The audience demanded something different than Colbert and his leftist activism, which is why his show was losing $40M a year, despite an enormous staff and millions in funding. He was fired because his show sucked.
Regardless, anyone who remembers Johnny Carson knows he was actually funny, and not a partisan hack, unlike Colbert and Fallon.
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson premiered on NBC on October 1, 1962. I was 18 years old. How old were you?
My parents were fans of Johnny Carson who watched his show nightly. Prior to this, they watched Jack Paar who hosted Tonight from 1957 to March 1962. Steve Allen preceded Jack Paar as the original host of The Tonight Show.
Some interesting trivia, Steve Allen's son Steve Allen Jr. was a classmate of mine at Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, California. Steve and I were in the same drama class. Our teacher's name was Robert Eley -- interesting play on names. Sally Field was also a classmate as were some of the original Mouseketeers. The notorious Michael Milken was also a classmate, (two years behind me).
Steve Jr. and Sally Field were neighbors when I lived with my parents at 5035 Densmore Ave, in Encino, CA. Our house still stands. Many others were torn down and McMansions have replaced them. The pool is in the same location, but the stables and small pasture were replaced with tennis courts. My parents paid $32,000 for the house in 1956. According to Zillow, is worth nearly $3 mil today.
What can I say... we old folks often have better long-term memories than short-term ones. LOL!
