Chicago Trib: Carson's impact on yuk biz

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on January 30th, 2005

Allan Johnson contributes a thoughtful piece on the impact that Carson had on the business of standup, and what it meant to comics when he exited the show… and the planet.

“A lot of us thought that he would be there all the time, and that we’d get around to [appearing],” said Brian McKim, a comic for more than 20 years and editor of SheckyMagazine.com, a stand-up-based humor Web site. “Then he quit, so that was like pulling the rug out from under us. And then, underneath the rug was a trap door.”

Not only did he spell the name right, he also capped the “M” in magazine.

It’s a great article, packed with quotes from a lot of the comics that the MSM just never got around to interviewing over the past week. (Read it all the way through and you’ll get to our pet theory that Carson’s retirement hastened the comedy bust!)