Remembering Johnny Carson

Tonight Show host Johnny Carson died two years ago today, January 23, 2005.  Carson, a longtime smoker, was 79 and had announced in 2002 that he was suffering from the emphysema.  Carson was host of the Tonight Show from October 1, 1962, to May 22, 1992, taking over from Jack Paar and handing off to Jay Leno after 4,531 episodes.

Here are a few stories about Johnny from Wikipedia:

• In 1973, Carson had a legendary run-in with popular psychic Uri Geller when he invited Geller to appear on his show. Carson, an experienced stage magician, wanted a neutral demonstration of Geller's alleged abilities, so, at the advice of his friend and fellow magician James Randi, he gave Geller several spoons out of his desk drawer and asked him to bend them with his psychic powers. Geller proved unable, and his appearance on The Tonight Show has since been regarded as the beginning of Geller's fall from glory.
• Carson was a major investor in the ultimately failed De Lorean Motor Company, and was cited in a 1982 drunk driving incident while driving a De Lorean DMC-12 sportscar in Beverly Hills. Represented by Robert Shapiro, he pleaded no contest to the charges, and played off the incident by having a uniformed police officer escort him on to the Tonight Show stage. Other business ventures included a successful clothing line, through which his turtlenecks became a fashion trend, and a failed restaurant franchise.
• An oft-repeated story—since dismissed as an "urban legend"—involved a guest appearance by Zsa Zsa Gabor carrying a white Persian cat. Gabor is said to have asked Johnny if he would like to "pet my pussy?" During a 1989 appearance, Jane Fonda noted that her son had repeated the claim, and "my son said that you said, uh, 'I'd love to, if you'd remove that damned cat!' Is it true?" Carson denied the episode on-air ("No, I think I would recall that...")[1] and both he[2] and Gabor[3] responded to researchers by stating the event "never happened." Despite widespread insistence by people who claimed to see the episode, no audio or video recording has ever been produced.
  However, a bit of risqué humor was not beyond Carson. During an interview with Dolly Parton, in reference to her large bust, she said, "People are always asking if they're real and .... I'll tell you what, these are mine." Carson replied, "I have certain guidelines on this show. But I would give about a year's pay to peek under there."

Some of Carson’s characters were:

• Art Fern, the "Tea-time Movie" announcer (always selling strange or shoddy merchandise). The characters name was Ralph Willie when the Tea-Time sketches first aired (mid-late 1960s).
• A right-wing extremist in a plaid hunting coat and cap who always introduced himself as "Floyd R. Turbo American" (with no pause between words)
• Perhaps his best-known character, Carnac the Magnificent, who pretended to be a psychic who could answer questions before seeing them (and reading them out loud). (This is in fact a parody of a real act known as "one ahead" where the first answer is known to the performer in advance, and each succeeding answer is in fact on the card containing the previous item's question.) Carnac's answers were always humorous, ironic, or puns. Ed McMahon would always announce near the end, "I hold in my hand the last question," at which news the audience would applaud wildly, prompting Carnac to pronounce a comedic "curse" on the audience, such as "May all your genes be recessive!" (In fact, the name Carnac the Magnificent was the stage name Johnny used in his magic act as a youth.)