Why Did Johnny Carson Have Such a Hard Time Reading the Cue Cards

American late-night talk show

The This night Show Starring Johnny Carson
Also known equally	The Tonight Show (franchise make) Johnny Carson (Antenna Tv set repeats)
Genre	Belatedly-night talk/Variety
Created by	Steve Allen William O. Harbach Dwight Hemion Sylvester L. Weaver, Jr.
Written by	Head writer: Walter Kempley (1963–1967) Hank Bradford (1969–1975) Marshall Brickman (1969–1970) Raymond Siller (1974–1989) Andrew Nicholls and Darrell Vickers (1989–1992)
Presented past	Johnny Carson
Narrated by	Ed McMahon
Theme music composer	Paul Anka
Opening theme	"Johnny's Theme"
Country of origin	United states
Original language	English
No. of seasons	29
No. of episodes	6,714 (list of episodes)
Production
Producers	Fred de Cordova Peter Lassally
Production locations	NBC Studios New York Metropolis (1962–1972) NBC Studios Burbank, California (1972–1992)
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	47–105 minutes
Distributor	Carson Amusement Group
Release
Original network	NBC
Picture format	Color
Original release	October one, 1962 (1962-10-01) – May 22, 1992 (1992-05-22)
Chronology
Preceded by	Tonight Starring Jack Paar
Followed by	The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
Related shows	Carson'southward Comedy Classics
External links
Website

The This evening Show Starring Johnny Carson is an American late-night talk show hosted by Johnny Carson on NBC, the third iteration of the Tonight Testify franchise. The show debuted on October 1, 1962, and aired its terminal episode on May 22, 1992.^[1] Ed McMahon served as Carson's sidekick and the prove'south announcer.

For its first decade, Johnny Carson's The This evening Prove was based at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York Urban center, with some episodes recorded at NBC Studios in Burbank, California; on May 1, 1972, the testify moved to Burbank as its main venue and remained in that location exclusively after May 1973 until Carson's retirement.^[two] The show's house band, the NBC Orchestra, was led by Skitch Henderson, until 1966 when Milton Delugg took over, who was succeeded by Md Severinsen less than a year later.

The series has been considered the best version of the show by many Tonight Show enthusiasts, and information technology has been ranked as ane of the greatest Television shows of all time in polls from both 2002 and 2013.^{[3] [4]}

Format [edit]

Johnny Carson's Tonight Evidence established the modern format of the tardily-dark talk show:^[5] a monologue sprinkled with a rapid-fire serial of xvi to 22 ane-liners (Carson had a rule of no more than than 3 on the same subject) was followed by sketch comedy, and so moving on to guest interviews and performances by musicians and stand up-up comedians. Occasionally, Carson interviewed prominent politicians such as Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Robert F. Kennedy, and Hubert Humphrey, notwithstanding Carson refused to discuss his personal political views on the show out of concern information technology might alienate his audition.^[vi] Other regulars were selected for their entertainment or information value, in contrast to those who offered more cerebral chat;^[7]

His preference for access to Hollywood stars caused the show'southward move to the W Coast on May 1, 1972; The This evening Testify would not return to New York until 2022 when Jimmy Fallon took the hosting reins.^[viii] When asked about intellectual conversation on The Tonight Show, Carson and his staff invariably cited "Carl Sagan, Paul Ehrlich, Margaret Mead, Gore Vidal, Shana Alexander, Madalyn Murray O'Hair" as guests;^[seven] i television set critic stated, however, "he always presented them as if they were spinach for your diet when he did [feature such names]."^[nine] Family therapist Carlfred Broderick appeared on the show ten times,^[10] and psychologist Joyce Brothers was one of Carson's most frequent guests. Carson, in full general, did non characteristic prop comedy acts (Carson was not balky to using prop comedy himself); such acts, with Gallagher being a prominent example, more commonly appeared when guest hosts helmed the programme.^[xi]

Carson almost never socialized with guests before or after the prove; frequent interviewee Orson Welles recalled that This evening Show employees were astonished when Carson visited Welles's dressing room to say hello before a show. Unlike his avuncular counterparts Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, and Dick Cavett, Carson was a comparatively "cool" host who only laughed when genuinely amused and abruptly cut brusk monotonous or embarrassingly inept interviewees. Mort Sahl recalled, "The producer crouches just off camera and holds upwards a carte du jour that says, 'Go to commercial.' So Carson goes to a commercial and the whole team rushes up to his desk to hash out what had gone wrong, like a pit stop at Le Mans." Role player Robert Blake once compared being interviewed by Carson to "facing the death team" or "Broadway on opening night." The publicity value of appearing on The This evening Prove was so great, however, that most guests were willing to bailiwick themselves to the run a risk.^[7]

Testify regulars [edit]

Ed McMahon [edit]

The series' announcer and Carson's sidekick was Ed McMahon, who from the first show would introduce Carson with a drawn-out "Hither's Johnny!" (something McMahon was inspired to practise by the overemphasized style he had introduced reporter Robert Pierpoint on the NBC Radio Network program Monitor). The catchphrase was heard nightly for 30 years, and ranked top of the Tv Land poll of U.S. Tv catchphrases and quotes in 2006;^[12] it has been referenced in all media going from The Shining to Johnny Bravo to a "Weird Al" Yankovic album cut; it was even used for the grapheme Johnny Muzzle in the video game serial Mortal Kombat.

McMahon, who held the same role in Carson'south 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 bring together him at the guest chair when Carson moved to his desk. The 2 would usually collaborate in a comic spot for a brusk while before the commencement invitee was introduced.

