"Heeeere's Johnny!" Forty years ago, Johnny Carson moved into America's living rooms and bedrooms as the host of NBC's "The Tonight Show." - Entertainment

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), July, 2002 by Wes D. Gehring

So how did the invisible man become so beloved? The secret lies in the 1979 Rolling Stone interview, the best single source (regardless of length) on the comedian. Two of Carson's most-basic comedy principles are axioms he formulated from his radio favorites of the past, especially Benny and Allen: "First of all, I think that people have to like people that make them laugh." This sounds obvious, but consider how rare this is in today's crop of late-night talk show hosts. What often passes for entertainment is a condescending, ironic put-down style. In contrast, Carson always seemed like one of us.

The second comedy basic to be gleaned from that interview states, "You should try to help guests be as good as they can be, because the better the guest is, the better I'll be." More common sense, it would seem, but there are so few good listeners on television today. If Paar had any impact on Carson, this might have been it. Paar prided himself on being the word's greatest audience, and Carson continued this "Tonight Show" tradition.

Carson also had a very democratic perspective on getting laughs. As long as the program was funny, it did not really matter who delivered the punch line. As an army of "Tonight Show" guest comics have noted, Carson was a masterful set-up man. For example, in the 1992 Newsweek piece, Tommy Smothers observed, "Like my brother Dick, Johnny is one of the greatest straight men in the business. He has the wonderful ability to make everything believable. And if your straight man doesn't believe you, it's all over."

Ultimately, Carson's casually toned-down style fit pioneer media theorist Marshall McLuhan's axiom that television was a "cooler" medium relying upon more audience involvement. That is, a more-demonstrative performer, suited to the "hot" motion-picture medium, with its more-information-laden image, would not have worn as well on television. For instance, while Groucho Marx predated McLuhan, he seems to have instinctively grasped his theory, for the television Marx is a realistically subdued entertainer compared to the zany movie variety. (Witness how many film stars have bombed on television.) Of course, with Carson one is tempted to go with the obvious pun and credit him with being "cool" regardless of which ism is currently in vogue. Or, a Carson profiler might simply close by recycling the comedian's joking description of how he passes time in Malibu retirement--"watching hummingbirds mate."

Wes D. Gehring, Associate Mass Media Editor of USA Today, is professor of film, Ball State University, Muncie, Ind.