Saluting the King
I watched a little of the Emmy's last night. I don't know why, but I suppose it's akin to the car wreck on the side of the road. You have to slow down to see what the deceased was wearing.
Despite the idiotic, scripted banter, the lame attempts at cheap applause Ellen DeGeneress (sp?) illicited by mentioning Hurricane Katrina when the previous joke went flat, and the ridiculous pretentiousness of Eva Longoria becoming the new Susan Lucci, there was a moment that really moved me.
David Letterman walked out on stage and made a pretty lame joke about the "Governor's Ball". It must have been an inside joke. I then expected to hear an "Uma/Oprah" joke and figured he was about to introduce someone. He did, and didn't.
He went into an obviously scripted but very heartfelt tribute to Johnny Carson. The man that started him and countless comedians in show buisness. What really got me was not what he said, but how he was saying it. Dave was very focused and very tight. I really got the impression that he was struggling to keep it together. Without question, David Letterman is a man that, like the 50 million people that watch the final Tonight Show (and I was one of them) loved Johnny Carson.
Johnny Carson passed away earlier this year. He'd barely been seen once he left TV and it had only been recently announced that he had been secretely writing jokes for Dave. I knew there was a reason I watch Letterman over Leno.
So, kudos to the Emmy's for something more uplifting than the hundreds of pairs of fake breasts in the audience. I turned the show off after that point, because I knew it wouldn't get any better.
Despite the idiotic, scripted banter, the lame attempts at cheap applause Ellen DeGeneress (sp?) illicited by mentioning Hurricane Katrina when the previous joke went flat, and the ridiculous pretentiousness of Eva Longoria becoming the new Susan Lucci, there was a moment that really moved me.
David Letterman walked out on stage and made a pretty lame joke about the "Governor's Ball". It must have been an inside joke. I then expected to hear an "Uma/Oprah" joke and figured he was about to introduce someone. He did, and didn't.
He went into an obviously scripted but very heartfelt tribute to Johnny Carson. The man that started him and countless comedians in show buisness. What really got me was not what he said, but how he was saying it. Dave was very focused and very tight. I really got the impression that he was struggling to keep it together. Without question, David Letterman is a man that, like the 50 million people that watch the final Tonight Show (and I was one of them) loved Johnny Carson.
Johnny Carson passed away earlier this year. He'd barely been seen once he left TV and it had only been recently announced that he had been secretely writing jokes for Dave. I knew there was a reason I watch Letterman over Leno.
So, kudos to the Emmy's for something more uplifting than the hundreds of pairs of fake breasts in the audience. I turned the show off after that point, because I knew it wouldn't get any better.
posted by Mkae at
6:48 PM
2 Comments:
I couldn't agree with you more - the tribute was by far the best part of the ceremonies. I still like watching reruns/clip shows of old Carson bits, and to this day I get chills every time I watch his last two shows. The man largely shaped the direction of television and show business as a whole for decades, and his influence will long be evident to those of us that had the pleasure of watching him.
By
Unknown, at 9:16 PM
I heard an interesting stat one time about the estimated number of Americans that were likely conceived during the Tonight Show. The number was BIG. I mean, REALLY BIG.
Johnny really made things happen.
By
Mkae, at 9:52 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home