McMahon stated in a 1978 contour of Carson in The New Yorker that "the 'Tonight Show' is my staple diet, my meat and potatoes—I'yard realistic enough to know that everything else stems from that." After a 1965 incident in which he ruined Carson's joke on the air McMahon was careful to, as he said, "never to go where [Carson]'s going."^[seven] He wrote in his 1998 autobiography:

My role on the show never was strictly divers. I did what had to be done when it had to be done. I was in that location when he needed me, and when he didn't I moved downwards the burrow and kept quiet. ... I did the audience warm-upward, I did commercials, for a brief flow I co-hosted the get-go fifteen minutes of the show..., and I performed in many sketches. On our thirteenth-anniversary prove Johnny and I were talking at his desk-bound and he said, "13 years is a long time." He paused long enough for me to recognize my cue, and then I asked, "How long is information technology?" "That's why yous're here," he said, probably summing up my primary function on the show perfectly... I had to support him, I had to assist him get to the punch line, but while doing it I had to make it await as if I wasn't doing anything at all. The better I did it, the less it appeared as if I was doing it....If I was going to play second fiddle, I wanted to exist the Heifetz of second fiddlers....The most hard matter for me to acquire how to practise was only sit down at that place with my oral fissure closed. Many nights I'd be listening to Johnny and in my mind I'd achieve the same ad lib just as he said it. I'd have to seize with teeth my tongue not to say it out loud. I had to make sure I wasn't too funny—although critics who saw some of my other performances will claim I needn't have worried. If I got too many laughs, I wasn't doing my task; my chore was to be part of a team that generated the laughs.^[13]

Bandleaders and others [edit]

Doc Severinsen led the NBC Orchestra starting time in 1967, and he held the office until the evidence'southward finale

The Tonight Prove had a alive big band for nearly all of its existence. The NBC Orchestra during Carson's reign was originally led by Skitch Henderson (who had previously led the band during Tonight Starring Steve Allen), followed briefly by Milton DeLugg. Starting in 1967 and standing until Jay Leno took over, the ring was led by Physician Severinsen, with Tommy Newsom filling in for him when he was absent or filling in for McMahon equally the journalist (this usually happened when a invitee host substituted for Carson, which generally gave McMahon the night off likewise).^[14] The serial' instrumental theme music, "Johnny's Theme," was a re-arrangement of the Paul Anka composition "Toot Sugariness," which Anka and Annette Funicello had separately recorded, with lyrics, as "It's Really Love."^[xv] During shows when Newsom filled in for Severinsen, the ring played a slightly truncated version of the theme that transitioned from the bridge to the endmost phrase without reprising the offset few notes of the main melody. The NBC Orchestra was the last in-firm studio orchestra to perform on American tv set.

Behind the scenes, motion picture director/producer Fred de Cordova joined The This evening Testify in 1970 as producer, graduating to executive producer in 1984. Unlike many people of his position, de Cordova oftentimes appeared on the evidence, bantering with Carson from his chair off-camera (though occasionally a camera would be pointed in his direction).

Recurring segments and skits [edit]

Characters [edit]

Carson as Carnac the Magnificent, a reoccurring comedic function he introduced in 1964.

• Carnac the Magnificent, in which Carson played a psychic who clairvoyantly divined the answer to a question contained in a sealed envelope. This was to some caste a variation on Steve Allen'due south recurring "The Question Human being" sketch. The answer was always an outrageous pun. "Carnac" examples:
  • "Debate" ... "What do y'all use to catch de fish?"
  • "Baja" ... "What sound does a sheep brand when it laughs?"
  • "Ben-Gay" ... "Why didn't Mrs. Franklin take any kids?"
  • "A loaf of breadstuff, a jug of vino, and thou" ... "Name iii things that have yeast."
  • "Three Dog Dark" ... "What'southward a bad night for a tree?"
  • "Mount Baldy" ... "What did Yul Brynner's wife do on their wedding dark?"
  • "Sis boom bah" ... "Describe the sound made when a sheep explodes." (Ed McMahon'due south personal favorite)^[16]

If the laughter barbarous short when a line bombed (every bit 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 anoint your nether regions with a power tool!"

