Long before getting his own show on CBS, David Letterman appeared as a guest with [Johnny Carson] on "The Tonight Show.". AP photo. [Jay Leno] said during an appreciation of Carson on "The Tonight Show" last Monday: "When he gave you that wave, or the wink, or the call over to the desk . . . nothing before or since has had as profound an effect on me as that one little gesture.". KRT photo. Comedian [Robin Williams] breaks out in laughter as Johnny Carson cracks a joke during the May 21, 1992, taping of "The Tonight Show." It was Carson's next-to-last show. AP photo. 'At 12:30 that night, when that show went off, I thought it was somebody calling just to say good show or whatever. It was an agent that wanted to sign me.' -- [John Henton] 'Going on there could change your whole life. And it did for me.' -- [Steven Wright] 'His approval was sort of approval for the rest of America to dig you. One shot on "The Tonight Show" with people watching you is like selling out Zanies every night for 10,000 years or something' -- [Richard Lewis] Johnny's Midas touch A generation of stand-ups got their start with Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show." (Arts & Entertainment section, Page 1.)