Williams
2005-01-24 15:38:50 UTC
New York Times
January 24, 2005
The Joke-Writing Continued After the Curtain Went Down
By BILL CARTER
In the years immediately after Johnny Carson's decision to step down
from the "Tonight" show, NBC executives fully expected that their
signature star would become a latter-day version of Bob Hope -
providing a special here and there, something that would pull in the
millions of fans who never got over missing him at 11:35 each
weeknight.
But Mr. Carson had made a different decision. "He knew he had given
everything he had on the show, and that's how he wanted to be
remembered," said Peter Lassally, his long-time executive producer and
close friend.
Still, there was one part of his former life he simply could not leave
behind entirely. Having spent 30 years reading and watching the news
every day and instantly conjuring the events into monologue jokes,
jokes that provided a running commentary on the political and cultural
scene, Mr. Carson found he simply could not give up the routine.
"He really missed doing the monologue," Mr. Lassally said. "So he
started doing them for me."
Sometimes once a week, sometimes more often, Mr. Carson would call Mr.
Lassally and, over the phone, perform his little monologues - for an
audience of one. "They were always funny," Mr. Lassally said, and one
day about a year ago the jokes struck him as so funny that he had a
suggestion.
"I told Johnny he should call Dave and give them to him," said Mr.
Lassally, who, after Mr. Carson retired, went to work as executive
producer for David Letterman.
Thus began a quiet collaboration, which delighted Mr. Carson in his
final months. "He was like a little kid when Dave would do one of his
jokes," Mr. Lassally said. "He was not blasé about any of it."
Of course, one reason Mr. Carson would never want to be public about
the collaboration was that he never wanted to be seen taking sides in
the enduring conflict between Mr. Letterman and Jay Leno, who succeeded
him as host of "Tonight," over who was his rightful heir in late-night
comedy.
Both stars issued statements yesterday on Mr. Carson's death.
Mr. Letterman said: "All of us who came after are pretenders. We will
not see the likes of him again. He gave me a shot on his show and in
doing so, he gave me a career. A night doesn't go by that I don't ask
myself, 'What would Johnny have done?' "
Mr. Leno said: "No single individual has had as great an impact on
television as Johnny. He was the gold standard. It's hard to believe
he's actually gone. This is a tremendous loss for everyone who Johnny
made laugh for so many years."
Mr. Lassally said he had become closer to Mr. Carson in the years after
he left the air. "My fondest memory is him calling me every time there
was something really awful on television and telling me, 'You've got to
put this on.' Then we would watch together and giggle like schoolgirls
about this terrible television show." Mr. Carson's strength, beyond his
talent, was his sweeping appeal, Mr. Lassally said. "He was everything
to everybody. He was your husband or your neighbor, your son or your
friend."
But in that nightly monologue, he added, Mr. Carson was something else
as well: "He was the voice of the people."
January 24, 2005
The Joke-Writing Continued After the Curtain Went Down
By BILL CARTER
In the years immediately after Johnny Carson's decision to step down
from the "Tonight" show, NBC executives fully expected that their
signature star would become a latter-day version of Bob Hope -
providing a special here and there, something that would pull in the
millions of fans who never got over missing him at 11:35 each
weeknight.
But Mr. Carson had made a different decision. "He knew he had given
everything he had on the show, and that's how he wanted to be
remembered," said Peter Lassally, his long-time executive producer and
close friend.
Still, there was one part of his former life he simply could not leave
behind entirely. Having spent 30 years reading and watching the news
every day and instantly conjuring the events into monologue jokes,
jokes that provided a running commentary on the political and cultural
scene, Mr. Carson found he simply could not give up the routine.
"He really missed doing the monologue," Mr. Lassally said. "So he
started doing them for me."
Sometimes once a week, sometimes more often, Mr. Carson would call Mr.
Lassally and, over the phone, perform his little monologues - for an
audience of one. "They were always funny," Mr. Lassally said, and one
day about a year ago the jokes struck him as so funny that he had a
suggestion.
"I told Johnny he should call Dave and give them to him," said Mr.
Lassally, who, after Mr. Carson retired, went to work as executive
producer for David Letterman.
Thus began a quiet collaboration, which delighted Mr. Carson in his
final months. "He was like a little kid when Dave would do one of his
jokes," Mr. Lassally said. "He was not blasé about any of it."
Of course, one reason Mr. Carson would never want to be public about
the collaboration was that he never wanted to be seen taking sides in
the enduring conflict between Mr. Letterman and Jay Leno, who succeeded
him as host of "Tonight," over who was his rightful heir in late-night
comedy.
Both stars issued statements yesterday on Mr. Carson's death.
Mr. Letterman said: "All of us who came after are pretenders. We will
not see the likes of him again. He gave me a shot on his show and in
doing so, he gave me a career. A night doesn't go by that I don't ask
myself, 'What would Johnny have done?' "
Mr. Leno said: "No single individual has had as great an impact on
television as Johnny. He was the gold standard. It's hard to believe
he's actually gone. This is a tremendous loss for everyone who Johnny
made laugh for so many years."
Mr. Lassally said he had become closer to Mr. Carson in the years after
he left the air. "My fondest memory is him calling me every time there
was something really awful on television and telling me, 'You've got to
put this on.' Then we would watch together and giggle like schoolgirls
about this terrible television show." Mr. Carson's strength, beyond his
talent, was his sweeping appeal, Mr. Lassally said. "He was everything
to everybody. He was your husband or your neighbor, your son or your
friend."
But in that nightly monologue, he added, Mr. Carson was something else
as well: "He was the voice of the people."