I had to explain Carnac to a British audience who'd never heard of Johnny Carson. I pored through vast archives of Carnacs, including the many hundreds I wrote and -- guess what -- they're not funny. Most of the best of Carnac is just 'wacky words' (Dippity Dew) or smirky double entendres. Few of them are genuinely clever. I even showed the original clip of "Sis boom bah", a brilliant joke by Kevin Mulholland. It got nothing.
In your analysis of Carnac, you left out the 'savers' -- scripted jokes (not ad libs, as many thought) that Johnny used when a joke failed, e.g. "May a generous camel give your wife a free hump." Savers were invented by Carson headwriter Marshall Brickman. Brickman also wrote the film ANNIE HALL, the musical JERSEY BOYS, and the song DUELING BANJOS. And he was born in Buenos aires!
Nice job, Dan. I don’t Miss Ed McMahon so much but I do miss Tommy Newsome, the saxophone player in the band. He died on April 28, 2007 in Portsmouth VA. Too bad you couldn’t have predicted that in a Simpsons episode so he could’ve avoided being in Portsmouth, VA on that day and might’ve still been around to accept a complimentary ticket to your show. (I’m just assuming you’d have comped him.)
Thanks, Brian! It is a growth experience to stand in front of an audience in a silly costume!
I had to explain Carnac to a British audience who'd never heard of Johnny Carson. I pored through vast archives of Carnacs, including the many hundreds I wrote and -- guess what -- they're not funny. Most of the best of Carnac is just 'wacky words' (Dippity Dew) or smirky double entendres. Few of them are genuinely clever. I even showed the original clip of "Sis boom bah", a brilliant joke by Kevin Mulholland. It got nothing.
Then maybe the problem wasn't my bad jokes or sweaty delivery, but the format!Thanks you letting me off the hook, Mike!
In your analysis of Carnac, you left out the 'savers' -- scripted jokes (not ad libs, as many thought) that Johnny used when a joke failed, e.g. "May a generous camel give your wife a free hump." Savers were invented by Carson headwriter Marshall Brickman. Brickman also wrote the film ANNIE HALL, the musical JERSEY BOYS, and the song DUELING BANJOS. And he was born in Buenos aires!
Who knew?
Nice job, Dan. I don’t Miss Ed McMahon so much but I do miss Tommy Newsome, the saxophone player in the band. He died on April 28, 2007 in Portsmouth VA. Too bad you couldn’t have predicted that in a Simpsons episode so he could’ve avoided being in Portsmouth, VA on that day and might’ve still been around to accept a complimentary ticket to your show. (I’m just assuming you’d have comped him.)