It was a Monday night 43 years ago when millions of Americans tuned into NBC to watch Johnny Carson deliver his legendary opening monologue. Back then, late-night comedy actually made people laugh instead of lecturing them about politics.
Carson's genius wasn't just in his timing or his toilet paper jokes—it was in his ability to bring Americans together for a few minutes of pure entertainment. He poked fun at politicians from both parties without the venomous hatred that infects today's so-called "comedians."
When Comedy Was Actually Funny
Remember when late-night TV hosts told jokes instead of delivering Democratic Party talking points? Carson understood that Americans tuned in to escape the day's troubles, not to be berated about their political beliefs or told they're terrible people for loving their country.
Today's late-night landscape is a wasteland of woke propaganda masquerading as humor. Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, and the rest of the leftist late-night crew have turned what should be comedy into partisan attack ads. They've traded laughs for lectures, entertainment for indoctrination.
"Johnny Carson made everyone smile, not cringe," perfectly captures what we've lost in American entertainment culture.
Under the Trump-Vance administration, maybe we'll see a return to actual entertainment that doesn't hate half the audience. With figures like Elon Musk championing free speech and calling out woke corporate culture, perhaps the entertainment industry will remember that their job is to entertain, not indoctrinate.
The Death of Unifying Culture
Carson's era represented something precious we've lost: shared cultural experiences that brought Americans together regardless of political affiliation. Everyone could laugh at Johnny's monologue, whether they were Democrats or Republicans.
That unity has been deliberately destroyed by leftist entertainers who view every platform as an opportunity to push their radical agenda. They've weaponized comedy, turning it into another front in their culture war against traditional American values.
Patriots, we need to support entertainers and content creators who actually want to make us laugh instead of making us feel guilty for being American. The Carson era proves it's possible—we just need to demand better.