• "Floyd R. Turbo," a dimwitted yokel responding to a TV station editorial. Floyd e'er spoke haltingly, every bit though reading from cue cards, and railed against some newsworthy topic, like Secretaries' 24-hour interval: "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 Prentiss (late 1960s), Ballad Wayne (the nearly familiar Matinee Lady, 1971–81, 1984), Danuta Wesley (1982), and Teresa Ganzel (1984–92). He imitated the vocal stylings of Jackie Gleason's character "Reginald Van Gleason". The false movies Fine art would introduce usually had eclectic casts ("Ben Blueish, Ruby-red Buttons, Jesse White, and Karen Black") and nonsensical titles ("Rin-Tin-Tin can Gets Fixed Stock-still Fixed"). This would be followed by a four-second stock moving picture clip before coming back for some other commercial, ordinarily catching Fine art and the Matinee Lady in a very compromising position. On giving directions to a false store he was touting, Fern would show a spaghetti-similar road map, sometimes with a literal "fork in the route," other times making the joke, "Get to the Slauson Cutoff...," and the audience would recite with him, "...cut off your Slauson!" The grapheme was previously named "Honest Bernie Schlock" and then "Ralph Willie" when the Tea Time sketches offset aired in the mid-to-tardily 1960s. At least one surviving pre-1972 Fine art Fern sketch that originated from New York had its movie show title as "The Large Movie," an amalgam of two movie show titles in utilise at the time past New York station WOR-TV, The Big Preview and The Flick. On that sketch Lee Meredith was the Matinee Lady. Carson's Comedy Classics features an episode where Juliet Prowse is in the office of Matinee Lady, from xx August 1971.
• "Aunt Blabby," an old adult female whose advent and oral communication design bore more than a passing resemblance to comedian Jonathan Winters' character "Maude Frickert." A frequent theme would exist McMahon happening to mention a discussion or phrase that could suggest death, as in "What tourist attractions did you check out?," to which Aunt Blabby would answer, "Never say check out to an old person!"
• "El Mouldo," mysterious mentalist. He would announce some mind-over-thing feat and always fail, although triumphantly shouting "El Mouldo has done it once more!" Ed McMahon would take exception, noting El Mouldo's failure. "Did I neglect before?" asked El Mouldo. "Aye!," replied McMahon, to which El Mouldo said, "Well, I've washed it once more!" El Mouldo was in big part a continuation of Carson'south mentalist character Dillinger, which he had performed on The Johnny Carson Testify in 1955 on CBS-TV; Dillinger was an obvious spoof of Dunninger, leading to complaints and threats of lawsuits confronting Carson and CBS.
• "David Howitzer, Consumer Supporter," a thinly veiled satire of consumer reporter David Horowitz. Howitzer'due south segments (in a rare example of prop one-act for the show) usually featured purported counterfeit consumer goods (usually gag props) that unscrupulous post-social club companies had sent his unsuspecting viewers (for case, a adult female who spent thousands of dollars on an oriental carpeting instead received a inexpensive toupee fabricated in Taiwan).
• "Ronald Reagan." During President Reagan's term in office, Carson developed an impersonation of the president that was featured regularly in a Mighty Carson Art Players segment.^[17] Carson besides did a less memorable impersonation of Jimmy Carter during his term equally President.

$.25 [edit]

• "Stump the Band," where studio audience members ask the ring to effort to play obscure songs given only the title. Unlike when this routine was washed during the Jack Paar years with the Jose Melis band, Severinsen's ring almost never knew the song, simply that did not stop them from inventing one on the spot. Instance:

Guest's request: "My Dead Dog Rover"

Doc Severinsen, singing: "My expressionless domestic dog Rover / lay under the sun / and stayed there all summer / until he was done!"

David Letterman revived this bit later, along with the CBS Orchestra on his Late Show.

• "The Mighty Carson Art Players," ^[17] (depending on one'southward point of view, the proper noun was an obvious tribute to or ripoff of radio legend Fred Allen's Mighty Allen Art Players). While Carson'southward prove 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, commercials, and past events. A Mighty Carson Fine art Players advent would usually be announced forth with that night's guests during McMahon'due south introduction.

Example: Johnny, dressed as a doctor, starting to talk most some intimate topic (just as in the real ad) and 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 Night) while the camera randomly chose an unsuspecting audience member whom Carson claimed was, for example, the butler from the lather.
• "Headlines," developed by Jay Leno, and seen only during nights when he invitee-hosted kickoff in 1986, featured humorous stories and typos from newspaper clippings. This carried over when Leno became permanent host in 1992.
• "How ___ was it?" a recurring call-and-response during Carson's monologues. Carson would gear up the joke with a passing comment nearly, for instance, the conditions with the phrase "Information technology was and then hot..." prompting the audience to respond "HOW HOT WAS Information technology?" Carson would and then follow with several punch lines (e.g. "I heard Burger Male monarch singing, 'If yous want it made your fashion, cook it yourself!'"). Carson would occasionally throw the audition off with an anti-joke (such as "it was worth the trip in, wasn't it?").

Programming history [edit]

Carson's first Tonight Evidence on New Yr'south Eve, 1962; shown with Skitch Henderson and Ed McMahon

Jack Paar'due south concluding appearance was on March 29, 1962, and due to Carson's commitment to the ABC game show Who Do You Trust?, he could not take over until October 1 (the twenty-four hour period his ABC contract expired). His first guests were Rudy Vallée, Tony Bennett, Mel Brooks, and Joan Crawford.^[18] Carson inherited from Paar a show that was i three/4 hours (105 minutes) long.^[7] The show broadcast 2 openings, ane starting at xi:15 p.m. and including the monologue, the other that listed the guests and re-announced the host, starting at 11:30. The two openings gave affiliates the option of screening either a xv-minute or thirty-minute local newscast preceding Carson. Since 1959, the show had been videotaped earlier the aforementioned broadcast day.

As more affiliates introduced xxx minutes of local news, Carson's monologue was being seen by fewer people. To rectify this state of affairs, Ed McMahon and Skitch Henderson co-hosted the commencement xv minutes of the show between Feb 1965 and December 1966 without Carson, who then took over at 11:xxx. Finally, considering he wanted the testify to start when he came on, at the beginning of Jan 1967 Carson insisted the eleven:15 segment exist eliminated (which, he claimed in a monologue at the time, "no ane actually watched except the Armed forces and four Navajos in Gallup, New Mexico").^[19]

• January 1965 – September 1966: Sabbatum or Sunday 11:15–1:00 a.m. (reruns, initially billed as The Sat This night Show)
• September 1966 – September 1975: Sabbatum or Dominicus eleven:30–1:00 a.m. (reruns, now identified as The Saturday/Lord's day This evening Prove; The Weekend Tonight Show by 1973)
• January 2, 1967 – September 12, 1980: Monday–Friday eleven:30 p.chiliad.–1:00 a.thousand.

