A heartfelt goodnight

Many of us know what it's like to hear that an old and dear friend, whom we haven't seen in years, has died. Such was the impact that word of Johnny Carson's death had on tens of millions of Americans Sunday.

For 30 years, from 1962 to 1992, the wry, genial comedian from the Midwest - born in Iowa and raised in Nebraska - was the king of late night TV on NBC, invited weeknights into America's living rooms and bedrooms. His comedic timing was impeccable, his delivery effortless. He made entertaining look natural, easy and fun.

He was probably television's most popular and beloved entertainer ever. During most of his long run, his was a "can't miss" show. He was his network's biggest money-maker and, at one time or another, he had on nearly every popular - or controversial - figure in entertainment, politics and sports.

He introduced to his nationwide audience such huge talents as Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, Steve Martin, Joan Rivers, George Carlin, David Letterman and Jay Leno - the last two competing to fill the master's late night shoes since he stepped down nearly 13 years ago.

Mr. Carson's bond with Americans was stronger than any entertainer, or politician, could hope for, yet when he left his program in 1992 he vanished from public view - caught on camera now and then only by the ubiquitous paparazzi. This was his choice. He said his body of work could speak for him. And quite a body it is too.

Mr. Carson's monologues, always topical, caught the tenure of his times - the civil rights movement of the 1960s; the Vietnam war of the 1960s and '70s; Watergate; the "malaise" and Iranian hostage crisis of the Carter years; the Reagan revolution of the 1980s; and the start of the Clinton years in the early 1990s.

Only those personally close to him knew how sick Mr. Carson had become in recent months - which was why so many people, including those in the entertainment world, were shocked as well as saddened to hear that emphysema had felled him at age 79.

It made us all realize that, though he'd been out of sight for many years, he was never far from our minds and hearts.

His fans held out hope when he retired from his Tonight show, because they always thought he'd be back - not as talk-show host again, but in a TV special or as a guest on Leno or Letterman. Last week, it came out that Mr. Carson missed delivering his monologues and that he was writing jokes for Letterman. Maybe he would soon come back after all.

Sadly, it is not to be. Although America's dear friend has gone permanently, his cultural impact and entertainment legacy will be felt for generations to come. Good night, Johnny.