Steve Martin has written a tribute to Johnny Carson that's personal yet also speaks to his general importance in U.S. culture: "You gave each guest the benefit of the doubt, and in this way you exemplified an American ideal: you're nuts but you're welcome here."

For me, and I expect this is true for others of my generation, Carson's death signals the end of an era. "The Tonight Show" represented a time of common currency in U.S. popular culture, when it was taken for granted that we all shared certain experiences through television. One of my strongest associations with the "Tonight Show" is of seeing, from a passing car late at night, the blue glow of a television set shining out from the window of someone's home and recognizing Carson's outline against the curtain. Of course, they were watching "The Tonight Show."

Carson's reign on "The Tonight Show"also brings strongly to mind the entertainers of the period. Carson was an outstanding interviewer, a fact that seems clearer in hindsight. Some of my favorite guest regulars: Tiny Tim, Shelly Winters, David Brenner, and the strange butch/femme duo of Burt Reynolds and Charles Nelson Reilly, who often appeared together.

I miss it all: the jokes, the acts, the guests, the pencil, the theme song, the conversation, the ALPO commercials and Ed's laugh. I miss Johnny.