The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Encyclopedia
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson
under the Tonight Show
franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night
.
For its first 10 years Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California
; in May 1972 the show moved permanently to Burbank.
In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time
.
, and guest interviews. While his early guests included John F.
and Robert F. Kennedy
and Hubert Humphrey
, Carson turned Tonight guest chair into a place for people who had a book, movie, television show, or stage performance to promote. While some regular guests like Don Rickles
would not come on solely to promote something, these regulars were usually selected for their comedic value, in contrast to predecessor Jack Paar
's preference for more cerebral conversation. (When asked about intellectual conversation on Tonight, Carson and his staff invariably cited "Carl Sagan
, Paul Ehrlich
, Margaret Mead
, Gore Vidal
, Shana Alexander
, Madalyn Murray O'Hair
" as guests.)
Carson almost never socialized with guests before or after the show; frequent interviewee Orson Welles
recalled that Tonight employees were amazed when Carson once visited his dressing room to say hello before a show. Unlike his more avuncular competitors Merv Griffin
, Mike Douglas, and Dick Cavett
, Carson was a precise, "chill[y]" host who only laughed when genuinely amused and quickly ended interviews with uninteresting guests. Mort Sahl
recalled, "The producer is crouching just off camera, and he holds up a card that says, ‘Go to commercial.’ So Carson goes to a commercial, and the whole team rushes up to his desk to discuss what went wrong. It’s like a pit stop at Le Mans
." Robert Blake
compared being interviewed by Carson to "facing death" and "Broadway on opening night." The publicity value of appearing on Tonight was so great, however, that most guests were willing to take the risk; David Brenner
was one of many celebrities who credited Carson for his success.
, who from the very first show would introduce Carson with a drawn-out "Heeeeeeeeere's Johnny!" (something McMahon was inspired to do by the overemphasized way he had introduced reporter Robert Pierpoint
on the NBC Radio show Monitor
). McMahon, who held the same role in Carson's ABC
game show Who Do You Trust?
for five years previously, would remain standing to the side as Carson did his monologue, laughing (sometimes obsequiously) at his jokes, then join him at the guest chair when Carson moved to his desk. The two would usually interact in a comic spot for a short while before the first guest was introduced.
McMahon commented on his role in his 1998
autobiography:
(who had previously led the band during Tonight Starring Steve Allen
), followed briefly by Milton DeLugg
. Starting in 1967 and continuing until Jay Leno
took over, the band was led by Doc Severinsen
, with Tommy Newsom
filling in for him when he was absent or filling in for McMahon as the announcer (which usually happened when a guest host substituted for Carson, which usually gave McMahon the night off as well). The show's instrumental theme music
, "Johnny's Theme", was a re-arrangement of a Paul Anka
composition called "Toot Sweet".
Behind the scenes, Fred de Cordova
joined The Tonight Show in 1970 as producer, graduating to executive producer
in 1984. Unlike many people of his position, de Cordova often appeared on the show, bantering with Carson from his chair off-camera (though occasionally a camera would be pointed in his direction).
The Carnac joke that garnered the biggest laugh, and Ed McMahon's personal favorite, as he discussed on several talk shows:
If the laughter fell short for a too-lame pun (as it often did), "Carnac" would face the audience with mock seriousness and bestow a comic curse: "May a diseased yak befriend your sister!" or "May a rabid holy man bless your nether regions with a power tool!"
Jack Paar
's last appearance was on March 29, 1962, and due to Carson's previous contracts, Carson did not take over until October 1. The first guests were Rudy Vallée
, Tony Bennett
, Mel Brooks
, and Joan Crawford
. Carson inherited from Paar a show that was 105 minutes long. The show was structured to have what appeared to be two openings, with one starting at 11:15 p.m. and including the monologue, and another which listed the guests and announced the host again, starting at 11:30. The two openings gave affiliates the option of having either a fifteen-minute or thirty-minute local newscast preceding Carson. Since 1959, the show had been videotaped earlier the same broadcast day.
As more affiliates introduced thirty minutes of local news, Carson's monologue was being seen by fewer people. To rectify this situation, from February 1965 to December 1966, Ed McMahon
and Skitch Henderson
began to co-host the first fifteen minutes of the show without Carson, who then took over at 11:30. Finally, because he wanted the show to start when he came on, Carson insisted on eliminating the 11:15 segment at the beginning of January 1967 (which, he once claimed in a monologue at the time, no one actually watched "except the Armed Forces and four Indians in Gallup, New Mexico").
By the mid-1970s Tonight was the most profitable television show, making NBC $50 to $60 million ($ to $ today) each year. Carson influenced the scheduling of reruns (which typically aired under the title The Best of Carson) in the mid-1970s and, later in 1980, the length of each evening's broadcast by threatening NBC with, in the first case, moving to another network, and in the latter retiring altogether. In order to enable a shorter work week for himself, Carson began to petition network executives in 1974 that reruns on the weekends be discontinued, in favor of showing them on one or more nights during the week. In response to his demands, NBC began planning a new comedy/variety series to feed to affiliates on Saturday nights that debuted in October 1975 and is still airing today: Saturday Night Live
. Five years later, Carson renewed his contract with a stipulation that the show lose its last half hour; Tom Snyder
's Tomorrow
expanded to 90 minutes in order to fill the resulting schedule gap. Although a year and a half later Tomorrow gave way to the hour-long Late Night with David Letterman
(1982–1993), an hour remains the length of Tonight.
The show's start time was delayed by five minutes to allow NBC affiliates to include more commercials during their local newscasts.
In his tribute episode after Carson's death, David Letterman
revealed that because of the great success of the Tonight Show, every talk show host since then – himself included – is secretly emulating Carson during his Tonight Show days.
was the head of NBC, Carson took the network to court claiming that he had been a free-agent since April of that year because his most recent contract had been signed in 1972. Carson cited a California law barring certain contracts from lasting more than seven years. NBC claimed that they had signed three agreements since then, and Carson was therefore bound to the network until April 1981. While the case was settled out of court, the friction between Carson and the network remained. Eventually, Carson reached an agreement to appear four nights a week but cut the show from 90 to 60 minutes. In September 1980, Carson's eponymous production company
regained ownership of the show after owning it from 1969 to the early 1970s.
the Tonight Show videotapes for recording other programs. It was rumored that many other episodes were lost in a fire, but NBC has denied this. Other surviving material from the era has been found on kinescope
s held in the archives of the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service, or in the personal collections of guests of the program, while a few moments such as Tiny Tim
's wedding, were preserved. New York meteorologist Dr. Frank Field
, an occasional guest during the years he was weather forecaster for WNBC-TV, showed several clips of his appearances with Carson in a 2002 career retrospective on WWOR-TV
; Field had maintained the clips in his own personal archives.
