I always thought he was immortal. But immortality has yet to be achieved by the human race and today Johnny Carson died. Johnny was one of the greatest comedians ever and personally carried NBC financially for years.

One of his early stage personas as a budding magician was "The Great Carsoni" and he probably built this into "Carnac The Magnificent". I will always remember one skit where he held the envelope to his head and said, "Sis, boom bah." He opened the envelope and read, "Describe the sound of an exploding sheep." Maybe that's not funny now but it was a gut buster 20 years ago.

I also remember him smoking on camera, especially in his early shows. Emphysema and smoking go hand in hand and Johnny apparently couldn't kick the habit. It ended his life.