Perhaps the larger difference is that Twain wrote his own material. Listen to Jimmy Fallon, who never explained his jokes until he took over for the long-chin host. An entire staff of writers - not a Twain in the bunch.


On Jun 18, 2014, at 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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> 
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Alan Kitty
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