By the mid-1970s Tonight was the most profitable show on boob tube, making NBC $fifty to $60 million ($200 to $240 1000000 in 2020) each year.^[7] Carson influenced the scheduling of reruns (which typically aired nether the title The Best of Carson) in the mid-1970s and, in 1980, the length of each evening's broadcast, past threatening NBC with, in the first case, moving to some other network, and in the latter, retiring altogether.

In club to work fewer days each week, 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.^[xx] In response to his demands, NBC created a new one-act/multifariousness serial to feed to affiliates on Saturday nights that debuted in October 1975, Saturday Night Alive.

In 1980, Carson renewed his contract with the stipulation that the show lose its last half-60 minutes. On the final ninety-minute show (September 12, 1980), Carson explained that by going to an hour, the bear witness would feel more fast-paced, and accept a greater selection of guests.

For a year, Tom Snyder's existing talk testify, Tomorrow, was expanded to ninety minutes and forced to change its format, adding gossip reporter Rona Barrett as a co-host and taking on the name Tomorrow Declension to Coast. This was short-lived equally a year and a half later, Snyder had quit and Tomorrow Declension to Coast had been canceled. Carson was given authority to fill up the vacant time slot and used it to create Tardily Nighttime with David Letterman (1982–1993). Today, The Tonight Show remains ane hr in length and is still followed by Tardily Night, currently under the title Late Night with Seth Meyers (2014–).

• September fifteen, 1980 – August thirty, 1991: Monday–Fri eleven:thirty p.one thousand.–12:xxx a.one thousand.
• September 2, 1991 – May 22, 1992: Mon–Fri eleven:35 p.grand.–12:35 a.yard.^[21]

In May 1991, following positive viewer reception during tests in St. Louis (KSDK) and Dallas–Fort Worth (KXAS), NBC reached an agreement with Carson Productions to filibuster the show'due south start time by five minutes first September 2, allowing its stations to include more commercials during their local newscasts. (The timeshift would also impact Belatedly Night, Later with Bob Costas, and station-programmed overnight syndicated shows.) NBC executives had been proposing the v-minute delay idea to Carson since 1988, merely to be repeatedly rebuffed, amid concerns that some of its affiliates—particularly those that had unsuccessfully sought permission to delay the Tonight Show by a half-hour—would begin preempting the program entirely and supercede it with syndicated reruns to generate actress revenue from local advertising.^[21]

In an onscreen eulogy to Carson in 2005, David Letterman said that every talk bear witness host owes his livelihood to Johnny Carson during his Tonight Show run.^[22]

1979–1980 contract boxing [edit]

In 1979, when Fred Silverman was the head of NBC, Carson took the network to court, claiming that he had been a free-amanuensis since April of that year considering his well-nigh recent contract had been signed in 1972. Carson cited a California law disallowment certain contracts from lasting more than 7 years. NBC claimed that information technology had signed 3 agreements since then and Carson was leap to the network until April 1981.^[23] While the case was settled out of court,^[24] the friction between Carson and the network remained and Carson was actively courted by rival network ABC, which was willing to double Carson's salary and offering him a lighter work schedule and ownership of the show. NBC, in plow, was gear up to offer The Tonight Show to Carson's most frequent guest host at the time, Richard Dawson.^[25]

Eventually, Carson reached an understanding that paid $25 million a yr while reducing his workload from 90 to 60 minutes, with new shows airing only three nights a calendar week 37 weeks a twelvemonth (a guest host would appear Monday nights and for most of Carson's xv weeks of vacation and "Best of Carson" reruns would air Tuesdays) and also give him ownership of the show, as well as its dorsum catalog, and of the time slot following the Tonight Show which became Tardily Night with David Letterman produced by Carson Productions.^{[26] [27]} In September 1980, Carson'due south eponymous production visitor gained buying of the show^{[28] [29]} after owning it from 1969 to the early 1970s.^[7]

Archives [edit]

Some memorable moments. Top left: Carson'due south offset show with Groucho, 1962. Pinnacle correct: Carson practices pitching at Yankee Stadium, 1962. Bottom left: Tiny Tim's wedding, 1969. Bottom correct: Carson does a skydiving demonstration, 1968.

Only 33 consummate episodes of Johnny Carson's This evening Show that had originally aired prior to May 1, 1972 are known to exist.^[thirty] All other shows during this period, including Carson's debut every bit host, are now considered lost because of wiping.^[7] Following the standard process for most television receiver production companies of that era, NBC reused The Tonight Show videotapes for recording other programs. Carson himself encouraged the erasure of his archives, once humorously quipping that NBC should "brand guitar picks" out of them, and did not believe they were of any value.^[31] It was rumored that many other episodes were lost in a fire, but NBC has denied this.^{[ citation needed ]}

Other surviving material from the era has been found on kinescopes held in the athenaeum of the Military machine Radio and Television Service, or in the personal collections of guests of the program, while a few moments such as Tiny Tim'due south wedding, were preserved. New York meteorologist Dr. Frank Field, an occasional guest during the years he was atmospheric condition forecaster for WNBC-Television, 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.^{[ commendation needed ]} In that location are as well two appearances by Judy Garland in 1968 that still survive. John Lennon and Paul McCartney's joint appearance on the May 14, 1968 episode guest-hosted by Joe Garagiola, with a guest appearance past Tallulah Bankhead (ane of her last), was preserved on poor-quality home kinescope and audiotape in separate recordings by Beatles fans.^{[32] [33]} Similarly, the Supremes' May 22, 1967 appearance survives on poor-quality kinescope and an audio recording of their April 5, 1968 appearance honoring the recently slain Martin Luther King Jr. was preserved.