The program archive is virtually complete from 1973 to 1992. The New York Post reported in May 2011 that 250 of Carson's monologues and sketches spanning a 20-year period are on the Memory Lane website.
A large amount of material from Carson's first two decades of the Tonight Show (1962–1982), (much of it not seen since its original airings) appeared in a half hour "clip/compilation" syndicated program known as Carson's Comedy Classics
which aired in 1983.
Although no footage is known to remain of Carson's first broadcast as host of The Tonight Show on October 1, 1962, photographs taken that night do survive—including Carson being introduced by Groucho Marx
– as does an audio recording of Marx's introduction and Carson's first monologue. One of his first jokes upon starting the show (after receiving a few words of encouragement from Marx, one of which was "Don't go to Hollywood") was to pretend to panic and say, "I want my Na-Na!". (This recording was played at the start of Carson's final broadcast on May 22, 1992.) The oldest surviving video recording of the show is dated November 1962, while the oldest surviving color recording is from 1963, when Carson had Jake Ehrlich Sr.
as guest.
Thirty-minute audio recordings of many of these "missing" episodes are contained in the Library of Congress
in the Armed Forces Radio collection. Many 1970s-era episodes have been licensed to distributors that advertise mail order offers on late-night TV. The later shows are stored in an underground salt mine
in Kansas
.
(1983–1986), Garry Shandling
(1986–1987), and Jay Leno
(1987–1992).
Carson had been an occasional guest host during the years when Jack Paar
was the regular host, and Paar repeatedly claimed he had been the one to suggest to NBC that Carson replace him when he left the show in 1962.
On April 2, 1979, Kermit the Frog
was guest-host. Additionally, many other Muppets appeared for skits and regular segments: Frank Oz voiced Fozzie Bear and Animal, while Jerry Nelson voiced a Vincent Price
-based Muppet during a segment with the real Price.
on the then new Fox Network
. This move — and her failure to inform him personally — infuriated Carson so much that he banned Rivers from his show, canceling even the three weeks of guest hosting she was scheduled to do in the remainder of the 1985–86 television season
. Rivers' new show was quickly canceled, and she never appeared on The Tonight Show with Carson again. She never appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
either, a ban instigated by Leno out of respect for Carson. After Carson's death, Rivers told CNN that Carson never forgave her for leaving, and never spoke to her again, even after she wrote him a note following the [June 1991] accidental death of Carson's son Ricky.
The program of July 26, 1984, with guest host Joan Rivers, was the first MTS
stereo
broadcast in U.S. television history, though not the first television broadcast with stereophonic sound
. Only the New York City affiliate of NBC
had stereo broadcast capability at that time. NBC transmitted The Tonight Show in stereo sporadically through 1984, and on a regular basis beginning in 1985.
On May 21, 1992, the eve of Carson's last show, he hosted his final guests, Robin Williams
and Bette Midler
. It was also the final show before a regular studio audience; fans, who had been camping out to get into the final shows, waited up to 35 hours to get into this one. Once underway, the atmosphere was electric and Carson was greeted with a sustained, two-minute ovation at the start. Williams displayed an especially uninhibited take on his trademark manic energy and stream-of-consciousness lunacy. Midler, in contrast, found the emotional vein of the farewell. When the conversation turned to Johnny's favorite songs – "I'll Be Seeing You
" and "Here's That Rainy Day
" – Midler mentioned she knew a chorus of the latter. She began singing the song, and after the first line, Carson joined in and turned it into an impromptu duet. Midler finished her appearance from center stage, where she slowly sang the pop standard "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)
". Carson became unexpectedly tearful, and a shot of the two of them was captured by a camera angle from across the set which had never been used before. The audience became tearful as well, and called the three performers out for a second bow after the show completed. This penultimate show was immediately recognized as a television classic, and Midler would consider it one of the most emotional moments of her life and would win an Emmy Award for her role in it.
Carson had no guests on his final episode of The Tonight Show on May 22, 1992, which was instead a retrospective show taped before an invitation-only studio audience of family, friends, and crew. An estimated 50 million people tuned in for the finale, which ended with Carson sitting on a stool alone on the stage, similar to Jack Paar
's last show. He gave these final words of goodbye:
A few weeks after the final show aired, it was announced that NBC and Carson had struck a deal to develop a new series. Ultimately, however, he chose never to return to television with another show of his own. He gave only two major interviews after retiring: one to the Washington Post in 1993, and the other to Esquire
magazine in 2002. Carson hinted in his 1993 interview that he did not think he could top what he had already accomplished. He also made only a couple of on-screen appearances after retiring, including providing a guest voice on an episode of The Simpsons
and making a silent cameo appearance on Late Show with David Letterman
.
In 2011, the last show was ranked #10 on the TV Guide Network special, TV's Most Unforgettable Finales.
Johnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
under the Tonight Show
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night
Late-night talk show
In American television, the late-night talk show is a specific kind of comedy-oriented talk and variety show that airs late at night. Characteristics of the genre include topical monologues in which the host makes fun of the day's news, comedy sketches, celebrity interviews, and musical performances...
.
For its first 10 years Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
; in May 1972 the show moved permanently to Burbank.
In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time
TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time
TV Guides 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time is TV Guides list of the 50 most entertaining and influential television series in American pop culture...
.
Format
Carson's show established the modern structure of a late-night talk show: A monologue peppered with a rapid-fire series of 16 to 22 one-liner jokes—never more than two consecutively on the same subject—regular use of sketch comedySketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
, and guest interviews. While his early guests included John F.
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
and Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
and Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. , served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the 38th Vice President of the United States. Humphrey twice served as a United States Senator from Minnesota, and served as Democratic Majority Whip. He was a founder of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and...
, Carson turned Tonight guest chair into a place for people who had a book, movie, television show, or stage performance to promote. While some regular guests like Don Rickles
Don Rickles
Donald Jay "Don" Rickles is an American stand-up comedian and actor. A frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Rickles has acted in comedic and dramatic roles, but is best known as an insult comic....
would not come on solely to promote something, these regulars were usually selected for their comedic value, in contrast to predecessor Jack Paar
Jack Paar
Jack Harold Paar was an author, American radio and television comedian and talk show host, best known for his stint as host of The Tonight Show from 1957 to 1962...
's preference for more cerebral conversation. (When asked about intellectual conversation on Tonight, Carson and his staff invariably cited "Carl Sagan
Carl Sagan
Carl Edward Sagan was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, science popularizer and science communicator in astronomy and natural sciences. He published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and was author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books...
, Paul Ehrlich
Paul Ehrlich
Paul Ehrlich was a German scientist in the fields of hematology, immunology, and chemotherapy, and Nobel laureate. He is noted for curing syphilis and for his research in autoimmunity, calling it "horror autotoxicus"...
, Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead was an American cultural anthropologist, who was frequently a featured writer and speaker in the mass media throughout the 1960s and 1970s....
, Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal is an American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist. His third novel, The City and the Pillar , outraged mainstream critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality...
, Shana Alexander
Shana Alexander
Shana Alexander was an American journalist, born Shana Ager in New York City on October 6, 1925. Although she became the first woman staff writer and columnist for Life magazine, she was best known for her participation in the "Point-Counterpoint" debate segments of 60 Minutes with conservative...
, Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Madalyn Murray O'Hair was an American atheist activist and founder of the organization American Atheists and its president from 1963 to 1986. One of her sons, Jon Garth Murray, was the president of the organization from 1986 to 1995, while she remained de facto president during these nine years....
" as guests.)
Carson almost never socialized with guests before or after the show; frequent interviewee Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
recalled that Tonight employees were amazed when Carson once visited his dressing room to say hello before a show. Unlike his more avuncular competitors Merv Griffin
Merv Griffin
Mervyn Edward "Merv" Griffin, Jr. was an American television host, musician, actor, and media mogul. He began his career as a radio and big band singer who went on to appear in movies and on Broadway. From 1965 to 1986 Griffin hosted his own talk show, The Merv Griffin Show on Group W Broadcasting...
, Mike Douglas, and Dick Cavett
Dick Cavett
Richard Alva "Dick" Cavett is a former American television talk show host known for his conversational style and in-depth discussion of issues...
, Carson was a precise, "chill[y]" host who only laughed when genuinely amused and quickly ended interviews with uninteresting guests. Mort Sahl
Mort Sahl
Morton Lyon "Mort" Sahl is a Canadian-born American comedian and actor. He occasionally wrote jokes for speeches delivered by President John F. Kennedy. He was the first comedian to record a live album and the first to perform on college campuses...
recalled, "The producer is crouching just off camera, and he holds up a card that says, ‘Go to commercial.’ So Carson goes to a commercial, and the whole team rushes up to his desk to discuss what went wrong. It’s like a pit stop at Le Mans
Le Mans
Le Mans is a city in France, located on the Sarthe River. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Mans. Le Mans is a part of the Pays de la Loire region.Its inhabitants are called Manceaux...
." Robert Blake
Robert Blake (actor)
Robert Blake is an American actor who starred in the film In Cold Blood and the U.S. television series Baretta. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted for the 2001 murder of his wife, but on November 18, 2005, Blake was found liable in a California civil court for her wrongful death.-Early...
compared being interviewed by Carson to "facing death" and "Broadway on opening night." The publicity value of appearing on Tonight was so great, however, that most guests were willing to take the risk; David Brenner
David Brenner
David Brenner is an American standup comedian, actor, author, and filmmaker.-Career:Born and raised in poor areas of Philadelphia, Brenner found comedy a major source of relief from the daily trials and tribulations he faced in his youth. His neighborhood has been one of the top-ranked crime...
was one of many celebrities who credited Carson for his success.
Ed McMahon
The show's announcer and Carson's sidekick was Ed McMahonEd McMahon
Edward Peter "Ed" McMahon, Jr. was an American comedian, game show host and announcer. He is most famous for his work on television as Johnny Carson's sidekick and announcer on The Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992. He also hosted the original version of the talent show Star Search from 1983 to 1995...
, who from the very first show would introduce Carson with a drawn-out "Heeeeeeeeere's Johnny!" (something McMahon was inspired to do by the overemphasized way he had introduced reporter Robert Pierpoint
Robert Pierpoint
Robert Pierpoint was a American broadcast journalist who worked for CBS News.Born in Redondo Beach, California, Pierpoint served in the United States Navy during World War II. In 1948, he graduated from University of Redlands...
on the NBC Radio show Monitor
Monitor (NBC Radio)
NBC Monitor was an American weekend radio program broadcast from June 12, 1955, until January 26, 1975. Airing live and nationwide on the NBC Radio Network, it originally aired beginning Saturday morning at 8am and continuing through the weekend until 12 midnight on Sunday...
). McMahon, who held the same role in Carson's ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
game show Who Do You Trust?
Who Do You Trust?
Who Do You Trust? is an American game show which aired from September 30, 1957, to November 15, 1957, at 4:30 PM, Eastern on ABC, and from November 18, 1957, to December 27, 1963 at 3:30 PM, Eastern - which helped garner a significant number of young viewers coming home from school.The series was...
for five years previously, would remain standing to the side as Carson did his monologue, laughing (sometimes obsequiously) at his jokes, then join him at the guest chair when Carson moved to his desk. The two would usually interact in a comic spot for a short while before the first guest was introduced.
McMahon commented on his role in his 1998
1998 in literature
The year 1998 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*March 5 - Tennessee Williams' 1938 play, Not About Nightingales, receives its stage première....
autobiography:
Bandleaders and others
The Tonight Show had a live band for nearly all of its existence. The NBC Orchestra during Carson's reign was led by Skitch HendersonSkitch Henderson
Lyle Russell Cedric “Skitch” Henderson was a pianist, conductor, and composer. His nickname reportedly derived from his ability to quickly "re-sketch" a song in a different key.- Biography :...
(who had previously led the band during Tonight Starring Steve Allen
Tonight Starring Steve Allen
Tonight Starring Steve Allen is a talk show hosted by Steve Allen under The Tonight Show franchise. It was the first version of The Tonight Show but was referred to as Tonight from 1954 to 1957. It originally aired during late-night....
), followed briefly by Milton DeLugg
Milton DeLugg
Milton DeLugg is an American composer and arranger.-Biography:A talented accordionist, he appeared in short Soundies musicals and occasional movies . He quickly became a successful arranger and composer...
. Starting in 1967 and continuing until Jay Leno
Jay Leno
James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an American stand-up comedian and television host.From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ,...
took over, the band was led by Doc Severinsen
Doc Severinsen
Carl Hilding "Doc" Severinsen is an American pop and jazz trumpeter. He is best known for leading the NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.-Early life:...
, with Tommy Newsom
Tommy Newsom
Thomas Penn "Tommy" Newsom was a saxophone player in the NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, for which he later became assistant director. Newsom was frequently the band's substitute director, whenever Doc Severinsen was away from the show or filling in for announcer Ed...
filling in for him when he was absent or filling in for McMahon as the announcer (which usually happened when a guest host substituted for Carson, which usually gave McMahon the night off as well). The show's instrumental theme music
Theme music
Theme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits...
, "Johnny's Theme", was a re-arrangement of a Paul Anka
Paul Anka
Paul Albert Anka, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actor.Anka first became famous as a teen idol in the late 1950s and 1960s with hit songs like "Diana'", "Lonely Boy", and "Put Your Head on My Shoulder"...
composition called "Toot Sweet".
