Word: jokes
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...crotch of a paper target. Carson's greatness was reflected not just in the zinger he came up with--"I didn't even know you were Jewish!"--but in what came before. Watch the playback: he lets the laughter crescendo--five seconds, 10. He knows he has the joke. He knows it will kill. But you cannot have it yet. For a moment, he is keeping it for himself, like a diamond stowed in his breast pocket...
...comedians, this is called timing, and in leaders it is called command. Carson was not joke for joke the funniest man on TV, nor the best interviewer. He was simply the best host: he could flow with events instead of being carried off by them, yield the spotlight to guests while transcending any particular night's program, withhold even as he made us believe he was giving...
...Johnny knew his limitations - some called it shyness, others arrogance - and, naturally, bent it into a joke. "I will not even talk to myself without an appointment," he wrote in the late 60s. In lieu of interviews, Carson supplied all-purpose answers to journalists' probes: "Yes, I did"; "I can't answer that question"; and "As often as possible, but I'm not very good at it yet. I need much more practice...
...wedding of Tiny Tim and Miss Vicky: Carson's all-time highest-rated show featured the nuptials of an eccentric ukeleleist (whom I had seen perform in his early Village days) and a 17-year-old fan. The following week, Carson had a honeymoon joke: "There are already signs of trouble in the marriage. Last night Miss Vicky hung a sign on their hotel room doorknob that said: 'Disturb...
...billionth hamburger. Why, do you realize that if all the meat in those burgers were stacked up, it would stretch to here?" - and he raises his hand a foot from the desk top. (McDonald's threatened to sue, not realizing it was goofy to demand a retraction for a joke...