Good Night, Johnny.

Yesterday morning, the world lost one the best entertainers in human history.
Johnny Carson passed away at the age of 79 after battling emphysema. He retired over a decade ago, appearing on our televsion sets only in commercials for bundled, revisionary sets of his manically popular "Tonight Show." He made it his after taking over for Jack Parr, and never once did his hosting of the show feel despotic. Johnny's charm and hipness made it proper for people of all ages to stay up later than they'd planned on, and Johnny's show always delivered laughs and music to send you to bed.

Johnny Carson was an inspiration to countless stand-up comics. He was the pinnacle of talk show hosting prowess. He was a man who was always known as kind, caring, and generous. He had a stellar sense of humor about everything, especially himself. He could have a very funny guest on, and his ego was put aside so the guest could have the spotlight, and Johnny could always laugh at his own shortcomings, making his humanity the punchline. And if you can't laugh at yourself, you cannot truly laugh at anything. Such as it is with all the best things in life, from love to forgiveness.

I imagine Johnny hosted an impromptu "Eternity Show" in the Great Beyond with musical guest John Lennon, and the comedic stylings of Bill Hicks. All three of these entertainers had one great message: We're human, we may do stupid things with great aplomb, and great things with simple intent, but if we do it with a feeling of love we can't ever be questioned as to why we do it. Because the Love told us to, and we love those who share it like that. You don't know it's love, but you know you enjoyed being a part of it and in a weird way, miss the cruise control that Johnny and his gang could lock the FunMachine on. What a great ride it was.

Like begets like. And there's never been, nor will there ever be, another like Johnny Carson. We were very lucky to see and hear the best of his talents. He wanted his viewers and audiences to take it easy, even if it wasn't until the last waking hour of our day, which could keep us laughing for a week.

Thank You, Johnny. I'm sure you got the wave to the big couch in the afterlife.
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