R.I.P. Johnny Carson and Lamont Bentley

Johnny Carson--The undisputed king of late night TV. I don't have too many real memories of watching The Tonight Show with him as host (I was only 11 when he retired) but I do have some. I remember that after I got a TV in my room, I would sneakily stay up and watch some of his monologue. I also remember that multicolored curtain that he came out of at the beginning of every show. I found it interesting that whenever Jay Leno was guest host, the curtain was always gray. I find it funny that between the two current 10:30 pm CT late-night talk show hosts that I prefer David Letterman over Jay Leno, especially since I recently read that Johnny Carson sent Dave jokes and that Dave sometimes used them in his monologue. As much as I love David Letterman and Conan O' Brien, neither one of them will have the same impact upon American culture the way Johnny Carson did.

Lamont Bentley--It was a shock when I found out that the guy who played Hakeem on Moesha had died. My sister and I agreed that it reminded us of the sudden death of Merlin Santana, another young black actor (who had at one point appeared on Moesha). Although their deaths were very different, as a young black male, they remind me how much likelier we are to die compared to young white males. You always hear sayings like "Live each day like it was your last." I think there is a lot of truth in sayings like that.