Smasher_Sloan said:sgreenwell said:Mizzougrad96 said:Liut said:I will always admire Johnny Carson but agree it was crappy what he did to Joan.Mizzougrad96 said:Rivers being on for that skit was awesome. I always liked her and Johnny treated her like ship after she tried to do her own show...
It's interesting how many people love Johnny, but there were definitely a few people he decked over.
Didn't one of the recent books or documentaries about Carson get into his issues with women? I mean, maybe I'm just misrememberin' things here, but I thought they were extensive, between the treatment of Joan Rivers and his various ex-wives.
Carson was a great host, but there's a lot of evidence to suggest he was a forked-up person.
Letterman has some of the same demons, although I think becoming a father late in life has taken some of the hard edges off him. There were stories that nobody was allowed to make eye contact with him if they pashed him backstage before the show. There was also a story that when he was still at NBC, he'd go back to the office and review the tape, screaming when he came to things he wished he had done differently.
For his overall sanity, it's probably better that he clearly doesn't give a ship about the show now.
Someone online made this point the other day. The guys who had demons (Carson, Letterman when he gave a ship) were just better hosts. They were more interesting. Hell, you could throw Howard Stern in there as well.
Other good point I'm stealing, one thing Carson did well (one of many things) is that he was well read, or at least appeared to be. He could have an engaging conversation with an author and actually looked like he was genuinely interested in said conversation (and probably was). No one on today is doing that. I don't think most of these guys read books, and it shows.