Taylor’s Takes: Johnny Carson’s golden rule

I’m not old enough to have watched Johnny Carson live on The Tonight Show. I was all of 15 months old when he retired from hosting in May of 1992.

But growing up, I had inherited a VHS box set of the best of The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson that I watched almost religiously. Yeah, I was a weird teenager, spending my afternoons after high school watching highlights of a show that peaked in the 1970s and 80s. And I loved it.

Carson was a magnetic personality on the small screen. He wasn’t flashy. He wasn’t full of himself or self-important. He could be intellectual and folksy at the same time. And his wit shone through in every situation. He seemed like an everyman that just happened to be one of the most famous people alive.

Late night hosts have morphed into the antithesis of the mold Carson provided. Instead of that everyday American persona bestowed with celebrity, the likes of Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, and Stephen Colbert seem to feel entitled to a certain level of fame while struggling to relate to the common man. They long to maintain their connection to the glitterati.

In 1979, Carson sat down for a rare interview with Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes. The guarded Carson answered personal, pointed questions from Wallace, all the while trying to maintain a certain level of secrecy regarding his life outside of the television studio.

The 16-or-so minute segment is a fascinating watch, and one that I indulge in several times a year. One moment has always stood out to me, even before it went somewhat viral during the age of Donald Trump vs. the 21^st century late night hosts.

Wallace asks Carson why he never delves into serious controversies, particularly of a political nature, on his program.

Carson’s response is a master class in appealing to a mass audience.

“Tell me the last time that Jack Benny, Red Skelton, any comedian used his show to do serious issues,” Carson pointed out. “That’s not what I’m there for. Can’t they see that?”

“Why do they think that just because you have a ‘Tonight Show’ that you must deal in serious issues,” Johnny continued. “That’s a danger. That’s a real danger.”

“Once you start that, you start to get that self-important feeling that what you say has great import. And, you know, strangely enough you could use that show as a form of, you could sway people. And I don’t think you should as an entertainer,” Carson prophesied.

Johnny didn’t get to see how his sage advice would be woefully ignored. He died in 2005, well before Fallon, Kimmel, and Colbert saw any notable prominence in their careers. But I’m sure he’s been rolling over in his grave for the better part of the last decade. Maybe even longer.

And I’m sure he’s laughing at Colbert’s demise this week, after CBS announced they were axing The Late Show altogether.

That’s the ultimate consequence of going against Johnny’s golden rule. If you are making your living as an entertainer by taking a side, you’ll die when that side is less than favorable. For better or worse, you’re tying yourself to the stock market of partisan politics. And when the stock plunges, you may find yourself caught up in the sell-off.

Even though CBS claims otherwise, Colbert is the first late night victim to be hung by his own petard. He decided to turn his program into a safe haven for those afflicted by Trump Derangement Syndrome. Night after night he would criticize not only President Trump, but his supporters, too.

“The far-right and, you know, flirtations with fascism at the very least is rising across the globe,” stuttered Colbert to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2024. Colbert made no effort to mask his disdain for the conservative movement that had become enraged by Draconian COVID policies, stupid climate initiatives, and a general lack of government transparency.

The night after Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021, Colbert (broadcasting from a basement studio during the pandemic) couldn’t hide his glee with the octogenarian’s new title. “Preeesssident Biiiiden,” Colbert said, mimicking a slow-motion replay. “It’s like licking frosting right off the spatula.”

Later that year, as part of a state-sponsored effort to get more Americans to take the COVID jab, Colbert “performed” a dance to the tune of “Tequila” by The Champs re-branded to “Vaccine.” The routine was complete with men costumed as giant hypodermic needles, dancing around the studio audience and shouting “VACCINE!” whenever the song’s only lyric came around.

It was both cringe-worthy and vomit-inducing.

All of his monologues, interviews, and other segments had only one goal: to further the cause of the Democrat party.

And that was his demise.

ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel is equally detestable when it comes to anti-Trump propaganda. Trump is likely correct when he predicted Kimmel will be next in the downfall of late night hosts.

Fallon, while liberal, seems to do his best to play it down the middle. But he has also made himself into a cheap imitation of Johnny Carson.

Carson was a liberal, too. But you’d only get a sense of that side of him every now and then. He was, above all, and equal opportunity comedian. He took shots at all sides.

The fake news laughed at Trump in 2024 when he asked “Where’s Johnny Carson? Bring back Johnny,” while making fun of Fallon’s version of The Tonight Show.

But those of us who loved Carson, whether we watched him live or in reruns, knew exactly what he meant.

Bring back Carson’s essence to late night television.

For a multitude of reasons, thought, it’s much too late for that.

Late night is eeking out it’s last few gasps.