I'll open myself up to a firestorm of flaming by saying that I wasn't a fan... just as with his fellow 20th century TV icon Lucille Ball, I never found him very entertaining.
The best thing about Carson was that he had a lot of the old-time vaudeville and radio comics like Jack Benny and George Burns on his show. His taste in music
stank, though— which is proven by the fact that the last guest to ever appear on the Carson Tonight Show was Bette Midler (a
sure candidate for inclusion in Music That Sucks).
Maybe I'm a little annoyed at Carson because the
one and only time I managed to get tickets for the show (as an enthusiastic 13-year-old), he took the night off and was replaced by Joey Bishop.