The plan archive is virtually consummate from 1973 to 1992.^[34] Carson Productions has also made clips available on YouTube and Antenna TV.^[35]

Although no footage is known to remain of Carson's first broadcast equally host of The Tonight Bear witness on October 1, 1962, photographs taken that night survive, including Carson being introduced by Groucho Marx, as does an audio recording of Marx'due south introduction and Carson's first monologue^{[ citation needed ]}. One of his commencement jokes upon starting the bear witness (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 nana!" (This recording was played at the start of Carson's concluding broadcast on May 22, 1992.)^{[ citation needed ]} The oldest surviving video recording of the bear witness is dated November 1962, while the oldest surviving color recording is from April 1964, when Carson interviewed Jake Ehrlich, Sr., as his guest.^[36]

The 30-minute audio recordings of many of the "missing" episodes are independent in the Library of Congress in the Armed Forces Radio collection. Many 1970s-era episodes have been licensed to distributors that annunciate mail-order offers on late-night TV.^{[ citation needed ]} The later shows that be in total were stored by Carson in a flop-proof underground salt mine outside Hutchinson, Kansas.^[37]

The non-tape archives pertaining to Carson's show are held by the Elkhorn Valley Museum in Carson's hometown of Norfolk, Nebraska. Beginning in 2020, the museum began working with the National Comedy Center to preserve the archive.^[38]

Rebroadcasts and Streaming Availability [edit]

A big amount of material from Carson'south kickoff two decades of The Tonight Show (1962–1982), much of information technology not seen since it had get-go aired, appeared in a one-half hr "clip/compilation" syndicated program known as Carson's Comedy Classics that aired in 1983. Audio clips from the show were featured nightly on WHO-AM in Des Moines, Iowa in the mid-2000s. In 2014, Turner Classic Movies would begin rerunning select interviews from the plan for a new serial called "Carson on TCM" presented by Conan O'Brien, who himself hosted The Tonight Prove briefly.^[39]

The digital multicast network Antenna TV acquired rerun rights to whole episodes of the series in August 2015. Unlike the previous prune shows, Antenna Television set'southward airings characteristic full broadcasts as they were originally seen, with the only edits existence removal of The Tonight Show proper noun, with the show being renamed merely as Johnny Carson (as of January 2018, the broadcasts air contrary the current edition of The This night Bear witness in much of the United States, and NBC withal owns the trademark on that name), and with bumpers, walk-on music and the closing theme being replaced by generic music cues from the Warner/Chappell Production Music library. Nearly musical invitee segments are besides removed. Antenna TV began airing the show seven days a week showtime January 1, 2016. Currently, sixty-infinitesimal episodes (from September 1980-May 1992) air Monday through Fri nights, and ninety-infinitesimal episodes (from 1972-September 12, 1980) Sat and Sun nights.^[40]

Selected episodes of Carson'due south show are bachelor on the streaming service Peacock. Shout! Factory launched a 24/7 streaming channel devoted to the serial in August 2020, which is distributed through free over-the-top platforms including Stirr, Xumo and Pluto TV.

Guest hosts [edit]

Jack Paar had often asked Carson to invitee-host Tonight in its earliest years and repeatedly claimed he had been responsible for NBC'south choice of Carson in 1962 as his replacement. Steve Allen also utilized guest hosts, including Carson and Ernie Kovacs, particularly after he began hosting The Steve Allen Prove in prime time in 1956 and needed to reduce his workload on Tonight.^{[ commendation needed ]}

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson had guest hosts for entire weeks during Carson'south vacations and other nights he had off. Many guest hosts were already large names in their ain correct, among them Frank Sinatra, Burt Reynolds and Don Rickles. Comedian Woody Allen guest hosted 3 times between 1966 and 1971. The following is a listing of those who guest-hosted at least fifty times during the first 21 years of the prove'due south run:

• Joey Bishop (177 times,^[41] more often than not in the 1960s)
• Joan Rivers (93,^[41] during the 1970s and 1980s^[42])
• John Davidson (87)^[41]
• Bob Newhart (87)^[41]
• David Brenner (70)^[41]
• McLean Stevenson (58)^[41]
• Jerry Lewis (52,^[41] mostly in the 1960s)
• David Letterman (51, mostly betwixt 1980 and 1981)^[41]

Sammy Davis Jr. guest hosted in Apr 1965, condign the first African-American to host a talk bear witness.^[43] Harry Belafonte guest hosted for a week in February 1968, and among Belafonte's guests were Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., just months before both men were assassinated (Rex in April, Kennedy in June).^[44] On Apr two, 1979, Kermit the Frog was guest host.^[45] In improver, many other Muppets appeared for skits and regular segments: Frank Oz voiced Fozzie Bear and Animate being, while Jerry Nelson performed Uncle Deadly, a Vincent Toll-inspired Muppet during a segment with the real Toll. Richard Dawson invitee hosted xiv times during 1979 and 1980, and was being considered as a full-fourth dimension replacement should Carson have retired during his 1980 contract dispute with NBC.^[25]

Carson's contract, that took effect in 1981, reduced his piece of work schedule to three nights a week, 37 weeks a year. "All-time of Carson" reruns aired on Tuesdays in the weeks that Carson was hosting new shows. Monday nighttime shows and shows for most of the fifteen weeks that Carson had off were hosted by invitee hosts. Due to the frequent need for substitutes, starting in 1983 permanent guest hosts were hired in gild to give the programme more stability. The permanent guest hosts were Joan Rivers (1983–1986),^[41] and then, after most a twelvemonth where a wide range of guest hosts were used, Garry Shandling alternate with Jay Leno (1987–1988) and finally Leno alone (1988–1992) afterwards Shandling left to focus on his Start series It's Garry Shandling's Show.^[41] Leno, who start invitee hosted in 1986, would exercise and so 333 times before becoming the next Tonight Show host in 1992. Though the concept of using "permanent" guest hosts was fairly strictly adhered to, occasionally illness or some other situation necessitated a substitute invitee host, as when David Brenner filled in for Joan Rivers on October 31 and November ane, 1985, when Rivers's husband was briefly hospitalized.

