The Show Must Go On

This is a tribute to the late great Johnny Carson.

There's a whole world full of comedians who owe a lot of their success to Johnny. For decades, the holy grail of comedy was to appear on The Tonight Show. A guy would start out working a circuit of open mic clubs, honing his craft, sorting out material that worked from stuff that didn't. After a seemingly endless struggle there would be that first paying gig. By then the show had a style, an image; and the material included a lot of solid material that was tried and true. Success, repeated success, a steady diet of paying gigs and maybe finally the chance to quit that day job. The material accumulated is top notch, the delivery is polished to a fine edge, and that magical moment comes. An invitation to appear on The Tonight Show.

The fresh new comic comes on right after Carson's monologue. If he can overcome his nervousness, "national television audience!", he might be tapped by some network executive to have a situation comedy written as a vehicle for his bit...but at the very least he is gonna be able to tell managers of big clubs "Yeah, I can work a big room. I was on The Tonight Show." It doesn't get any bigger than that.

These guys would follow Johnny on to that stage, armed with a set that might have been honed for years. Johnny walked out on that stage, stood and delivered every day. I laugh at so much of life that I thought it would be easy to find something and jot it in here and be funny as hell on a daily basis. Once again I am learning the hard way. Here's to you Johnny, wherever you are.