Document Type
Blog
Publication Date
8-2-2017
Abstract
(Editor's Note: The following essay is an excerpt from Ritch Shydner's book, Kicking Through the Ashes: My Life as a Stand-up in the 1980s Comedy Boom. Posted by permission of the author.)
From 1984 to 1991, I was on The Tonight Show about a dozen times.
Even after getting to panel on my fourth appearance I wasn't a lock to be called to the couch. That was okay. I wanted his approval but never felt as comfortable with Johnny Carson as I did with David Letterman. This was strictly my problem. Plenty of comics my age rolled with Johnny, but to me he was a father figure. Growing up, my Dad and I had an adversarial and sometimes violent relationship. Later he felt my choice of a career in comedy was a mistake. I just couldn't get loose with Johnny.
Keywords
Erma Bombeck, humor writing, Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop, University of Dayton
eCommons Citation
Shydner, Ritch, "Let me play among the stars" (2017). Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop Blog. 1520.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/ebww_blog/1520
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