During the evidence's run, its bandage and crew collaborated with a number of NBC sitcoms to produce spoof episodes of the This night Prove. These spoofs typically ran in the sitcom'due south usual spot on the broadcast schedule and featured one of the sitcom'south main characters every bit the guest host.

Joan Rivers [edit]

In September 1983, Joan Rivers was designated Carson's permanent guest host, a part she had been substantially filling for the previous year. In 1986, afterwards years as a guest and 190 total appearances as invitee host, she left the plan for her own evidence on the and then-new Fob Network. According to Carson, Rivers never personally informed him of the being of her bear witness. Rivers, on the other paw, disagreed.^[46] Nevertheless, Rivers' new bear witness was speedily canceled, and she never again appeared on The Tonight Show with Carson. Nor did she appear on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, a ban maintained by Leno out of respect for Carson.^[47] She also never appeared during Conan O'Brien's seven-month run. After Carson's death in 2005, Rivers told CNN that Carson never forgave her for leaving, and never spoke to her again, fifty-fifty after she wrote him a note post-obit the adventitious decease of Carson's son Ricky in June 1991.^[42] On February 17, 2014, Rivers returned to the Tonight Bear witness as part of a skit in which numerous celebrities paid new host, Jimmy Fallon, afterward having lost the bet that he would never become the host of the program. Rivers appeared for a full-length interview segment on March 27, 2014.

The plan of July 26, 1984, with invitee host Joan Rivers, was the kickoff MTS stereo broadcast in U.S. telly history,^[49] though not the first goggle box broadcast with stereophonic sound. Simply NBC's flagship local station in New York Metropolis, WNBC, had stereo broadcast adequacy at that time.^[50] NBC transmitted The This night Show in stereo sporadically through 1984 and on a regular basis beginning in 1985.^{[ citation needed ]}

Consequential appearances [edit]

According to Skeptical activist James Randi, Carson invited Uri Geller, who claimed paranormal powers, onto the This night Show specifically to disprove the Israeli performer'southward claims. Randi later wrote, "that Johnny had been a magician himself", so prior to the appointment of taping, Randi was asked "to assistance prevent whatsoever trickery." Per Randi's communication, the show prepared their own props without informing Geller, and did not let Geller or his staff "anywhere near them." When Geller joined Carson on stage, he appeared surprised that he was non going to exist interviewed, but instead was expected to brandish his abilities using the provided articles. Geller said "This scares me." and "I'm surprised because before this programme your producer came and he read me at least forty questions you were going to enquire me." Geller was unable to display any paranormal abilities, saying "I don't feel strong" and he expressed his displeasure at feeling like he was being "pressed" to perform by Carson.^{[51] [52] : viii:10} According to Adam Higginbotham'south Nov. vii, 2022 article in the New York Times:

The result was a legendary immolation, in which Geller offered up flustered excuses to his host every bit his abilities failed him again and again. "I sat in that location for 22 minutes, humiliated," Geller told me, when I spoke to him in September. "I went back to my hotel, devastated. I was nigh to pack up the side by side mean solar day and go dorsum to Tel Aviv. I thought, That's it — I'g destroyed."^[53]

However, this appearance on The Tonight Show, which Carson and Randi had orchestrated to deflate Geller's claimed abilities, backfired. According to Higginbotham,

To Geller's astonishment, he was immediately booked on The Merv Griffin Show. He was on his way to condign a paranormal superstar. "That Johnny Carson testify made Uri Geller," Geller said. To an enthusiastically trusting public, his failure only fabricated his gifts seem more real: If he were performing magic tricks, they would surely work every time.^[53]

Carson'southward last shows [edit]

Equally his retirement approached, Carson tried to avoid sentimentality but would periodically show clips of some of his favorite moments and again invited some of his favorite guests. He told his crew, "Everything comes to an end; zippo lasts forever. Thirty years is enough. It's time to become out while you're still working on elevation of your game, while you're nevertheless working well."^[54]

Carson hosted his penultimate show, featuring guests Robin Williams and Bette Midler, on May 21, 1992.^[55] The last of Carson's monologues was delivered on this episode and was written by Jim Mulholland, Steven Kunes and Rift Fournier. Once underway, the atmosphere was electrical and Carson was greeted with a sustained, two-minute intense standing ovation.^[56] Williams was especially uninhibited with his trademark manic energy and stream-of-consciousness lunacy.^{[54] [57]} Midler was more emotional.^[57] When the conversation turned to Johnny's favorite songs, "I'll Exist Seeing You" and "Here's That Rainy Day," Midler mentioned that she knew a chorus of the latter. She began singing the song, and afterward the starting time line, Carson joined in and turned it into an impromptu duet. Midler finished her appearance from eye stage, where she slowly sang the pop standard "One for My Infant (and I More for the Road)." Carson became unexpectedly tearful, and a shot of the two of them was captured past a camera angle from across the prepare that had never before been used on the evidence.^[58] The audience became tearful besides and called the three performers out for a 2d bow after the taping was completed.^[56] This show was immediately recognized equally a boob tube classic that Midler considered one of the most emotional moments of her life and somewhen won an Emmy for her role in it.^{[57] [58] [59]}

