Here's Johnny! The Tonight Show Jokes

As the dust settles on or around NBC's The Tonight Show with old what's his name back in the driver's seat, I thought back to the old Johnny Carson days and hearing my grandpa chuckle at some of the jokes. Grandpa didn't laugh outloud much, but he was somewhat religious about watching The Tonight Show when he came home from work.

Wikipedia describes Carnac the Magnificent, in which Carson played a psychic who clairvoyantly divined the answer to a question contained in a sealed envelope.

The answer was always an outrageous pun. "Carnac" examples:

• "Debate" ... "What do you use to catch de fish?"
• "Camelot" ... "Where do Arabians park their camels?"
• "Three Dog Night" ... "What's a bad night for a tree?"

The Carnac joke that garnered the biggest laugh, and Ed McMahon's personal favorite was

• "Sis boom bah" ... "Describe the sound made when a sheep explodes."

If the laughter fell short for a too-lame pun (as it often did), "Carnac" would face the audience with mock seriousness and bestow a comic curse.

I will not repeat those out of delicacy for the ladies who read my blog. I think grandpa was pretty sure I didn't understand much of the undertone or nuance in the humour.

See previous Conversations@Intersections post about the recent host hassles.