Growing up in my house meant that from 11:30 pm until 1 am five nights a week we knew exactly where to find my dad, sitting in front of the television watching Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. The times I was allowed to join him were some of the best.
I got to see the all time greats like Jackie Gleason, Jack Benny, Red Skelton, Jimmy Stewart, George Burns, Jimmy Durante, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and so many more.
I got to see young comics make their debut, like Richard Pryor, Phyllis Diller, Steve Martin, David Letterman, Freddie Prinze, and Jay Leno.
I had the chance to have seen Steve Allen do the show a few times and to watch Jack Paar do the show for a while. But for me, the Tonight Show was all about Johnny Carson. Of course why wouldn't that be the case? Allen and Paar combined only did the show for eight years, Carson did it for 30.
When the time came for Johnny to step aside many thought the job would go to David Letterman, or maybe Joan Rivers. Instead funny man Jay Leno got the nod.
Since 1992 Leno has done a credible job of keeping the show going despite a kind of competition Carson never really had. Leno was up against Letterman, cable TV, TiVo and a host of other options which peeled away his audience. Yet his brand of humor was in keeping with the best traditions of the Tonight show. When it came to politics, current events and hollywood, he was an equal opportunity offender.
His chief competitor, Letterman, has gone the other way. He has become more overtly liberal. His humor is now more like ridicule, and more of that is directed at those with whom he disagrees with an arrogance which at some times is hard to take.
Tonight "The Tonight Show" will be Jay's last. He will pass the baton to Conan O'Brien, the lanky, goof ball with his own show which used to feature "The masturbating bear". O'Brien's brand of humor must appeal to somebody or NBC wouldn't have given him the most coveted chair in late night television. Perhaps his appeal is to a younger generation, you know, the ones they say are the big spenders.
Perhaps this show will do well with it's new host. But I'd say the end result will be more baby boomers going to bed earlier leaving Conan to the kiddies.
I know it is goofy, but there is a bit of history being made tonight. Good luck Jay, good luck Conan. Good grief how time has flown.
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