Carson had no guests on his final episode of The Tonight Bear witness on May 22, 1992, which was instead a retrospective bear witness taped before an invitation-only studio audition of family, friends, and crew.^{[54] [55]} More than 50 meg people tuned in for this finale, which ended with Carson sitting on a stool lonely at heart stage, like to Jack Paar's last show. He said these final words in decision:

And so it has come to this: I, uh... am ane of the lucky people in the globe; I institute something I always wanted to do and I accept enjoyed every single minute of information technology. I want to thank the gentlemen who've shared this stage with me for 30 years. Mr. Ed McMahon, Mr. Doc Severinsen, and you lot people watching. I tin can just tell you that it has been an award and a privilege to come up into your homes all these years and entertain you. And I hope when I find something that I desire to do and I recollect yous would similar and come dorsum, that you'll be as gracious in inviting me into your home as you have been. I bid you a very heartfelt expert dark.

A few weeks later on the final bear witness aired, information technology was announced that NBC and Carson had struck a deal to develop a new serial. Ultimately, however, Carson chose non to return to television. He gave only ii major interviews later on his retirement: one to The Washington Postal service 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 rarely appeared elsewhere after retiring, providing but a invitee voice on an episode of The Simpsons, which included him performing feats of strength and featured Bette Midler likewise, and a cameo on the May thirteen, 1994, Late Show with David Letterman where he delivered a Meridian 10 List and sat in Dave'southward chair for a minute.

In 2005, after Carson's expiry, it was revealed that he had made a habit of sending jokes to Dave Letterman via fax automobile which Letterman would and so sometimes incorporate into his monologues. The Jan 31, 2005, episode of the Belatedly Show with David Letterman, which featured a tribute to Carson, began with a monologue by Letterman equanimous entirely of jokes written by Carson himself after his retirement.^{[sixty] [61]}

In 2011, the last Carson This night testify was ranked No. x on the TV Guide Network special, Television'due south Most Unforgettable Finales.^[62]

See also [edit]

• There'southward... Johnny!

References [edit]

