Johnny Carson, the King of Late-Night TV, died last Sunday morning, and after reading the countless fawning articles about him and his career, I think there's a distinct possibility the man will be canonized as a saint. I don't have a problem with this. I have nothing but warm, fuzzy feelings for him, largely because I associate Johnny Carson with staying up past my bedtime at my grandparents' beach house and eating a bowl of buttery popcorn while watching the Tonight Show. I can't remember any specific episodes or guests or even anything Johnny Carson said — it's all blurry, childhood memories — but it's the warm, fuzzy feeling he inspired in me that is most important, for that is what defined Johnny Carson's appeal to the entire nation.

For thirty years, from 1962 when he took over the duties as host of the Tonight Show from Jack Paar, until 1992 when he handed the scepter to Jay Leno, Johnny Carson's handsome face was the last thing millions of Americans saw before bedding down for the evening. During his heyday, he was the single most powerful performer on television. Audiences adored him; his network, NBC, catered to his every whim. At one point he generated 17 percent of the network's total profit and to this day his show is the most profitable show in the history of television. Everybody loved him, especially those whose careers he jumpstarted, such as David Letterman, Steve Martin, and Jay Leno. It was said that once you were on his show, you'd made it as a star. Leno said that doing the Tonight Show for the first time was like having sex for the first time with your girlfriend: "You weren't very good, it was over pretty quickly, but you knew you wanted to do it again."

In its makeup, Johnny Carson's Tonight Show did not differ much from current late-night shows, consisting of a mix of a monologue, political jokes, character sketches, musical performances, and celebrity interviews. What made his show special was Johnny himself. There was something about him, a certain charisma, a certain je ne sais quoi. Borne in Iowa and raised in Nebraska, Johnny Carson's midwestern roots communicated themselves favorably to television audiences. He came across as humble and wholesome. At the time of his retirement in 1992, a television critic for the Washington Post wrote, "Anyone looking at the show 100 years from now will probably have no trouble understanding what made Carson so popular and permitted him such longevity. He was affable, accessible, charming and amusing, not just a very funny comedian but the kind of guy you would gladly welcome into your home."

Make no mistake: His wholesomeness should not be confused with blandness. Johnny Carson was no Mr. Rogers. No beige cardigans for him. In fact, his dapper suits were a noted inspiration for the men of the WWII generation. He also had considerable sexual charisma. In a statement he wrote after Carson's death, Jay Leno jokes, "He was the man men wanted to be and women wanted to be with." Leno recalls an episode when Carson walked on stage in only a bathing suit and received a massage from two Japanese girls. "Is there anybody on late-night TV today you'd want to see with no shirt on?" he asks. Um . . . not really.

So we get a picture of Carson as a sort of Midwestern James Bond, a Nebraskan man of mystery. Indeed, there was much about him that was mysterious. He was reluctant to speak about his private life, a rare (and refreshing) trait in today's world of celebrity overexposure. A friend of his once claimed talking to him privately was like "addressing an elaborately wired security system." And as social and talkative as he was on his show, he was just the opposite off-camera. He hated parties and at the few he felt obliged to attend, he could be found sitting by himself in a quiet corner, practicing magic tricks with a quarter (a holdover from his childhood career as a magician, the Great Carsoni).

Another contributing factor to the mysterious aura surrounding Carson was the circumstance of his retirement, a move that came as a shock to many and a disappointment to everyone. He left the Tonight Show at the top of his game, just walked off the stage and jumped in a helicopter with his wife and flew from the roof of the NBC studios to his home in Malibu, nary to be heard from again. OK, that's not completely true. He did make a few appearances afterwards, but they were small gigs, confined to speeches at awards ceremonies, some wordless cameos on Letterman's Late Show, and a voiced cameo on The Simpsons. That's about it. It wasn't for lack of requests, however. NBC coaxed him into signing a contract only seven weeks after his retirement to appear on various specials, a contract he never honored. Steve Martin and Billy Crystal tried to get him to do a cameo for the Oscars in 2001 (an event Carson hosted 5 times), but he politely declined. Why? Perhaps it was that Midwest humility that made him so popular; he didn't want to ask for gratuitous applause. Or perhaps it was his ego; he liked the idea of being remembered as the best. "You've got to know when to get the hell off the stage, and the timing was right for me," he told Esquire in a rare interview in 2002. "The reason I really don't go back or do interviews is because I just let the work speak for itself."

The word does speak for itself. After his retirement, he formed a production company. Originally intended to back future projects for Carson, it eventually focused its efforts on preserving past episodes of The Tonight Show and compiling them into the video collections we've all seen advertised on late-night infomercials, such as Classic Carson Moments and The Ultimate Carson Collection. These collections have sold millions of units, a testament to the quality of his show and also, hopefully, an opportunity for future generations to sample the quality of entertainment that past generations took for granted. "Thank God for videotapes and DVDs," wrote David Letterman in a statement shortly after his death. "In this regard, he will always be around. He was the best. A star and a gentleman."

Most people would agree with Letterman. There were talk show hosts before Johnny Carson and there are talk-show hosts after him, but for those that were alive to see him during his thirty-year career, Carson will always be the ideal. Funny, charming, humble, talented, and handsome, there was no one audiences wanted to spend their evenings with more than Johnny Carson.