Tom Snyder

I don’t watch much TV these days unless it involves a bunch of overpaid men and a football or baseball. But long ago, I watched a ton of Tom Snyder.

Not many people will admit that. First, it shows how old you are. Second, Snyder was thought of as kind of a goofball.

Not funny goofball like David Letterman or Stephen Colbert. More like a goofball who doesn’t get it.

And he didn’t, to some extent. But that was part of his appeal.

Still, for its time, “The Tomorrow Show” could be entertaining. It was one of the first talk shows that appealed to night owls. His guests ranged from rock stars to politicians — and weren’t the kind of usual suspects you see on a lot of shows today.

And of course there was Tom. He smoked. He had a big hunk of hair combed sideways. He waved his long fingers in front of his face. He said stuff to guys off-camera. He had that booming laugh and verbal tics that identified him like his fingerprints.

As such, he was easy for comics like Dan Aykroyd to mimic, But then, so was the great Johnny Carson.

“The Tomorrow Show” lasted for nine years, from ’73 to ’82. That’s actually a long time in TV terms.

In the late ’90s, he came back for three years with “The Late Late Show.” It was OK, but it didn’t have the magic of “The Tomorrow Show” in its heyday.

Snyder’s death this week unleashed a surprising flood of nostalgia. But the more you think about him and his show, he deserved better.

He was fun and funny. If he was angry or emotional, he didn’t try to hide it. He was more of an average guy than a star, and that was endearing.

He was the kind of host who made his guests comfortable and let them talk. And that is the goal of a talk show, to let folks like us listen to an author or an astronaut as if we were in a living room with him.

Sleep well, Tom. You sent a lot of people to snoozeland after your shows. Now it’s your turn.