Henry Bushkin > Quotes

“If life were fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead.”
― Henry Bushkin, Johnny Carson: A Taut Portrait of a Complex Man Revealing the True Johnny Carson

“In the end, it’s true, we each must die alone, but the love and friendship we share with one another show that we do not live alone.”
― Henry Bushkin, Johnny Carson: A Taut Portrait of a Complex Man Revealing the True Johnny Carson

“ASSUMPTION IS THE MOTHER OF ALL FUCKUPS.”
― Henry Bushkin, Johnny Carson: A Taut Portrait of a Complex Man Revealing the True Johnny Carson

“There’s been a lot of research recently on how hard it is to dislodge an impression once it’s been implanted in someone’s mind. (This is why political attack ads don’t have to be true to be effective. The other side can point out their inaccuracies, but the voter’s mind privileges the memory of the original accusation, which was juicier than any counterargument ever could be.)”
― Henry Bushkin, Johnny Carson: A Taut Portrait of a Complex Man Revealing the True Johnny Carson

“relationship, when I read a magazine article in which he said that I was his best friend. Friend? No, I don’t think we were friends. The collar around my neck was usually quite loose and comfortable, but not always. There was never a question about who”
― Henry Bushkin, Johnny Carson: A Taut Portrait of a Complex Man Revealing the True Johnny Carson

“Hope kicked things off by asking if we had heard the story about Jesus playing golf with Saint Peter. “They’re teeing off on the 180-yard par-three sixth hole. Saint Peter hits a perfect five iron ten feet from the cup. Jesus then shanks his five iron out of bounds and it’s heading over a fence. Suddenly an eagle flies overhead, and before the ball can land in the bushes, the eagle plucks it in midair and circles the green. A moment later, the bird drops the ball directly on the green. And it rolls right into the cup for a hole in one. Saint Peter looks at Jesus and says, ‘All right—are you going to play golf or are you just going to fuck around?”
― Henry Bushkin, Johnny Carson: A Taut Portrait of a Complex Man Revealing the True Johnny Carson

“Narcissist Personality Disorder (NPD).”
― Henry Bushkin, Mommy Dearest

“I was invited,” said Johnny in his monologue, with transparently faux joviality, “in the same sense that Spiro Agnew was invited to return the money.”
― Henry Bushkin, Johnny Carson: A Taut Portrait of a Complex Man Revealing the True Johnny Carson

“As Susan Forward says in her insightful book, Toxic Parents, “All of us develop our expectations about how people will treat us based on our relationships with our parents.”
― Henry Bushkin, Johnny Carson: A Taut Portrait of a Complex Man Revealing the True Johnny Carson

“Charles de Gaulle said? ‘The graveyards are full of indispensable men.”
― Henry Bushkin, Johnny Carson: A Taut Portrait of a Complex Man Revealing the True Johnny Carson

“Carson didn’t even bother to ask Henry Bushkin to sit down. “I hear you’re trying to steal my goddamn company,” Carson said when Bushkin walked into his living room.”
― Henry Bushkin, Johnny Carson: A Taut Portrait of a Complex Man Revealing the True Johnny Carson

“May a love-starved fruit fly molest your sister’s nectarines.”
― Henry Bushkin, Johnny Carson: A Taut Portrait of a Complex Man Revealing the True Johnny Carson

“Okay, Cliff, but let me just say this: right now Johnny needs to feel as if he were the only star you have.” “Okay,” said Cliff. “I get it.” I then talked Johnny into seeing Cliff. “That’s the least you owe him.” And up we went. Once Carson entered the suite, the Perlman charm took over. He took Carson by the arm and showed him the apartment. Sitting atop the hotel, it was 10,000 square feet of opulence, with a rooftop swimming pool, Jacuzzi, wine cellar, health spa, six bedrooms, and a living room that was easily able to accommodate 300 people. “Every time you come to Caesars,” said Perlman, “this is where you’ll stay.” “Nice,” said Johnny, now notably calmer. “But I don’t see a tennis court up here.” “No, it’s downstairs. But you know that our head pro is Pancho Gonzales,” said Cliff, invoking the name of one of the greatest players of the pre-Open era. “Any time you want to hit with him, it’s on me.” “Thank you, Cliff.” “You know,” said Perlman, closing the deal, “I’ve never let anyone stay up here, not even Sinatra. But I owe this to you as a show of my appreciation for your working here.”
― Henry Bushkin, Johnny Carson: A Taut Portrait of a Complex Man Revealing the True Johnny Carson

