Here's Johnny

I was flying back home from California on Sunday when I heard Johnny Carson died.
Usually when I hear about celebrity deaths, I get this "ahhh" feeling. But for Carson it was different. He was practically a member of my family.

I remember when I was a kid and I would go out to visit my grandparents in Oklahoma. They would let me stay up late and watch Carson with them in their big bed. I was allowed to watch through the third commercial break which meant I usually got to see his monologue, any opening sketch and his first guest.

Through college, I always watched Carson (and then stayed tuned for Letterman).

When I was in high school, my family went to Southern Cal to see Phantom of the Opera (before it was a movie, it was a play!). We visited Disneyland and we had one day to try to get in the audience of some show. We all agreed it had to be Carson.

We stood in line for hours, but it paid off because we got in. The guests that night were Tony Danza and Chris Isaac. I was blown away by how small the theater was for the show. It looked so much bigger on TV. There was Doc. And Ed.

During the commercial breaks, Johnny usually talked with his producer while he smoked a cigarette. But during one break, he came out to tell the audience a joke. I don't remember what the joke was, but I do remember it involved something like an elephant in a bar and it was very dirty.

I was shocked to see Carson swear, but it was a very funny joke.

After the commercial break, Carson came out as Carnac the Magnificent. After a couple jokes, he held the envelope to his head and said, "An elephant in a bar..."

The audience just screamed laughter. We couldn't believe he would tell the dirty joke on the air and it was just hysterical. Of course, he didn't do the dirty joke. It was some silly thing. But the audience was cracking up. I loved the fact he shared that with us as an inside thing. It was wonderful.

He will be missed.