"That's What Frogs Do. Everybody Knows That" (Smile for a Saturday)
Up until now, our “Smile For a Saturday” feature on Steady has mostly involved music. And we would like to think for good reason. Music moves the soul, but of course it is not the only art form to do so. There’s painting, dance, sculpture, poetry, and many others, like… comedy. Comedy at its best doesn’t only make you laugh. It can make you smile with the warm feeling of human connection.
So we wanted to mix it up this week for a trip back in time to a very different media environment. The year is 1975, and the setting is the famous set on Johnny Carson’s “The Tonight Show.” His guest that night was the one and only pioneering puppeteer and storyteller Jim Henson. Well, that’s not exactly true. Because of course Jim brought along some guests of his own.
For those of us who remember these days, at least for this aging news anchor, it’s hard to believe that this moment occurred more than 46 years ago. And yet despite the years, despite all that has transpired, despite the deaths of both men (Jim at the tragically young age of 53), this feels so fresh. Henson was a comic genius. And watching him work in real time is a pleasure to behold. Plus, how can one not love Kermit the Frog? And by extension the magical world Henson created, for children young and old.
Ah, Mr. Rather, we are definitely NOT gen-Xers!
One could say that Johnny Carson invented late night talk-show television (following after Jack Paar). Indeed Carson almost single-handedly ushered in a golden age in TV comedy talk shows.
But of course, a great deal had to do with the writer’s room – it all begins there.
Yes, Jim Henson was a comic genius, but I would include in this category a successor to Johnny Carson who not only was a comic genius but managed to tap into the zeitgeist routinely on his Comedy Central show – Jon Stewart!
“The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” was absolutely must-see TV from 1999 to 2015. As a professor of journalism during this period, I would tell my students that if they watched no other news program on television, they should watch TDS because TDS would have the top story in the news every day. Not only was it important, it was so accessible and so funny it was no chore to watch.
Of course, this was because TDS hired former journalists for its writer’s room.
Thank you for sharing this walk down memory lane. Perfect for a Saturday smile!
I mean, I could be cynical and suggest that this is just like interviewing a politician and a lobbyist today. But that wouldn't be fair to Jim and Kermit. Seriously, my role models as a teen were Animal and, especially, Miss Piggy. I think it's a great pity that women are no longer allowed to go "HY AH!" and karate chop annoying people.