Odyssey

On Meeting Johnny…

            To us he appeared to be an amiable, if rather distant sort, though of an even disposition—unlike Jack Paar, his predecessor, for example. But it soon became clear that he was able to communicate only in the comic mode. That is when he wasn’t pontificating over something he had just read in Reader’s Digest. And he was remarkably uninformed about matters of fairly common knowledge.

            Further, he was painfully self-conscious. So much so that we felt awkward and uncomfortable in his presence, sensing how awkward and uncomfortable he felt in ours. He silenced any group he came upon.

            Thus, it was no surprise that, when doing the show, he demonstrated little capacity for the simple give and take of normal, every day discourse. And since he was virtually unable to initiate an exchange with a guest on his own every minute of the show would have to be pre-planned and accounted for. What we seemed to have here was a talk show host who couldn’t talk to people.

            On the other hand, he was very bright, a quick study, and from Day One, a very, very funny guy. A look, a take, the pregnant pause at just the right moment: he had’em all. The question was, for a host of the Tonight Show, would that be enough?