“One of Johnny’s head writers, Larry Klein, went directly to Carson and told him that Ed Weinberger and Henry Bushkin were trying to steal his company.”
― Henry Bushkin, Johnny Carson: A Taut Portrait of a Complex Man Revealing the True Johnny Carson

“company”
― Henry Bushkin, Johnny Carson: A Taut Portrait of a Complex Man Revealing the True Johnny Carson

“Henry, did you know that it’s a proven fact that married men live longer than single guys? It’s also a proven fact that married men are far more willing to die.”
― Henry Bushkin, Johnny Carson: A Taut Portrait of a Complex Man Revealing the True Johnny Carson

“Johnny liked Reagan personally, and while he was scrupulous to never share a political view with his viewers—“Why lose fifty percent of my audience?”—he was by instinct and upbringing definitely Republican, but of an Eisenhower sort that we don’t see much anymore: strong on integration and civil rights, skeptical of the military and war, big on personal responsibility. Overall, you’d have to say he was anti-big: anti–big government, anti–big money, anti–big bullies, anti–big blowhards.”
― Henry Bushkin, Johnny Carson: A Taut Portrait of a Complex Man Revealing the True Johnny Carson

“As Susan Forward says in her insightful book, Toxic Parents, “All of us develop our expectations about how people will treat us based on our relationships with our parents. If those relationships are, for the most part, emotionally nourishing, respectful of our rights and feelings, we’ll grow up expecting others to treat us in much the same way. . . . But if childhood is a time of unrelenting anxiety, tension, and pain, then we develop negative expectations and rigid defenses.”
― Henry Bushkin, Johnny Carson: A Taut Portrait of a Complex Man Revealing the True Johnny Carson

“All of us develop our expectations about how people will treat us based on our relationships with our parents. If those relationships are, for the most part, emotionally nourishing, respectful of our rights and feelings, we’ll grow up expecting others to treat us in much the same way. . . . But if childhood is a time of unrelenting anxiety, tension, and pain, then we develop negative expectations and rigid defenses.”
― Henry Bushkin, Johnny Carson: A Taut Portrait of a Complex Man Revealing the True Johnny Carson

“Several pills and a hot shower later, I felt well enough to go back to the party. To my surprise, the three girls were skinny-dipping in the rooftop swimming pool, while Johnny, wearing nothing but an apron, served them wine from a silver platter. “Ze white is a 1968 Chassagne-Montrachet,” he said in a cheesy accent plucked from the Mighty Carson Art Players, “and ze rhedd is a 1966 Pétrus.” I was impressed; that Pétrus went for $3,000 a bottle. “Come on, Henry,” Johnny shouted. “Take off your clothes! Join the fun!” Well, I”
― Henry Bushkin, Johnny Carson: A Taut Portrait of a Complex Man Revealing the True Johnny Carson

“Soon an accommodation was reached. NBC News covered the event,”
― Henry Bushkin, Johnny Carson: A Taut Portrait of a Complex Man Revealing the True Johnny Carson

“I actually visited the Palomar Observatory to look through that famous telescope. And as I looked back into billions of years of history from that device, I could not find a single reason why this goddamn club is giving a dinner for a son of a bitch like Buddy Hackett.” It”
― Henry Bushkin, Johnny Carson: A Taut Portrait of a Complex Man Revealing the True Johnny Carson