Late night television icon Johnny Carson was born in Iowa in 1925 and grew up in Nebraska. He started in show business as a magician and ventriloquist, took a radio job, moved to game shows, and became a writer for TV comic Red Skelton.

He succeeded Jack Paar as host of The Tonight Show, starting a run that spanned 4,500 shows over 30 years. In addition to his opening monologue and celebrity guest interviews, Carson is remembered for holding up an envelope to his forehead and divining the answer as Carnac the Magnificent, affably swinging his invisible golf club, and poking fun at movies, commercials, and TV with his Mighty Carson Art Players.

Johnny Carson was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1987. He also won several Emmy awards, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Kennedy Center Lifetime Achievement Award.

David Letterman says he owes his entire career to Carson, who gave him some big breaks and advised him to walk out when Letterman wasn't given The Tonight Show as promised after Johnny retired. Of Johnny's talent, Letterman says, "The Tonight Show didn't become The Tonight Show until Johnny did it. He created the template for that show, and everybody else who is doing a show, myself included, we're all kind of secretly doing Johnny's Tonight Show."

Carson divorced three times which produced great fodder for innumerable alimony jokes. Here are some of the best lines attributed to Johnny Carson:

"The difference between divorce and legal separation is that a legal separation gives a husband time to hide his money."

"My producer, Freddy de Cordova, really gave me something I needed for Christmas. He gave me a gift certificate to the Law Offices of Jacoby and Meyers."

"If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead."

"There is a power struggle going on between President Reagan's advisers. Moe and Curly are out. Larry is still in."

"Nancy Reagan fell down and broke her hair."

"New York is an exciting town where something is happening all the time, most unsolved."

"Anytime four New Yorkers get into a cab together without arguing, a bank robbery has just taken place."

"Mail your packages early so the post office can lose them in time for Christmas."

"And on the show tonight, we have five Miss America contestants and some dogs. (Laughter.) I mean real dogs. (Uproarious laughter.) Come on now, you know I mean dogs that bark."

David Letterman paid tribute to Johnny in a monologue made up entirely of jokes that Carson sent him in Carson's final months -
"President Bush stopped in Canada where he received a cool reception but, on the bright side, he was able to stop in a pharmacy and fill his prescriptions." (referring to the fact that American drugs cost much less in Canada)

From a review of 'Dear Johnny' on Amazon -
"GREAT BOOK!!!!!
This book is awesome! I can't believe the things people send to celebrities! It's nuts! An entertaining read for any Johnny fan! Highly recommended!"

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