Behind the scenes, Fred de Cordova
Frederick de Cordova
Frederick "Fred" Timmins de Cordova was an American stage, motion picture and television director and producer. He is best known for his work on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.-Early life:...
joined The Tonight Show in 1970 as producer, graduating to executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
in 1984. Unlike many people of his position, de Cordova often appeared on the show, bantering with Carson from his chair off-camera (though occasionally a camera would be pointed in his direction).
Characters
- Carnac the MagnificentCarnac the MagnificentCarnac the Magnificent was a recurring comedic role played by Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. One of Carson's most well known characters, Carnac was a "mystic from the east" who could psychically "divine" unseen answers to unknown questions...
, in which Carson played a psychic who clairvoyantly divined the answer to a question contained in a sealed envelope. This was to some degree a variation on Steve AllenSteve Allen (comedian)Stephen Valentine Patrick William "Steve" Allen was an American television personality, musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer. Though he got his start in radio, Allen is best known for his television career. He first gained national attention as a guest host on Arthur Godfrey's Talent...
's recurring "The Question Man" sketch. The answer was always an outrageous pun. "Carnac" examples:- "Billy GrahamBilly GrahamWilliam Franklin "Billy" Graham, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian evangelist. As of April 25, 2010, when he met with Barack Obama, Graham has spent personal time with twelve United States Presidents dating back to Harry S. Truman, and is number seven on Gallup's list of admired people for...
, Virginia GrahamVirginia GrahamVirginia Graham born Virginia Komiss, was a daytime television talk show host from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s...
and Lester MaddoxLester MaddoxLester Garfield Maddox was an American politician who was the 75th Governor of the U.S. state of Georgia from 1967 to 1971....
" ... "Name two Grahams and a CrackerCracker (pejorative)Cracker, sometimes white cracker, is a pejorative term for white people. It is an ethnic slur that is especially used for the white inhabitants of the U.S. states of Georgia and Florida , but it is also used throughout the United States.-Etymology:One theory holds that the term comes from the...
!" - "Over 105 in Los Angeles" ... "Under the ReaganRonald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
plan, how old do you have to be to collect Social SecuritySocial Security (United States)In the United States, Social Security refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program.The original Social Security Act and the current version of the Act, as amended encompass several social welfare and social insurance programs...
?" - "V-8" ... "What kind of social disease can you get from an octopus?"
- "Debate" ... "What do you use to catch de fish?"
- "CamelotCamelotCamelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and eventually came to be described as the fantastic capital of Arthur's realm and a symbol of the Arthurian world...
" ... "Where do Arabians park their camels?" - "Ben-GayBen-GayBengay, spelled Ben-Gay prior to 1995, is an analgesic heat rub used to relieve muscle and joint pain. It was developed in France by Dr. Jules Bengué, and brought to America in 1898. The name Bengué was anglicized to Bengay...
" ... "Why didn't Mrs. FranklinBenjamin FranklinDr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
have any kids?" - "GhotbzadehSadegh GhotbzadehSadegh Ghotbzadeh was a close aide of Ayatollah Khomeini during his 1978 exile in France, and Iranian Foreign Minister during the Iran hostage crisis following the Iranian Revolution...
" ... "What do Iranian men do when their wives refuse them by night?" - "S. I. HayakawaS. I. HayakawaSamuel Ichiye Hayakawa was a Canadian-born American academic and political figure of Japanese ancestry. He was an English professor, and served as president of San Francisco State University and then as United States Senator from California from 1977 to 1983...
!" ... "Describe the sound made by a man getting his zipper caught in a Waring blender." - "Pass the hat" ... "What does a cannibal do after eating Minnie PearlMinnie PearlSarah Ophelia Colley Cannon , known professionally as Minnie Pearl, was an American country comedienne who appeared at the Grand Ole Opry for more than 50 years and on the television show Hee Haw from 1969 to 1991.-Early life:Sarah Colley was born in Centerville, in Hickman County, Tennessee,...
?" - "Dippity-Do!" ... "What forms on your Dippity early in the morning?"
- "A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou" ... "Name three things that have yeast."
- "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-DahZip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah"Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" is a song from the Disney 1946 live action and animated movie Song of the South, sung by James Baskett. With music by Allie Wrubel and lyrics by Ray Gilbert, "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song...
" ... "How do you tell Marcello MastroianniMarcello MastroianniMarcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni, Knight Grand Cross was an Italian film actor. His honours included British Film Academy Awards, Best Actor awards at the Cannes Film Festival and two Golden Globe Awards.- Personal life :...
his doo-dah is open?" - "Three Dog NightThree Dog NightThree Dog Night is an American rock band best known for their music from 1968 to 1975. During that time the band charted 21 Billboard top 40 hits in America, three of which reached Number One...
" ... "What's a bad night for a tree?" - "McIntosh, Dolly PartonDolly PartonDolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
and the Ford PintoFord PintoThe Ford Pinto is a subcompact car produced by the Ford Motor Company for the model years 1971–1980. The car's name derives from the Pinto horse. Initially offered as a two-door sedan, Ford offered "Runabout" hatchback and wagon models the following year, competing in the U.S. market with the AMC...
" ... "Name an apple, a pear (play on "pair" of breasts) and a lemon!" - "GoodyearGoodyear Tire and Rubber CompanyThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company was founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling. Goodyear manufactures tires for automobiles, commercial trucks, light trucks, SUVs, race cars, airplanes, farm equipment and heavy earth-mover machinery....
, TuckFriar TuckFriar Tuck is a companion to Robin Hood in the legends about that character. He is a common character in modern Robin Hood stories, which depict him as a jovial friar and one of Robin's Merry Men. The figure of Tuck was common in the May Games festivals of England and Scotland during the 15th...
and Andrei GromykoAndrei GromykoAndrei Andreyevich Gromyko was a Soviet statesman during the Cold War. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet . Gromyko was responsible for many top decisions on Soviet foreign policy until he retired in 1987. In the West he was given the...
" ... "Name a tire, a friar and a liar!"
- "Billy Graham
The Carnac joke that garnered the biggest laugh, and Ed McMahon's personal favorite, as he discussed on several talk shows:
- "Sis boom bah" ... "Describe the sound made when a sheep explodes."
If the laughter fell short for a too-lame pun (as it often did), "Carnac" would face the audience with mock seriousness and bestow a comic curse: "May a diseased yak befriend your sister!" or "May a rabid holy man bless your nether regions with a power tool!"
- "Floyd R. TurboFloyd R. TurboFloyd R. Turbo was a recurring comedic character on The Tonight Show, portrayed by host Johnny Carson from 1977 until his departure from the program in 1992....
