I didn’t watch Carson much until his last few years on the Tonight Show. As a kid and college student, I preferred Letterman’s edgy irony, but as I grew older, I found Carson’s softer approach more appealing, and I began to appreciate his sly wit and easy self-confidence. (Uh, and I started going to bed earlier.)
Carson’s final weeks on the air were the show-biz equivalent of a victory lap, and it was moving to see all the familiar faces showing up not to pimp their latest pop-culture dreck but to pay homage to a man they genuinely cared for. I think Bette Midler was his final guest (on his penultimate show), and she sang a sweet song to him from her chair, a touching goodbye.
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