Photo: Johhny Carson
Talk show host Johnny Carson wipes his eye after watching a series of clips from earlier shows during the last taping of The Tonight Show

The BBC reports:

Johnny Carson, the former host of NBC’s Tonight Show, died on Sunday at the age of 79 after losing a battle with the respiratory disease emphysema.

He appeared on network television every night for three decades, and launched the careers of Joan Rivers, Bill Cosby, Steve Martin, Richard Pryor and George Carlin.

President George W Bush said Carson “had a profound influence on American life and entertainment”.