", a dimwitted yokel responding to a TV station editorial. Floyd always spoke haltingly, as though reading from cue cards, and railed against some newsworthy topic, like Secretaries' Day: "This raises the question: Kiss my Dictaphone!" - "Art Fern", the fast-talking host of a "Tea Time Movie" program, who advertised inane products, assisted by the attractive Matinee Lady, played by Paula PrentissPaula PrentissPaula Ragusa , better known by her stage name Paula Prentiss, is an American actress well-known for her film roles in Where the Boys Are, Man's Favorite Sport?, The Stepford Wives, What's New Pussycat?, The Black Marble, and The Parallax View and her co-starring role in the television situation...
(late 1960s), Carol WayneCarol WayneCarol Wayne was an American television and film actress. She was best known for her many appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson as the Matinée Lady.-Early life:...
(the most familiar Matinee Lady, 1971–82), Danuta Wesley (1984), and Teresa GanzelTeresa GanzelTeresa Ganzel is an actress, comedienne, and cartoon voice-over actress.-Career:Teresa Ganzel was best known as a recurring cast member of The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, having replaced the late Carol Wayne as the Matinee Lady in the popular "Mighty Carson Art Players" skits...
(1985–92). The fake movies Art would introduce usually had eclectic casts ("Ben Blue, Red Buttons, Jesse White, and Karen Black") and nonsensical titles ("Rin-Tin-Tin Gets Fixed Fixed Fixed"). This would be followed by a four-second stock film clip before coming back for another commercial, usually catching Art and the Matinee Lady in a very compromising position. On giving directions to a fake store he was touting, Fern would show a spaghetti-like road map, sometimes with a literal "fork in the road", other times making the joke, "Go to the Slauson CutoffCalifornia State Route 90State Route 90 is a state highway in Southern California, United States. It consists of two unconnected pieces in Greater Los Angeles....
...", and the audience would recite with him, "...cut off your Slauson!" The character was previously named "Honest Bernie Schlock" and then "Ralph Willie" when the Tea Time sketches first aired in the mid to late 1960s. At least one surviving pre-1972 Art Fern sketch that originated from New York had its movie show title as "The Big Flick", an amalgam of two movie show titles in use at the time by New York station WOR-TVWWOR-TVWWOR-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the flagship station of the MyNetworkTV programming service, licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey and serving the Tri-State metropolitan area. WWOR is owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, and is a sister station to Fox network flagship...
, The Big Preview and The Flick. On that sketch Lee MeredithLee MeredithLee Meredith is an American actress. She was born Judith Lee Sauls and grew up in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. She is married to Burt Stratford....
was the Matinee Lady. Carson's Comedy ClassicsCarson's Comedy ClassicsCarson's Comedy Classics was a stripped 1/2 hour syndicated television show that was first released to U.S. television stations in 1983. The series is narrated by Ed McMahon, who, as a voiceover, introduces the program and each of the segments....
features an episode where Juliet Prowse is in the role of Mantinee Lady, from 20 August 1971. - "Aunt Blabby", an old woman whose appearance and speech pattern bore more than a passing resemblance to comedian Jonathan WintersJonathan Winters-Early life:Winters was born in Bellbrook, Ohio, the son of Alice Kilgore , a radio personality, and Jonathan Harshman Winters II, an investment broker. He is a descendant of Valentine Winters, founder of the Winters National Bank in Dayton, Ohio...
' character "Maude Frickert". A frequent theme would be McMahon happening to mention a word or phrase that could suggest death, as in "What tourist attractions did you check out?," to which Aunt Blabby would respond, "Never say check out to an old person!" - "El Mouldo", mysterious mentalist. He would announce some mind-over-matter feat and always fail, although triumphantly shouting "El Mouldo has done it again!" Ed McMahon would take exception, noting El Mouldo's failure. "Did I fail before?" asked El Mouldo. "Yes!," replied McMahon, to which El Mouldo said, "Well, I've done it again!" El Mouldo was in large part a continuation of Carson's mentalist character Dillinger, which he had performed on The Johnny Carson ShowThe Johnny Carson ShowThe Johnny Carson Show is a 1955-56 half hour prime time television variety show starring Johnny Carson.While working as a staff writer on The Red Skelton Show , local Los Angeles television comedian Johnny Carson filled in as host when Skelton was injured during a show rehearsal...
in 1955 over CBS-TV; Dillinger was an obvious spoof of Dunninger, leading to complaints and threats of lawsuits against Carson and CBS. - "Ronald ReaganRonald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
". During Reagan's term in office, Carson developed an accurate impersonation of the president that was featured regularly in Mighty Carson Art Players skits. Carson also did a less memorable impersonation of Jimmy CarterJimmy CarterJames Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
during his term as President.
Bits
- "Stump the Band", where studio audience members ask the band to try to play obscure songs given only the title. Unlike when this routine was done during the Jack PaarJack PaarJack Harold Paar was an author, American radio and television comedian and talk show host, best known for his stint as host of The Tonight Show from 1957 to 1962...
years with the Jose MelisJose MelisJosé Melis was born José Melis Guiu.Melis studied at the Havana Conservatory of Music and a Cuban government scholarship enabled him to continue his education in Paris. When he was 16, he arrived in the United States, graduated from the Juilliard School of Music and worked as a lounge pianist...
band, Doc's band almost never knew the song, but that did not stop them from inventing one on the spot. Example:
- Guest's request: My Dead Dog Rover
- Doc Severinsen, singing: "My dead dog Rover / lay under the sun / and stayed there all summer / until he was done!"
- David Letterman has revived this bit in recent years along with the CBS OrchestraCBS OrchestraThe CBS Orchestra is the house band, led by Paul Shaffer, that plays for David Letterman's CBS late-night talk show, Late Show with David Letterman...
on his Late ShowLate Show with David LettermanLate Show with David Letterman is a U.S. late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and is produced by Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated. The show's music director and band-leader of the house band, the CBS Orchestra, is...
.- "The Mighty Carson Art Players" (depending on one's point of view, the name was an obvious tribute to or ripoff of radio legend Fred AllenFred AllenFred Allen was an American comedian whose absurdist, topically pointed radio show made him one of the most popular and forward-looking humorists in the so-called classic era of American radio.His best-remembered gag was his long-running mock feud with friend and fellow comedian Jack Benny, but it...
's Mighty Allen Art Players). While Carson's show was primarily a talk show, with performances by guests, periodically Carson and a group of stock performers would perform skits that spoofed news, movies, television shows, and commercials.
