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The Curse of Johnny Carson · The Daily Writer

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Daily Rider, where we share a lesson each day to help you cultivate the habits for creative success.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: These lessons are inspired by great artists, authors, and thinkers, both past and present.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: For more, you can visit us at dailywriterlife.com.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Most young people today only have a vague idea of who Johnny Carson is, if they've even heard of him at all.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're 40 or older, you probably remember him as the host of The Tonight Show.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: From 1962 to 1992, Johnny Carson ruled the airwaves as the king of late night.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you were a stand-up comedian in the late 70s through the early 90s, and you did a five-minute set on the Tonight Show, and you got invited over to the couch to talk to Johnny after that set, you were now Hollywood Royalty.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Every comedian on the planet wanted to be like Johnny Carson.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: In 1992, when Johnny Carson retired, everyone thought that David Letterman would be a shoe-in as the new host.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: And why not?
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: David's own late night show had been following Johnny's for the last 10 years, and it was no secret that Letterman idolized Johnny Carson.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: And in turn, Johnny personally liked David Letterman more than he liked Jay Leno.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: But the TV world was scandalized when the Tonight Show hosting spot went to Leno instead.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: As a result, Letterman moved to CBS to start his own show opposite Jay Leno's.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: The next year, in 1993, a young upstart comedian who was a writer for The Simpsons got his own late night show at NBC.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: For years he followed Jay Leno in the lineup, even though his style was much more like David Letterman's, whom he adored.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: And this, of course, was Conan O'Brien.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: In the irony of all ironies, Conan had a brief stint hosting the Tonight Show for nearly eight months in 2009 and 2010, until his low ratings prompted NBC to bring back Jay Leno as the host.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the point of this little stroll down late night memory lane.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: All of these hosts have been victims of what you might call Carson's curse.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: In one way or another, they've all wanted to be like Johnny Carson, who will forever be immortalized as the greatest late night host ever.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Even today, people who remember Johnny Carson will watch Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, and other late night hosts, and they'll remark that they just can't measure up to Johnny Carson.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Even though it's been almost 30 years since he was host of the Tonight Show.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: But let's be clear, Johnny Carson didn't put a curse on anybody.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Rather, he was so good that everybody wanted to be like him, but nobody could measure up.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, over time they went on to develop their own styles and develop their own audience.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Conan O'Brien alluded to this when he said, It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Is there a writer you look up to?
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Someone you admire so much that it's hard not to want to be like them?
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you emulate their style or you're trying to build your platform just like theirs.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Be careful.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's okay to learn from other writers and their styles or their techniques, but the world doesn't need another J.K.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Rowling, another Stephen King, or another James Patterson.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: What the world needs is for you to give the most valuable gift you can possibly offer, and that is uniquely you.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for listening to the Daily Rider Podcast.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: We really appreciate your support and hope you enjoyed this episode.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: You can find more at DailyRiderLife.com.