoughts exactly -- he was a fabulous interviewer. He never got in the way of his guests or talked too much, like so many do today.

I'll never forget Racquel Welch appearing with her cat and asking Johnny if he wanted to pet her . . . well, you know. Or when Arnold Palmer's wife said she kissed her husband's balls before every tournament and Johnny's classic response. Ha!

Bette singing "One for my baby and one more for the road," still makes me cry.

Intrepid1

He apparently died of emphysema...I wish he had stopped smoking but eventually everyone stops smoking.

ncgrrl

So sad to hear about this. Though Johnny Carson never knew, he helped me get through my public speaking course in college. I was your standard nervous wreck standing in front of a crowd but my brother suggested "just imagine yourself as Johnny Carson giving a monologue" Boy did that work. Still use that trick today when having to address a group.

RIP

snowrooster

My parents took me to see him tape the Tonight Show live during our spring break trip to CA my senior year in high school. He was a great man and entertainer.

dan_woodlief

Johnny died from the same thing that killed my closest grandfather. I miss my grandfather more, but Johnny was funnier. He had such class too. There are other good ones on late night now, but Johnny was in a class of his own.

JJ5

When Johnny Carson took over from Parr, the entire show's tone changed. He wasn't sardonic or sarcastic, but could do the cutting remark without any sense of malice- because his own personal reserve came through as well. No one could do alimony jokes like Johnny. Or interact facially within the animal segments.

He always was a class act, both before and after retiring. So rare. Underspoke, always leaving the audience wanting more and guessing at his mood/ essence. Rarest thing in his business and no one after him, that I can think of outside of Bob Newhart, did this so naturally and yet with comedic tension.

We were all fans here. No one on tv today comes close to that standard.

maitaitom

I was lucky enough to be on Stump The Band when I was a senior in high school. I was always a huge fan, and although I do like Letterman, no one can or ever will replace Johnny.

cigalechanta

And who can forget his Carnac.