Once upon a time, late night television consisted of smart, funny, and clever hosts. Those shows filled a void in the 1950’s and, in 1962, a new irreverent host named Johnny Carson, began his 30-year run as the gold standard of nighttime comedy.
Since there were only three
national channels at that time,
Running Monday through Friday,
immediately following the local 11:00 PM news,
Singers, musicians, comedians, and authors, all graced The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson bringing entertainment to the average American household. Unfortunately, The Tonight Show of yore was on much too late for a youngster, such as me, to watch with any regularity.
To make matters worse, home video recorders were not available precluding anyone with a “normal” job with “regular” work hours, from enjoying the ruckus world of genuine TV amusement. The only occasions I was able to tune-in was on school-free eves, and those were rare, indeed.
But I recall watching at least on episode on which a hypnotist appeared. And I was agog.
Seeing similar skits wrapped into Saturday morning cartoons, I watched the ‘toons pull a pocket watch from their non-existent pocket. An exaggerated arc was created by the watch’s fob swinging to engage another cartoon character who became mesmerized in a matter of cartoon seconds.
Tool of the hypnotism trade
From there, a spell-like trance was imposed creating a comical furtherance of the cartoon.
It was the The Tonight Show guest, though, that brought funny imagination to life, so to speak.
Much like the aforementioned cartoon
humor, a living, breathing humorist with a pocket watch enters
As I recall, a brief explanation of the hypnosis procedure was given to the audience, followed by supposedly clueless participants. Several people who were the hypnosis recipients (I’m pretty sure there’s an actual word to describe them, but I’m too lazy to search for it,) were given explicit instructions by the hypnotist.
The presumed gold, chained watch – remember that most of these shows were in black and white – was then swung to garner the attention of the first subject. One-by-one, these televised Guinea Pigs were summarily put under a psychological spell to begin the fun.
With one person being told to believe he was a chicken, the newly-designated 160-pound chicken started clucking while strutting about the stage. Another participant was instructed to imagine themself as a dog; the barking and sniffing began almost instantaneously.
A third person was also temporarily transformed into something which I can’t remember, likely due to my incessant laughing along with The Tonight Show audience. Eventually, the hypnotist, as per earlier instructions, snapped his fingers to bring the willing participants back to reality, to everyone’s pleasure.
In any case, it was acts and appearances such as this that helped shape today’s television lineup, for better or worse; you can decide.
It’s right about now when the Democrats are taking a page from The Tonight Show playbook with their lead up to the November 2022 elections.
For the past six-years, Dems have been telling people that former President Trump was a Russian spy, a racist, a homophobe, a misogynist, and all-around bigot, and have recently expanded that list to an incompetent public health leader, as well as leader of an insurrection, all without merit.
Democrats would have you believe gas prices are in a good place, the economy is strong, employment is robust, abortions are in demand by 98% of Americans, and everyone wants to drive an electric vehicle.
They’re wrong.
But just as
This crush to alter reality will continue at last until the upcoming elections. But don’t be fooled. This is their way to “keep things fair.”
Sure it is.
