My amigo Fred Hembeck has one of the best comics weblogs out there. He writes about his love of the medium. He offers up historical artifacts. He even prints Fred Hembeck cartoons. In the middle category, he's currently offering two bits of funnybook history. One is this 1966 article on Will Eisner from the New […]
My buddy Andy Ihnatko has a viewing recommendation. I've found it's wise to just do whatever Andy tells you. […]
As you probably know, there was a nasty train wreck in Los Angeles the other day. I've never ridden an L.A. Metrolink train but I have friends who do ride them. Maybe that's why I find myself uncommonly chilled and saddened by the news reports, especially by the fact that it was the result of […]
A reader who I'm not sure wanted his name used wrote and asked two questions about Johnny… Since you were there at the taping, I'm wondering how Ed McMahon was able to exit his visit with Leno on Monday in time to be on Larry King's show. If I remember right, Tonight always starts taping […]
Joan Embrey from the San Diego Zoo, which probably means clips of Johnny with animals. I remember some TV critic once wrote that the difference between Carson and Letterman is best demonstrated when they do animal segments. Carson lets the marmoset climb up on his head and Letterman makes fun of the trainer. […]
Here's a roundup of editorial cartoons about the passing of J. Carson. You may notice a certain repetition of a couple of ideas. And here's a link to the cartoon by my pal, Mike Peters. […]
Richard Corliss of Time writes one of the best pieces I've read on Johnny, even if he does misspell "Slauson cut-off." He also notes that during much of the time Leno guest-hosted for Carson, he got higher ratings and better demographics. This is one of those facts that no one ever dared mention aloud when […]
Every print interview Johnny Carson ever did seems to be turning up on the Internet these days. Here's one of the earliest — a 1967 chat he did with Alex Haley for Playboy. It's kind of interesting since it was done at a time when he hadn't been doing Tonight for much longer than Jack […]
Frank Rich on what it means to support the troops. And while we're at it, this article over on Salon [membership or watching ads required] says that wounded soldiers who are being treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center have to pay for meals. I wish people in this country would get the idea that […]
William Saletan on how Democrats can win over pro-choice voters. […]
Leaving the subject of John W. Carson for a moment…I'm sure we're all properly horrified by the train derailment this morning in Los Angeles that has (so far) left ten people dead and at least 200 injured. It touched a little close to home for me because I have a friend who routinely takes one […]
I was going to try and get out of the Carson-linking business but this one's too good to deny you. An old friend of mine, Donna Schwartz Mills, wrote to thank me for all I've posted here and to tell me she has her own weblog where she's posting things about Johnny. Donna was on […]
Comedian Larry Miller tells us about appearing with Johnny. And Rolling Stone has posted the text of a 1979 interview with Mr. C. […]
Veteran entertainment reporter Bob Thomas reports on the 100th birthday (today) of veteran character actor Charles Lane. […]
I'm going to stop posting about Johnny in the next day or so but I did want to make one point that absolutely no one seems to be making. It's that Johnny was an enormously powerful man to the point that very few folks in the industry were willing to ever get on his bad […]