Currently, and for your benefit, I'm slogging through Right Here on Our Stage Tonight!, Gerald Nachman's thorough history of the life and times of the Ed Sullivan Show. Sullivan's improbable television success (his show ran for over twenty seasons), and the American culture that made his success possible, is a great story - and I'm sure I'll find it in this book somewhere.
I'll bring you a review of the book in due time, but in the meantime: most of you are probably (hopefully?) familiar with Sullivan's famous mannerisms(his wooden delivery, hunched shoulders and tortured syntax), either by seeing Sullivan himself or one of his many impersonators. And while comedians from Will Jordan to Rich Little made a handsome living from Sullivan impressions, here's one of the funniest - and most unlikely: Johnny Carson, in this hilarious 1969 bit. ◙
