When you're a kid, television is a daytime thing or an evening thing, but at some point

you go to bed, and the grown-ups stay up late and watch things you're just not allowed to see.

In the 1970s, that forbidden thing could be boiled down into a person.

Johnny Carson. He was the thing that our

parents watched late at night, at least sometimes. And in the days before most families had VCRs,

if you weren't up at 1130 with an earache or some other horrible affliction and you were a kid,

you never saw Johnny Carson.on well i loved carson but

it always felt to me i was too young and and you know it's the the lack of wisdom the

foolishness of youth you think i thought well of course he's kind of retire he's kind of old right

i mean right you know not that i was sick of his show but i thought of, of course, you know, it doesn't seem like. Whereas, you know, in Letterman's, we're probably right around the same age. So I'm sure somebody who's in their 20s now is going to think the same thing. Well, of course, Letterman's retiring. He's, you know, he's kind of old. When Carson retired in 1992, it was a huge television event, but of course Carson is retiring.

He's kind of old.

It's funny how time works.

Now it's 2015, and the main comedy figure of my generation, David Letterman, is the old

man.

And I find myself right where those fans of Johnny Carson were two decades ago, saying

goodbye to an immeasurably influential performer, to an audience full of

younger people who see him just as this old guy who's been on TV forever.

There's no single performer who has had more influence on my sense of humor, on my appreciation

for certain kinds of comedy, even my understanding about how creativity works than David

Letterman.

Yeah, that guy, that cranky, 68-year-old guy who has been on television for more than 30 years now.

That guy.

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