A portrait of Eddie Brill, who does the warm-ups for David Letterman's show and books the comedians.
A lot of folks seem to lament that none of the current late night shows have the star-making power for comedians that Mr. Carson once had. I think that time has passed and is unlikely to return…and Johnny's show didn't even have much power in that area its last few years. People forget that when Carson's Tonight Show booked new stand-ups, it was one of the very few programs on TV that did that. He kind of had the "introducing new comedians" market to himself. Now, in the era of cable and Comedy Central and so many other shows, there are other avenues…and a hot new stand-up in the club circuit no longer has to wait a year or two until the late night bookers decide he's "ready."