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we have an exciting show for you tonight

I got to work around 8:30am (which is unusual). After I printed out my copy sheets for my 10am meeting, I clicked on Mark's blog and found out that Johnny Carson died yesterday.

As Mark mentioned in his blog, we used to watch The Tonight Show on UHF 17 aka FEN-P (Far East Network-Philippines), which was the TV station for Clark Air Base and Subic Naval base. People in Manila needed to set up a very tall antenna on their rooftops to be able to pick up Channel 17's signal. Even with this so-called booster doohickey attached to the TV set, the reception of the channel was usually snowy. But that didn't matter to us, because that was the channel where we got to see new American TV shows that were not seen on the local networks.

One of the main reasons I started to watch Johnny Carson was because of a Christmas episode where he'd show these crazy toys that were supposedly being sold in stores. I kept watching even after that episode because I thought he'd show more toys.

I still have one episode of The Tonight Show on some moldy VHS tape. It's an episode I've watched over and over again. I've already memorized the monolgue. And for some crazy reason I used that monologue to try and impress girls when I was in high school. Obviously, it didn't work and the girls didn't know what the heck I was talking about.

During soirees I'd go up to them and say, "Hey, did you read that New York Times article on what's in and what's out? They said sushi is out. Yeah, too bad. Just when I learned how to cook it." And there would be this awkward silence which I always expected to be filled with applause and laughter. But no. They didn't get it.

Yup, Johnny Carson, David Letterman and Saturday Night Live (and the other shows of FEN-P) somehow contributed to our weird sense of humor.

Well, there goes Johnny.

Thanks for the laughter.

God bless him.




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