- "The Mighty Carson Art Players" (depending on one's point of view, the name was an obvious tribute to or ripoff of radio legend Fred Allen
- Example: Johnny, dressed as a doctor, starting to talk about some intimate topic (just as in the real ad) and then being hit by cream pies from several directions at once.
- "The Edge of Wetness", in which Johnny would read humorous plot summaries of a fictional soap opera (such as The Edge of NightThe Edge of NightThe Edge of Night is an American television mystery series/soap opera produced by Procter & Gamble. It debuted on CBS on April 2, 1956, and ran as a live broadcast on that network until November 28, 1975; the series then moved to ABC, where it aired from December 1, 1975, until December 28, 1984...
) while the camera randomly chose an unsuspecting audience member who Carson claimed was, for example, the butler from the soap. - "Headlines", seen only during nights when Jay LenoJay LenoJames Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an American stand-up comedian and television host.From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ,...
guest-hosted beginning in 1987, featured humorous stories and typos from newspaper clippings. This carried over when Leno became permanent host in 1992.
- "The Edge of Wetness", in which Johnny would read humorous plot summaries of a fictional soap opera (such as The Edge of Night
Programming history
- October 1962 – December 1966: Monday-Friday 11:15 p.m.-1:00 a.m.
Jack Paar
Jack Paar
Jack Harold Paar was an author, American radio and television comedian and talk show host, best known for his stint as host of The Tonight Show from 1957 to 1962...
's last appearance was on March 29, 1962, and due to Carson's previous contracts, Carson did not take over until October 1. The first guests were Rudy Vallée
Rudy Vallée
Rudy Vallée was an American singer, actor, bandleader, and entertainer.-Early life:Born Hubert Prior Vallée in Island Pond, Vermont, the son of Charles Alphonse and Catherine Lynch Vallée...
, Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....
, Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
, and Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
. Carson inherited from Paar a show that was 105 minutes long. The show was structured to have what appeared to be two openings, with one starting at 11:15 p.m. and including the monologue, and another which listed the guests and announced the host again, starting at 11:30. The two openings gave affiliates the option of having either a fifteen-minute or thirty-minute local newscast preceding Carson. Since 1959, the show had been videotaped earlier the same broadcast day.
As more affiliates introduced thirty minutes of local news, Carson's monologue was being seen by fewer people. To rectify this situation, from February 1965 to December 1966, Ed McMahon
Ed McMahon
Edward Peter "Ed" McMahon, Jr. was an American comedian, game show host and announcer. He is most famous for his work on television as Johnny Carson's sidekick and announcer on The Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992. He also hosted the original version of the talent show Star Search from 1983 to 1995...
and Skitch Henderson
Skitch Henderson
Lyle Russell Cedric “Skitch” Henderson was a pianist, conductor, and composer. His nickname reportedly derived from his ability to quickly "re-sketch" a song in a different key.- Biography :...
began to co-host the first fifteen minutes of the show without Carson, who then took over at 11:30. Finally, because he wanted the show to start when he came on, Carson insisted on eliminating the 11:15 segment at the beginning of January 1967 (which, he once claimed in a monologue at the time, no one actually watched "except the Armed Forces and four Indians in Gallup, New Mexico").
- January 1965 – September 1966: Saturday or Sunday 11:15–1:00 a.m. (reruns, initially billed as The Saturday Tonight Show)
- September 1966 – September 1975: Saturday or Sunday 11:30–1:00 a.m. (reruns, now identified as The Saturday/Sunday Tonight Show; The Weekend Tonight Show by 1973)
- January 1967 – September 1980: Monday-Friday 11:30 p.m.-1:00 a.m.
By the mid-1970s Tonight was the most profitable television show, making NBC $50 to $60 million ($ to $ today) each year. Carson influenced the scheduling of reruns (which typically aired under the title The Best of Carson) in the mid-1970s and, later in 1980, the length of each evening's broadcast by threatening NBC with, in the first case, moving to another network, and in the latter retiring altogether. In order to enable a shorter work week for himself, Carson began to petition network executives in 1974 that reruns on the weekends be discontinued, in favor of showing them on one or more nights during the week. In response to his demands, NBC began planning a new comedy/variety series to feed to affiliates on Saturday nights that debuted in October 1975 and is still airing today: Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
. Five years later, Carson renewed his contract with a stipulation that the show lose its last half hour; Tom Snyder
Tom Snyder
Thomas James "Tom" Snyder was an American television personality, news anchor and radio personality best known for his late night talk shows The Tomorrow Show, on the NBC television network in the 1970s and 1980s, and The Late Late Show, on the CBS Television Network in the 1990s...
's Tomorrow
Tomorrow (TV series)
Tomorrow was an American late-night television talk show hosted by Tom Snyder...
expanded to 90 minutes in order to fill the resulting schedule gap. Although a year and a half later Tomorrow gave way to the hour-long Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman is a nightly hour-long comedy talk show on NBC that was created and hosted by David Letterman. It premiered in 1982 as the first incarnation of the Late Night franchise and went off the air in 1993, after Letterman left NBC and moved to Late Show on CBS. Late Night...
(1982–1993), an hour remains the length of Tonight.
- September 1980 – August 1991: Monday-Friday 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m.
- September 1991 – May 1992: Monday-Friday 11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m.
The show's start time was delayed by five minutes to allow NBC affiliates to include more commercials during their local newscasts.
In his tribute episode after Carson's death, David Letterman
David Letterman
David Michael Letterman is an American television host and comedian. He hosts the late night television talk show, Late Show with David Letterman, broadcast on CBS. Letterman has been a fixture on late night television since the 1982 debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC...
revealed that because of the great success of the Tonight Show, every talk show host since then – himself included – is secretly emulating Carson during his Tonight Show days.
1979–1980 contract battle
In 1979, when Fred SilvermanFred Silverman
Fred Silverman is an American television executive and producer. He worked as an executive at the CBS, ABC and NBC networks, and was responsible for bringing to television such programs as the series Scooby-Doo , All in the Family , The Waltons , and Charlie's Angels , as well as the...
was the head of NBC, Carson took the network to court claiming that he had been a free-agent since April of that year because his most recent contract had been signed in 1972. Carson cited a California law barring certain contracts from lasting more than seven years. NBC claimed that they had signed three agreements since then, and Carson was therefore bound to the network until April 1981. While the case was settled out of court, the friction between Carson and the network remained. Eventually, Carson reached an agreement to appear four nights a week but cut the show from 90 to 60 minutes. In September 1980, Carson's eponymous production company
Carson Productions
Carson Productions is a television production company established by Johnny Carson in 1980 to primarily produce The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson from 1980 to 1992 and Late Night with David Letterman from 1982 to 1993....
regained ownership of the show after owning it from 1969 to the early 1970s.
