text: On January 31, Late Show with David Letterman paid tribute with former Tonight Show executive producer Peter Lassally and bandleader Doc Severinsen. At the beginning of this show, Letterman said that for 30 years, no matter what was going on in the world, whether people had had a good or bad day, they wanted to end it being "tucked in by Johnny." He also told his viewers that the monologue he had just spoken, which was very well received by the studio audience, consisted entirely of jokes sent to him by Carson in the last few months of his life. Doc Severinsen ended the Letterman show that night by conducting and playing, along with Tommy Newsom and Ed Shaughnessy, one of Carson's two favorite songs, "Here's That Rainy Day" (the other was "I'll Be Seeing You"). The Tonight Show with Jay Leno also paid tribute to Carson with guests Ed McMahon, Bob Newhart, Don Rickles, Drew Carey, and k.d. lang.
  On his final Tonight Show appearance, Carson himself said that while sometimes people who work together for long stretches of time on television do not necessarily like each other, this was not the case with McMahon; he and McMahon were good friends who would have drinks and dinner together, and the camaraderie they had on the show could not be faked. Their friendship spanned 46 years.
  The 2005 film The Aristocrats was dedicated to Carson.
  The Simpsons' seventh episode of season 16, entitled "Mommie Beerest", was dedicated to his memory.
  At the first Comedy Awards on Comedy Central, the Johnny Carson Award was given to David Letterman. At the 2nd Annual Comedy Awards on Comedy Central, the Johnny Carson Award was given to Don Rickles.
  A two-hour documentary about his life, Johnny Carson: King of Late Night, aired on PBS on May 14, 2012, as part of PBS's American Masters series. It is narrated by Kevin Spacey and features interviews with many of Carson's family, fellow comedians, and protégés.
  A park is named in his memory in Burbank, across from the former NBC Studios.