arc23 wrote:

Did any Canadian stations carry the show?

Barrie's CKVR was one...

...and RA is right, no one did it better than Johnny. His successor, Jay Leno, was okay, but I absolutely do not like Jimmy Fallon at all. He's not funny, NBC over-promotes his show, and he constantly upstages his guests.

Although most of Carson's run on The Tonight Show was before my time, I'll still watch some of his clips, with my all-time favourite moment being Carnac's "sis-boom-bah" joke from 1981... and Ed laughing hysterically at that one.


 

Last edited by Forward Power (May 22, 2024 5:13 pm)

You just can't duplicate what Johnny did, or for that matter his rival late night hosts, Merv Griffin, Joey Bishop, Dick Cavett.
This was an era where many Americans and Canadians would stay up late for 90 minutes!
The shows were heavily talk oriented, not just promos for shallow music stars and actors.
Would the likes of Jimmy Fallon or even Jimmy Kimmel have guests like William F Buckely, or the head of the AFL CIO union?
Carson would have his share of celebrity guests, but also intellectuals, writers and even rather extraordinary regular people.
Watching Johnny was not just idle interest in frivolous no-accounts, it was a ritual.
 

Johnny's monologues were the best. He always had an insightful and humorous take on the day's events. Someone once remarked that you didn't know whether Johnny was a Democrat or Republican because he skewered everybody equally.

Also, whenever a joke bombed, he'd often do a little tap dance while the orchestra played "Tea for Two". (I remember one time he even incorporated a little bit of a "moonwalk" into his routine!)

Lots of great memories, although a couple of my favourites were Michael Landon's final appearance on the show, a little less than two months before he passed. The other one was David Letterman's appearance on the show a little less than a year before Johnny retired (particularly @ 3:19 in the video!)

We miss you, Johnny.







PJ
 

The apocryphal Tonight Show incident with Zsa Zsa Gabor and her cat is a wellspring for one of the greatest "manufactured memories" in modern popular culture. No matter how many millions of people swear they were watching the Tonight Show when the exchange below involving Zsa Zsa's cat and Johnny's supposedly quick (and dirty) comeback took place, it simply didn't happen:The story went that Gabor appeared in the show with a cat on her lap and asked Johnny if he would like to pet her pussy.
He supposedly replied, "I would if you'd get that cat off your lap."
Of course anybody who knew anything about the Tonight Show would know it was taped at 3pm in the afternoon, so it was impossible that the cat remark would ever have been allowed on the nighttime telecast.


 

Marsden wrote:

Mr. Carson's two Head Writers for the last decade or so were from Toronto....and yes they had a band in the 80's in Toronto when they were just kids. 

I don't have permission to give their names. Both are wonderful folks and one has returned to Toronto with family.

 

Did a Google search and came across this article that may name the talented duo.

I really got a kick out of reading the memories and I'm looking forward to seeing the clips everyone posted.

https://www.durhamregion.com/news/oshawa-walk-of-fame-is-back-6-inductees-for-2023-include-johnny-carsons-head-writers/article_3089749a-660c-5093-a40e-5d850aa5d965.html

Last edited by betaylored (May 22, 2024 11:59 pm)

Think of how different TV history would have been had Carl Reiner agreed to cast Johnny Carson as Rob Petrie in what eventually came to be called The Dick van Dyke Show. The Tonight Show host was originally considered for the role. Two classic TV shows that are still beloved today would have never been seen had that happened. 

When I visited L.A. in 1986, I was able to obtain standby tickets to see the Tonight Show at NBC Burbank. It taped from 4:30-5:30. Studio could hold 500 people all in very plush comfortable theatre seats. There is a small wall separating the front row from the stage. This is where Johnny's opening monologue written on large pieces of bristol board is propped up. On television, the set looks massive but in fact it is quite small. To give the illusion of largeness there are three cameras used. one for the band, one for the stage and one for Carson's desk and guest couch. Oh and during the commercial breaks, viewers at home don't miss anything. The studio lights go down and the audience gets to watch the Doc Severinsen Orchestra perform. And perform they do. I was quite impressed.

It wasn't on the Tonight Show, but there's also an apparently apocryphal story about the great Groucho Marx (a guest on Johnny Carson's very first Tonight Show, which only exists as audio.)

Groucho was hosting his game show "You Bet Your Life," when a woman came on and told him she had something like 10 children. Groucho asked her why she had so many kids. And her reply was "I love my husband!"

Groucho's alleged reply couldn't possibly have gotten on the air in the 50s and would have been cut from the film in any case. But he's supposed to have said, "I like my cigar, too. But I take it out of my mouth once in a while!"

He always insisted it never happened. But you can almost hear him saying it.