Tape archives
Virtually all of the original pre-1970 video recordings, including Carson's debut as host, are now considered lost. Following the standard procedure for most television production companies of that era, NBC reusedWiping
Wiping or junking is a colloquial term for action taken by radio and television production and broadcasting companies, in which old audiotapes, videotapes, and telerecordings , are erased, reused, or destroyed after several uses...
the Tonight Show videotapes for recording other programs. It was rumored that many other episodes were lost in a fire, but NBC has denied this. Other surviving material from the era has been found on kinescope
Kinescope
Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor...
s held in the archives of the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service, or in the personal collections of guests of the program, while a few moments such as Tiny Tim
Tiny Tim (musician)
Tiny Tim , , born in Manhattan, was an American singer and ukulele player. He was most famous for his rendition of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" sung in a distinctive high falsetto/vibrato voice.-Rise to fame:Born to Lebanese parents in 1932, Khaury displayed musical talent at a very young age...
's wedding, were preserved. New York meteorologist Dr. Frank Field
Frank Field (meteorologist)
Franklyn Field , best known as Dr. Frank Field, is a television personality and meteorologist who was on TV in New York City for five decades, reporting not only on the weather but also on science and health topics. He was instrumental in publicizing the Heimlich Maneuver to aid food choking victims...
, an occasional guest during the years he was weather forecaster for WNBC-TV, showed several clips of his appearances with Carson in a 2002 career retrospective on WWOR-TV
WWOR-TV
WWOR-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the flagship station of the MyNetworkTV programming service, licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey and serving the Tri-State metropolitan area. WWOR is owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, and is a sister station to Fox network flagship...
; Field had maintained the clips in his own personal archives.
The program archive is virtually complete from 1973 to 1992. The New York Post reported in May 2011 that 250 of Carson's monologues and sketches spanning a 20-year period are on the Memory Lane website.
A large amount of material from Carson's first two decades of the Tonight Show (1962–1982), (much of it not seen since its original airings) appeared in a half hour "clip/compilation" syndicated program known as Carson's Comedy Classics
Carson's Comedy Classics
Carson's Comedy Classics was a stripped 1/2 hour syndicated television show that was first released to U.S. television stations in 1983. The series is narrated by Ed McMahon, who, as a voiceover, introduces the program and each of the segments....
which aired in 1983.
Although no footage is known to remain of Carson's first broadcast as host of The Tonight Show on October 1, 1962, photographs taken that night do survive—including Carson being introduced by Groucho Marx
Groucho Marx
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born...
– as does an audio recording of Marx's introduction and Carson's first monologue. One of his first jokes upon starting the show (after receiving a few words of encouragement from Marx, one of which was "Don't go to Hollywood") was to pretend to panic and say, "I want my Na-Na!". (This recording was played at the start of Carson's final broadcast on May 22, 1992.) The oldest surviving video recording of the show is dated November 1962, while the oldest surviving color recording is from 1963, when Carson had Jake Ehrlich Sr.
Jake Ehrlich
- Biography :Born near Rockville, Montgomery County, Maryland. Known as "the Master," Jake Ehrlich had a fifty year career as a defense and divorce attorney in San Francisco. He authored a dozen books on the law, the Bible, and his own life story...
as guest.
Thirty-minute audio recordings of many of these "missing" episodes are contained in the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
in the Armed Forces Radio collection. Many 1970s-era episodes have been licensed to distributors that advertise mail order offers on late-night TV. The later shows are stored in an underground salt mine
Salt mine
A salt mine is a mining operation involved in the extraction of rock salt or halite from evaporite deposits.-Occurrence:Areas known for their salt mines include Kilroot near Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland ; Khewra and Warcha in Pakistan; Tuzla in Bosnia; Wieliczka and Bochnia in Poland A salt mine...
in Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
.
Guest hosts
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson had guest hosts each Monday for most of the show's run and sometimes for entire weeks during Johnny's frequent vacations. The following list is of those who guest hosted at least 50 times during the first 21 years of the show's run; it does not count the episodes hosted by the three "permanent guest hosts": Joan RiversJoan Rivers
Joan Rivers is an American comedian, television personality and actress. She is known for her brash manner; her loud, raspy voice with a heavy New York accent; and her numerous cosmetic surgeries...
(1983–1986), Garry Shandling
Garry Shandling
Garry Emmanuel Shandling is an American comedian, actor and writer. He is best known for his work in It's Garry Shandling's Show and The Larry Sanders Show....
(1986–1987), and Jay Leno
Jay Leno
James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an American stand-up comedian and television host.From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ,...
(1987–1992).
- Joey BishopJoey BishopJoey Bishop was an American entertainer who was perhaps best known for being a member of the "Rat Pack" with Frank Sinatra, Peter Lawford, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Dean Martin...
(177 times, mostly in the 1960s) - Joan RiversJoan RiversJoan Rivers is an American comedian, television personality and actress. She is known for her brash manner; her loud, raspy voice with a heavy New York accent; and her numerous cosmetic surgeries...
(93, during the 1970s and 1980s) - John Davidson (87)
- Bob NewhartBob NewhartGeorge Robert Newhart , known professionally as Bob Newhart, is an American stand-up comedian and actor. Noted for his deadpan and slightly stammering delivery, Newhart came to prominence in the 1960s when his album of comedic monologues The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart was a worldwide...
(87) - David BrennerDavid BrennerDavid Brenner is an American standup comedian, actor, author, and filmmaker.-Career:Born and raised in poor areas of Philadelphia, Brenner found comedy a major source of relief from the daily trials and tribulations he faced in his youth. His neighborhood has been one of the top-ranked crime...
(70) - McLean StevensonMcLean StevensonEdgar McLean Stevenson, Jr. , better known as McLean Stevenson, was an American actor most recognized for his role as Lt. Colonel Henry Blake on the TV series M*A*S*H...
(58) - Jerry LewisJerry LewisJerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...
(52, mostly in the 1960s) - David LettermanDavid LettermanDavid Michael Letterman is an American television host and comedian. He hosts the late night television talk show, Late Show with David Letterman, broadcast on CBS. Letterman has been a fixture on late night television since the 1982 debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC...
(51)
Carson had been an occasional guest host during the years when Jack Paar
Jack Paar
Jack Harold Paar was an author, American radio and television comedian and talk show host, best known for his stint as host of The Tonight Show from 1957 to 1962...
was the regular host, and Paar repeatedly claimed he had been the one to suggest to NBC that Carson replace him when he left the show in 1962.
On April 2, 1979, Kermit the Frog
Kermit the Frog
Kermit the Frog is puppeteer Jim Henson's most famous Muppet creation, first introduced in 1955. He is the protagonist of many Muppet projects, most notably as the host of The Muppet Show, and has appeared in various sketches on Sesame Street, in commercials and in public service announcements over...
was guest-host. Additionally, many other Muppets appeared for skits and regular segments: Frank Oz voiced Fozzie Bear and Animal, while Jerry Nelson voiced a Vincent Price
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...
