Johnny Carson's deep emotions for Jack!

[Jack Benny]

Most of us have heard how deeply Johnny Carson cared for and respected Jack. I was watching Saturday's episode of the 60 minute interviews, the focus was on showing a 1979 interview of Johnny Carson. One part featured a supporting interview of his wife. His wife talked about how she only saw Johnny break down and weep twice since she knew him. She shared that one occasion was on the day Jack Benny died. She said he went away and cried for hours. She then shared about the deep relationship between Johnny and Jack. It was very moving, and I believe that the host said that, that part of the interview had not been aired in the original and this was the first time that it was being broadcast.

[Mike]

I wonder if Johnny Carson will ever have a fan club such as this one. I doubt it. I don't think he was as personally well liked as was Jack. And except for an occasional retrospective, I don't think The Tonight Show will be shown in reruns 50 years from now. But don't get me wrong - when he was "on", Johnny was VERRRRRY, VERRRRRY FUNNNNYYYYY!!!

[Roman]

I think that it will be harder for later generations to remember Johnny in the same way that we can remember Jack. So much of Johnny's material was topical because of the requirements of the daily monologue. Jokes about Gerald Ford or Earl Butz that might have left an a 1975 audience laughing will be meaningless to today's (much less tomorrow's) audiences. This is the same reason that a 1970s ratings giant like All in the Family is so much less popular in syndication today than non-topical character-driven comedies from the same era like The Odd Couple.

Those comedians, like Johnny, Fred Allen, Bob Hope, and Mort Sahl, who relied heavily on topical/political humor, find their popularity slipping as the years go by and today's pointed joke becomes yesterday's HUH(?). But comedians who focused on the perennial human condition, like Jack, Groucho, Jackie Gleason, and Lucy are remembered long after their passing.