Your favorite JOHNNY CARSON memory?

Just thinking of Johnny last night...........
Sometime around Christmas or new Years he did Carnac. Looked at the envelope and said "Mount Baldy." Blew it open and 'read' "What did Yul Brynner's wife do on his wedding night?"

I still remember that one.

Please share your other funny Johnny stories!!

 

Oh man just to many to list. The ZA ZA kitty story or the hatchet with Ed Ames or Dean Martin and George Gobel. JC is and will always be the best, aka like his here Jack Benny he had "that look" that would just roll me everytime and still does when i watch his old shows. RIP

 

Johnny Carson's last TV appearance - on David Letterman's show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvaUa559gMw

 

The "ZA ZA kitty story" is an urban legend.


http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/zsazsa.asp

 

Way too many to list right now.

He was the perfect straight man for comedians like Bob Hope, Rodney Dangerfield, Don Rickles. I loved when people came on obviously intoxicated and he'd have fun with them, but never make them look ridiculous.

One of his best bits, to me, was Art Fern.

 

Yeah, I heard it as the "Raquel Welch" story.

 

I don't know if I have a specific favorite bit; he had so many, but I loved in the '80s when there was that syndicated repackaging of his comedy bits called "Carson's Comedy Classics". Some very good stuff on there.

 

I'd have to think about a favorite overall moment, but I do recall my favorite Carnac riposte to Ed McMahon: "May a crazed pole vaulter leap beneath your sister's hooped skirt!"

 

Some of the names he (or his writers) gave to his old girlfriends were hysterical ... for example, "Emily Cockinlocker."

 

Maybe it was just Jane Fonda asking about it. Been a loooong time. I should get the DVD Collection.

 

YOU'RE WORTH EVERY PENNY, PINHEAD! GOOD NIGHT SUCKERS!!!!!

I don't know which is better in that clip, Carson or Larry/Calvert!

 

Being allowed to stay up late to see Buddy Rich.

 

And JC was a pretty good drummer. Doc and the band was hot.

 

Two words: "Rhinestone Cowboy"

 

And then, there's John Twomey ....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f26qMlN742w

 

There's also an Ed Shaunessy/Buddy Rich drum battle from the Carson show on YouTube as well.

Johnny was the best. Only Letterman comes anywhere near him, and that's not even very close.

Evan

 

It's not a funny one, but....

The poem "Beau" by Jimmy Stewart on "The Tonight Show"

 

That was a great one.

Here is my favorite Johnny Carson skit - with Jack Webb.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4RIBhQIkII

 

I remember one night when Orson Welles was a guest and Johnny asked him to perform part of the Hamlet soliloquy, which he did. Welles then encouraged Johnny to take a shot at delivering the same lines seriously. Johnny couldn't do it without cracking up.

 

I remember when Ed Ames came to Carson's Show-he was giving a demo on Tomahawk Throwing... Carson threw one..... it hit the target in a VERY SENSITIVE AREA!!! Well,the crowd laughed for at least 5 Minutes..the longest-recorded laugh ever recorded! (I think it was 1966,when Ames' Show "Daniel Boone" was on) Michael Boyce

 

Thanks for that link. What a heartwarming sight to see the reception Johnny got on his last TV appearance. Browsing around YouTube after watching that clip, I found this one, which sort of sums up what made Johnny so great:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH72S9fRa84&feature=related

He loved to flirt with the female guests, and no one ever milked the double-take or the raised eyebrow for more laughs than he did. Sometimes he didn't have to say anything to be funny.

 

The episode where Bob Hope was on first, then Robin Williams came on and sat next to him (Maybe it was reversed)
Either way, it was 2 different generations of comedy and Robin kept upstaging Bob Hope. But Robin was on fire.
Bob Hope had that look.

 

So so many. Back when Chrysler was in financial trouble(70's/80's), Johnny did a sketch(I believe it was "Lee Iacocca-cola"), and as he was extolling the virtues of the company and trying to restore faith in buying a Chrysler, stagehands came up and measuredly began removing everything: pictures, lamps, tables, the phone. I believe only Carson was left, or someone picked him up, too. It was awesome. Haven't seen it in decades.



Dan

 

I cannot swear this actually occurred, because I did not SEE it happen, but I do remember the day AFTER it supposedly occurred very well. It was in 1968, the woman WAS Zsa Zsa Gabor, she DID appear on Carson the night in question, because I checked it at the time, and EVERYONE was talking about it the next day. Carson said nothing about a "damn cat" - his reply as reported at the time by numerous people was "Sure - if you'll move the cat."

It may not have actually occurred, but if it DIDN'T, this legend began as a mass hallucination - too many people claimed to have seen this happen at exactly the same time for everyone to have just "heard about it" somewhere. It was a big deal at the time.