-based Muppet during a segment with the real Price.
Joan Rivers
In September 1983, Joan Rivers was designated Carson's permanent guest host, a role she had been essentially filling for more than a year before then. In 1986, she abruptly left for her own showThe Late Show (1986 TV series)
The Late Show is an American late-night talk show and the first series broadcast on the then-new Fox Network. Originally hosted by comic actress Joan Rivers, it first aired on October 9, 1986 under the title The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers...
on the then new Fox Network
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
. This move — and her failure to inform him personally — infuriated Carson so much that he banned Rivers from his show, canceling even the three weeks of guest hosting she was scheduled to do in the remainder of the 1985–86 television season
1985–1986 United States network television schedule (late night)
These are the late night Monday-Friday schedules on all three networks for each calendar season beginning September 1985. All times are Eastern/Pacific.Talk/Variety shows are highlighted in yellow, Local News & Programs are highlighted in white....
. Rivers' new show was quickly canceled, and she never appeared on The Tonight Show with Carson again. She never appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that initially aired from May 25, 1992 to May 29, 2009, and resumed production on March 1, 2010. The fourth incarnation of the Tonight Show franchise made its debut on May 25, 1992, three days following Johnny...
either, a ban instigated by Leno out of respect for Carson. After Carson's death, Rivers told CNN that Carson never forgave her for leaving, and never spoke to her again, even after she wrote him a note following the [June 1991] accidental death of Carson's son Ricky.
The program of July 26, 1984, with guest host Joan Rivers, was the first MTS
Multichannel television sound
Multichannel television sound, better known as MTS , is the method of encoding three additional channels of audio into an NTSC-format audio carrier.- History :...
stereo
Stereophonic sound
The term Stereophonic, commonly called stereo, sound refers to any method of sound reproduction in which an attempt is made to create an illusion of directionality and audible perspective...
broadcast in U.S. television history, though not the first television broadcast with stereophonic sound
Stereophonic sound
The term Stereophonic, commonly called stereo, sound refers to any method of sound reproduction in which an attempt is made to create an illusion of directionality and audible perspective...
. Only the New York City affiliate of NBC
WNBC
WNBC, virtual channel 4 , is the flagship station of the NBC television network, located in New York City. WNBC's studios are co-located with NBC corporate headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in midtown Manhattan...
had stereo broadcast capability at that time. NBC transmitted The Tonight Show in stereo sporadically through 1984, and on a regular basis beginning in 1985.
Carson's last shows
As his retirement approached, Carson tried to avoid sentimentality, but would periodically show clips of some of his favorite moments and host again some of his favorite guests. He told his crew, "Everything comes to an end; nothing lasts forever. Thirty years is enough. It's time to get out while you're still working on top of your game, while you're still working well."On May 21, 1992, the eve of Carson's last show, he hosted his final guests, Robin Williams
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...
and Bette Midler
Bette Midler
Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...
. It was also the final show before a regular studio audience; fans, who had been camping out to get into the final shows, waited up to 35 hours to get into this one. Once underway, the atmosphere was electric and Carson was greeted with a sustained, two-minute ovation at the start. Williams displayed an especially uninhibited take on his trademark manic energy and stream-of-consciousness lunacy. Midler, in contrast, found the emotional vein of the farewell. When the conversation turned to Johnny's favorite songs – "I'll Be Seeing You
I'll Be Seeing You (song)
"I'll Be Seeing You" is a popular song, with music by Sammy Fain and lyrics by Irving Kahal. Published in 1938, the song was inserted into the Broadway musical Right This Way, which closed after fifteen performances. The song is a jazz standard, and has been covered by countless musicians.The...
" and "Here's That Rainy Day
Here's That Rainy Day
"Here's That Rainy Day" is a popular song with music by Jimmy Van Heusen and lyrics by Johnny Burke, published in 1953. It was introduced by Dolores Gray in the Broadway musical Carnival in Flanders...
" – Midler mentioned she knew a chorus of the latter. She began singing the song, and after the first line, Carson joined in and turned it into an impromptu duet. Midler finished her appearance from center stage, where she slowly sang the pop standard "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)
One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)
"One for My Baby " is a popular song written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer for the musical The Sky's the Limit and first performed in the film by Fred Astaire. It was popularized by the American singer Frank Sinatra...
". Carson became unexpectedly tearful, and a shot of the two of them was captured by a camera angle from across the set which had never been used before. The audience became tearful as well, and called the three performers out for a second bow after the show completed. This penultimate show was immediately recognized as a television classic, and Midler would consider it one of the most emotional moments of her life and would win an Emmy Award for her role in it.
Carson had no guests on his final episode of The Tonight Show on May 22, 1992, which was instead a retrospective show taped before an invitation-only studio audience of family, friends, and crew. An estimated 50 million people tuned in for the finale, which ended with Carson sitting on a stool alone on the stage, similar to Jack Paar
Jack Paar
Jack Harold Paar was an author, American radio and television comedian and talk show host, best known for his stint as host of The Tonight Show from 1957 to 1962...
's last show. He gave these final words of goodbye:
A few weeks after the final show aired, it was announced that NBC and Carson had struck a deal to develop a new series. Ultimately, however, he chose never to return to television with another show of his own. He gave only two major interviews after retiring: one to the Washington Post in 1993, and the other to Esquire
Esquire
Esquire is a term of West European origin . Depending on the country, the term has different meanings...
magazine in 2002. Carson hinted in his 1993 interview that he did not think he could top what he had already accomplished. He also made only a couple of on-screen appearances after retiring, including providing a guest voice on an episode of The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
and making a silent cameo appearance on Late Show with David Letterman
Late Show with David Letterman
Late Show with David Letterman is a U.S. late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and is produced by Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated. The show's music director and band-leader of the house band, the CBS Orchestra, is...
.
In 2011, the last show was ranked #10 on the TV Guide Network special, TV's Most Unforgettable Finales.
External links
- The Tonight Show from the Museum of Broadcast CommunicationsMuseum of Broadcast CommunicationsThe Museum of Broadcast Communications is an American museum that currently exists exclusively on the Internet and not in any physical capacity. Its stated mission is "to collect, preserve, and present historic and contemporary radio and television content as well as educate, inform and entertain...
website - Carson's official Tonight Show website
- Register of His Papers in the Library of CongressLibrary of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
- The Man Who Retired a June 2002 Esquire article also available here
- Johnny Carson, late-night TV legend, dies at 79, a January 2005 CNN article
- A profile of Carson in The New YorkerThe New YorkerThe New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
from 1978