Sylvester "Pat" Weaver created The Tonight Show & The Today Show when he was president of NBC-TV
In fact, Pat’s daughter – Sigourney Weaver – has arguably achieved much more fame, although Pat exerted tremendous influence as President of NBC-TV in the 1950’s. But Pat Weaver’s legacy was his far-reaching impact on American culture and entertainment (and, to an extent, global pop culture) that still reverberates to this day.
Weaver, having come from the advertising world, seemed to have an exceptional grasp of how to reach, entertain and inform a mass audience. His legacy – as creator of “The Tonight Show” and “Today,” among other innovative programming concepts – not only established entertainment genres, but also cultural touchstones. More importantly, Weaver deeply believed that broadcasting should educate as well as entertain, a mantra that somehow got lost during the evolution of mass media as we now know it (but thank you, PBS and NPR).
On Friday, May 29, 2009, the last episode of NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” will air. On Monday, June 1, Conan O’Brien will unseat Leno as the host of Pat Weaver’s most famous legacy, and, sadly, it will no longer air from “Beautiful Downtown Burbank” California where it’s originated from since 1972.
You want the job? No, do you want it?
O’Brien’s incarnation of “The Tonight Show” will originate from a new studio in the Universal Studios back lot, which, on paper, makes sense since the parent company is know known as NBC Universal.
O’Brien, as only “The Tonight Show’s” 5th permanent host in its 54 years, will be highly scrutinized. But what may be getting lost in all the hoo-hah about the new man behind the desk is if Conan can (or could anyone?) adapt to the role as cultural ringleader in our always-on, blended lifestyle, digital zeitgeist era?
For 30 years, millions of Americans tuned into Johnny Carson, the 3rd host of “The Tonight Show,” primarily for his vox populi opening monologue. Even if you never picked up a newspaper or tuned on a TV or radio, a dose of Johnny was a daily round-up of that day’s news and events, but with an ironic spin.
Carson's Monologue - nobody did it better
The topical monologue still survives, as practiced by Leno, Ellen DeGeneres, Jimmy Kimmel, Craig Ferguson, Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert and countless others.
Carson & Letterman - the "Yoda" and "Luke" of late night - in happier times
I’d even argue that Johnny’s hand-picked (yet picked-over) “Tonight Show” successor, David Letterman, has in recent years been performing longer and funnier monologues (but only since Carson’s passing, which could be attributed to Dave’s very public deference to Johnny). Personally, I embraced Letterman’s acerbic, “let’s make fun of” wit from the fist time Dave came on the scene. And, maybe Dave has become more endearing to The Carson Generation since he’s fully embraced Johnny’s monologue legacy.
But now in the Internet age, when we have instantaneous access to the all-you-can-eat buffet of digital news and video, has anyone figured out how to make the daily dissection of topical news and events even more timely (and funnier?).
I may watch a few early episodes of Conan before I return to my host of choice, David Letterman. Heck, I may even Tweet about Conan’s “Tonight Show” debut. But what I really want to see (and never will) is an old school Carson moment when Carson tried to make sense of a cultural shift such as the Internet. Imagine Carson getting a “Twitorial” lesson on using Twitter to send monologue jokes, from, say, the likes of an Angelia Jolie?
Johnny Carson and Eva Gabor putting Twister on the pop culture map. Now that's viral marketing!
For nothing was more hilarious than Carson learning how to play Twister with Eva Gabor, or learning how to throw a tomahawk with Ed Ames (watch the entire set up and clip if you’ve never seen this). I suspect Johnny getting frustrated with a keyboard then flinging it across the stage like a Frisbee at the NBC Orchestra would have been pure comedy gold. Perhaps Pat Weaver would have laughed, too.