1. ^ Neb Zehme (June 2002). "The Human Who Retired". Esquire . Retrieved 2010-06-09 .
2. ^ Carson brought the bear witness dorsum to Manhattan in November 1972 and again in May 1973.
3. ^ "Tv set Guide Names Top l Shows". Cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2011-10-26 .
4. ^ "TV Guide Magazine's 60 Best Series of All Time". 23 December 2013.
5. ^ Drury, Jack (February xvi, 2008). Fort Lauderdale: Playground of the Stars. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN9780738553511 – via Google Books.
6. ^ "American National Biography Online".
7. ^ ^{a b c d due east f yard h} Tynan, Kenneth (Feb xx, 1978). "15 Years of the Salto Mortale". The New Yorker . Retrieved 2011-03-sixteen .
8. ^ Carter, Pecker (March 20, 2013). "'Tonight' Testify Expected to Return to New York, With Fallon". The New York Times . Retrieved March 20, 2013.
9. ^ Simon, Jeff (2013-07-08). "The return of Johnny Carson on TCM". The Buffalo News. Archived from the original on 2013-09-27.
10. ^ "Carlfred B. Broderick, Noted Sociologist, Dies at 67", USC News, September half dozen, 1999. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
11. ^ Episode 145 – Gallagher, WTF with Marc Maron, wtfpod.com
12. ^ "'Here's Johnny' is tiptop Boob tube quote". December seven, 2006 – via news.bbc.co.u.k..
13. ^ McMahon, Ed (1998). For Laughing Out Loud: My Life and Proficient Times. p. 154. ISBN0-446-52370-4.
14. ^ "Bio". Doc Severinsen . Retrieved January 17, 2022.
15. ^ Myers, Marc (Jan 7, 2014). "Tonight Show Theme: Evolution". JazzWax. Archived from the original on November 4, 2014. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
16. ^ "CNN Transcripts: Larry King Live". CNN. 2006-02-22. Retrieved 2013-10-02 .
17. ^ ^{a b} Fred Allen's Mighty Allen Art Players
18. ^ Harris, Jay Due south., ed. (1978). Idiot box Guide: The First 25 Years. New York: New American Library. p. 65. ISBN0-452-25225-3.
19. ^ Uncle John'southward Giant 10th Anniversary Bathroom Reader. Portable Press. 1997. ISBN978-1879682689.
20. ^ Colina, Doug; Weingrad, Jeff (2014). Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Dark Live. San Francisco: Untreed Reads, LLC. p. 7. ISBN978-one-61187-709-0.
21. ^ ^{a b} Carter, Bill (May 22, 1991). "NBC Moves Johnny Carson Outset past 5 Minutes". The New York Times.
22. ^ "Letterman delivers Carson-penned monologue". CBC.ca. February 1, 2005. Archived from the original on February 1, 2008. {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL condition unknown (link)
23. ^ "Goggle box: Family Feud". Time magazine. 1979-09-24. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-07 .
24. ^ "Law: Hire-a-Judge". Time magazine. 1981-04-twenty. Archived from the original on November thirty, 2006. Retrieved 2007-08-07 .
25. ^ ^{a b} the CNN Wire Staff. "Former 'Family Feud' host Richard Dawson dies - CNN". CNN . Retrieved 2018-11-15 .
26. ^ Bushkin, Henry; Lewis, Andy (October 9, 2013). "How Johnny Carson Nearly Quit 'Tonight' and Scored Television's Richest Deal Ever". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved September 4, 2014.
27. ^ "People". Time Magazine. 1980-05-nineteen. Archived from the original on October 29, 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-07 .
28. ^ Carter, Pecker (1994). The Late Shift: Letterman, Leno, and the Network Boxing for the Dark . New York, NY: Hyperion. p. 27. ISBN0-7868-8907-one.
29. ^ "Johnny Carson Calls This Man 'Flatulent' All the Style to Banking company." The Wall Street Journal, June eight, 1980, p. xiv.
30. ^ "Digital Download – Volume i".
31. ^ Male monarch, Susan (July 6, 2013). "'Carson on TCM' shows why Johnny was the king". The Washington Post . Retrieved July 9, 2013.
32. ^ "Pdxretro.com". Archived from the original on May 17, 2014. Retrieved May xv, 2014.
33. ^ "John Lennon & Paul McCartney Interview: The Tonight Show, May 14th 1968 – Beatles Interviews Database". beatlesinterviews.org. Archived from the original on October vii, 2011. Retrieved August eleven, 2016.
34. ^ Johnny Carson: The Official Tonight Bear witness Website, Clip Licensing.
35. ^ "Johnny Carson". YouTube.
36. ^ Watch Jake Ehrlich Sr. on The This evening Bear witness with Johnny Carson on Google Video.
37. ^ Stuever, Hank (May 13, 2012). "A Heartfelt Doc Deconstructs The King of Belatedly Night". Washington Post.
38. ^ National One-act Center to lead preservation of Johnny Carson archives; open new multi-media exhibit in 2022. WGRZ. October 23, 2020. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
39. ^ Werts, Diane (June 28, 2013). "'Carson on TCM' review: Heeere'southward Johnny". Newsday. Melville, New York. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
40. ^ Littleton, Cynthia (August 12, 2015). "Johnny Carson Returns: Antenna TV to Air Full 'This evening Show' Episodes." Multifariousness. Retrieved Baronial 21, 2015.
41. ^ ^{a b c d eastward f g h i j} "History of The Tonight Testify". JohnnyCarson.com. Retrieved January 22, 2010.
42. ^ ^{a b} "Johnny Carson, 79, Dies". Alive Event/Special rush transcript. CNN. January 23, 2005. Retrieved 2009-05-12 . [D]uring our 17 years together, which were wonderful years, and he was the one that discovered me and he was the 1 that said, "You're going to be a star" the first night I worked. He was an amazing human being and an amazing mentor. And then when I left the evidence to practice my own show on Fox, he never forgave me, and that made me terribly sad. We never spoke once again.
43. ^ "Sammy Davis, Jr. TV Guest Appearances". Retrieved 2017-11-19 .
44. ^ Harry Belafonte; Michael Shnayerson (2011). My Song: A Memoir . Alfred A. Knopf. p. 322. ISBN978-0-307-27226-three.
45. ^ Barry Gordemer (Producer) (2005-05-09). Happy 50th Birthday, Kermit! (audio recording). National Public Radio. Event occurs at i:20–1:25. Retrieved 2009-04-24 . ...Kermit hosted The Tonight Show.
46. ^ "Joan Rivers on Johnny Carson's reaction to the beginning of her late show on Fox". Youtube.com. Archived from the original on 2021-eleven-07. Retrieved 2012-02-22 .
47. ^ Hinckley, David (August vi, 2009). "Ii more football seasons for 'Friday Night Lights,' and other news from the Boob tube Critics Press Tour". Daily News . Retrieved 2009-08-07 . We didn't feel it was correct to invite her while Johnny was alive," said Leno. "Information technology was a respect thing for Johnny.
48. ^ Lyons, James. Miami Vice. Wiley Publishing, 2010, p. 22
49. ^ Peter W. Kaplan, "TV Notes", New York Times, July 28, 1984, sec. i, p. 46.
50. ^ "Unforgettable Uri Geller Advent on Carson This night Show - 08/01/1973". Youtube.com. Official Johnny Carson YouTube channel. nineteen March 2021. Archived from the original on 22 March 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
51. ^ "James Randi - Secrets of the Psychics Documentary (Full)". Youtube.com. JREF. Archived from the original on 2013-08-16. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
52. ^ ^{a b} Higginbotham, Adam. "The Unbelievable Skepticism of the Amazing Randi". The New York Times . Retrieved 25 August 2017.
53. ^ ^{a b c} Bernard Weinraub (May 23, 1992). "Fade Out for Johnny Carson, His Dignity and Privacy Intact". The New York Times.
54. ^ ^{a b} "The This night Show Starring Johnny Carson Season thirty Episode Guide". Goggle box.com. Retrieved 2011-10-26 .
55. ^ ^{a b} Deborah Seibel (May 22, 1992). "Fans Put Johnny On The Spot". Chicago Tribune.
56. ^ ^{a b c} Matt Roush (January xxx, 2005). "Life After Johnny". Dissemination & Cable.
57. ^ ^{a b} Marc Shaiman (January 24, 2005). "Someone in a Tree: My view of Johnny Carson's final night". The Motion-picture show Music Society.
58. ^ "Carson: He left 'Tonight Show' with popularity still running high". The Annals-Guard. Eugene, Oregon. Jan 24, 2005. p. A1.
59. ^ Hancock, David (January 18, 2005). "Carson Feeds Jokes To Letterman". CBS News. Associated Printing.
60. ^ redOrbit (one Feb 2005). "Letterman Pays Special Tribute to Carson – Redorbit".
61. ^ TV's Most Unforgettable Finales – Aired May 22, 2011 on TV Guide Network

External links [edit]

• Official website
• The Tonight Testify Starring Johnny Carson at IMDb
• The This evening Show Starring Johnny Carson at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television

poolemothe1945.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tonight_Show_Starring_Johnny_Carson

Share this post