The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson- An Appreciation Thread

A bit different from other people, but to me growing up in the 1960s, Carson was a vaguely known person. He was on at 1130pm when everyone was asleep, there were no v/dvr, he was rarely quoted in papers and my parents little interest in that sort of thing. Occasionally he was mentioned at school such as Tiny Tim marrying Miss Vicky on the Tonight Show. I really didn't know he was until college. And I had a dorky roommate who had a cassette recorder/tv and would record Carson monologues and Joan Embrey (San Diego zoo) visits.

He had talent at what he did, but he was held too many grudges (Joan Rivers) to admire. And watching talk shows doesn't interest me.

 

Most if not all people that have any power hold grudges, move so in show business. I think 99.9% of the people in the business loved him.

 

The NBC Letterman was hilarious, especially when I used to watch his early morning show. Did your co-worker tell you about how ridiculous they are at a Letterman taping these days? They must have told us 5 times before we even made it into the studio, to be sure to laugh at EVERY joke, no matter if you think that it's the stupidest thing you've ever heard and then as soon as we sat down, they show a film of Alec Baldwin saying the same damn thing.

Now that I've told you that, watch any of his new shows on CBS and prove me wrong, that the crowd laughs and applauds each and every stupid thing that comes out of his mouth. That experience for my friends and I last year in New York, made me realize that Letterman was over!

 

Obviously my favorite Carson moment..Johnny and The Cos must be thinking WTF

 

This is one of my favorite clips of all time!

 

I was a kid when Jack Paar announced his retirement, and Johnny Carson was one of many people who auditioned to replace him. My parents let me stay up late watching TV during summer vacations, and I was not a Carson fan. I preferred The Steve Allen Show, which was wilder and much funnier. Carson was so straight-laced when he wasn't "on"--too Midwestern for a Midwestern kid like me. Steve Allen, though, was interesting all the time, unpredictable, and did the craziest stunts and skits. He was as hip as Carson was square. He also had much more interesting guests than the showbiz types who did Carson.

There never would have been a David Letterman (I'm talking prime Letterman, the NBC show) without Steve Allen.

 

To me personally, not much but I respect his talents greatly. I loved his delivery of the monologues (watch him fiddle with his cuff links so your eye darts to his sleeve as he sneaks a peek at the cards - but don't look at the cuff links - watch his eyes!) He was a master.

I too loved Karnak (sp?), but to be honest, when I was growing up "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" starred Jay Leno more than half the time. So I was hooked on Headlines before he eve retired.

I've heard funny stories about him - a very funny guy. Also heard not-so-great stories about his personal life, but I've never been invested enough in Carson to read further. Bing Crosby-type stories.

But he was the best interviewer I think of anyone - Letterman, Leno - any comic. He brought the best out of his guests and let them be funny first and foremost. That took a lot of confidence, talent, and class.

I loved the Dean Martin Roast of Johnny Carson and of course, IMO, Groucho gave the best speech.

Jeff

 

Been a Letterman fan since day one but stopped watching him a long time ago. When I occassionally watch him for few minutes it seems like its the same show I saw 5 years ago. Same old thing but not as good. I'm kind of surprised people haven't tired of him.

 

Yup, I hate it when the audience laughs and applauds and every little thing. It just gets really old. He really needs to retire...they are clearly long out of fresh ideas. He sure had a great run, and I agree the NBC stuff was brilliant. But he has, in stark contrast to Carson, long overstayed his welcome. Carson was still very compelling up to the day his last show aired.

 

Joan Rivers herself said she was wrong in "American Masters". She later claimed she was portrayed negatively in the special but her statement was quite clear.

 

Letterman has changed through the years but I think it a bit unfair to say he no longer serves a role. The shows on NBC were must see for the monologue and sketches before the first guest came out. The shows now on CBS are mostly unwatchable until the first guest. But, if the guest is a friend or fellow comedian he knows how to feed off that energy. And if the guest is a politician or intellectual he can do his homework beforehand and have a highly intelligent conversation.

 

I've mentioned it before in some other older thread but I read an interview with Jonathan Winters a few years ago where he mentioned that he didn't like going on talk shows anymore because the hosts were so busy trying to hog the limelight and be THE funny guy that they didn't leave much room for him.

On the other hand, Johnny would hand Jonathan a box of different hats and let him take it from there.
Nobody laughed harder watching Winters than Johnny, and Johnny wasn't just waiting to throw in his jokes during Jonathan's bits. He just sat back and enjoyed Jonathan like the rest of us.

 

And that is why he is still king of the late night talk show.

 

So what's the verdict? I've heard many different versions of the Zsa Zsa Gabor "pet my *****" story - but did it happen?



Jeff

 

These days the only thing part of the Late Show really worth watching (even though I watch all of it) would be the interviews--especially if the guest is someone that Dave genuinely respects and has a great repoire with. Harrison Ford was on a couple weeks ago and was great. Tina Fey always brings the best out of him. The monologue and comedy bits these days border on "alternative comedy" so it's definitely an acquired taste for many.

 

If you are referring to my post, I'm not implying that Johnny was the first host to give Jonathan Winters free rein. I'm saying that according to Jonathan, Johnny was the LAST host to give him free rein without trying to steal some of the limelight for themselves while Jonathan was performing on their show.

 

Yep....

Just last night I was watching the kinescope of the "lost" 1969 ep. which gave us the Bob Hope/Dean Martin/George Gobel exchange. Carson, while holding is own, is very wise in knowing when to just sit back and laugh and let everything going on around him be the focus of attention.

"Just when exactly did I lose control of this show???" A classic....

As for Letterman.....he was reborn, if not for only a few weeks, during the whole Jay/Conan fiasco. It was incredible TV, IMHO, and I was sad when it all started to die down, because he went straight back to phoning it in every single night.

 

I'm thinking of getting a Johnny Carson DVD as all I have is the old 4 VHS collection.

Which DVD do you all think is best? There seems to be mixed reviews on all of them.

 

Depends on what you're looking for. I assume the VHS collection you have the is the Ultimate Johnny Carson Collection set that has been around for a while. You may consider an upgrade:


http://www.amazon.com/The-Ultimate-...=1384293807&sr=8-1&keywords=johnny+carson+dvd

A much bigger set combines the above collection with a few more other DVDs that were released along the way. These are all clip shows. If you like little excerpts of interviews and comedy bits, this is for you. It's double the amount offered than the collection above. So it contains stuff you haven't seen:


http://www.amazon.com/Heeeres-Johnn...=1384293807&sr=8-2&keywords=johnny+carson+dvd


This one below is so far my favorite. it's the closest they have come to longer, full episodes but many of the music cues and interviews are indeed still edited. But they are much longer than the 5 minute clips they've given us previously on the box sets I listed above. Here we get a fuller monologue and then the guest interviews...each episode runs about 40 minutes or so:

 

Yes. I was leaning towards the last one but I read complaints about edits of banter between Johnny and Ed and technical issues like old clips with audio problems.

However, it certainly is the one I would most want to get.

 

I have all 3 and the last one only was sweeter after having the first two sets first. The first two were great for their time but after a while, you tire of the quick clip shows and you want something a bit more substantial. The final box set there does the job nicely. There are some hangups but the set is a great watch. Again, it all depends on what you're looking for. And to note: I do not recall any audio/video glitches on that set like you described.

 

Well, I'm just going by the reviews on the sites that sell them. I have no knowledge if they are accurate or not.

I have seen the last set in the $40-$60 range so I will probably get that as my Christmas present.