I recall learning some time ago that in his retirement, Carson would
write material then send to Letterman to use on air.

I can't remember the source--a television documentary or a magazine
article--but it indicated that Carson had a strong relationship with
Letterman and that he was perturbed about Leno's selection over
Letterman's to replace him on The Tonight Show. Apparently Carson deemed
Letterman the worthier of the two potential successors.

For whatever that's worth...


On 6/18/14 7:30 PM, Steve Hoffman wrote:
> I agree with critiques of Leno. Don't find him 
> particularly funny or witty or entertaining. 
> Likewise with the ever-dour David Letterman. 
> Neither of those gentlemen was fit to SHINE Johnny 
> Carson's shoes, much less fill them.
> 
> Carson would've been deserving of the Twain Award, 
> at least possibly.   These others -- gimme a break.
> 
> And as another person posted, most of those 
> late-night hosts aren't even writing their own 
> jokes -- they have teams of writers working for them.
> 
> -Steve Hoffman
> Takoma Park MD
> 
> On 6/18/2014 2:39 PM, Denis Donovan wrote:
>> Johnny Carson, who was as unlike Twain as you can get, nonetheless had =
>> something in common with him that was absolutely not shared by either =
>> Leno or Lederman. Like Twain, Carson never explained a joke or a =
>> routine. Carson let his performance carry the meaning and shape the =
>> experience just as Twain let his written or spoken performance shape the =
>> experience. Carson may have laughed enough during the process to fill =
>> several studio audience recordings with every laugh he needed -- but =
>> Twain's enjoyment of his verbal and written performances clearly is =
>> palpable in everything Twain ever wrote ... and really comes across in =
>> the autobiography. Twain's piece on German sentence-building is as =
>> hilarious as anything Carson ever did and much of both of their material =
>> carries high-powered socio-political-cultural commentary. And, as read =
>> by Grover Gardner, had me laughing as hard as I ever laughed at Carson, =
>> a laugh tinged with infinitely more respect.
>>
>> Just a thought.
>>
>> Denis
>>
>>
>> On Jun 18, 2014, at 1:42 PM, Scott Holmes wrote:
>>
>>> I don't know about the rest of you, on Twain-L, but I never thought =
>> Leno
>>> was particularly humorous.
>> Denis M. Donovan, M.D., M.Ed., F.A.P.S.
>> Director, EOCT Institute
>>
>> Medical Director, 1983 - 2006
>> The Children's Center for Developmental Psychiatry
>> St. Petersburg, Florida
>>
>> P.O Box 47576
>> St. Petersburg, FL 33743-7576
>> Phone:	727-641-8905
>> [log in to unmask]
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>>
>> Please reply to: [log in to unmask]
>>
>>