- NBC Studios: New York City (1962–1972) / NBC Studios: Burbank, California (1972–1992)
Johnny Carson was truly the king of late-night television. And it was not that a celebrity could be made or their time on top cut short by an appearance on his show. It was something more than that.
You didn’t tune into Tonight or The Tonight Show. Rather you watched Carson. That’s how big of a deal he was. He was the show and people might get confused if you did not use his last name for the show.
This may seem foreign or implausible in today’s world where a YouTube channel personality with a few thousand followers is famous but at one point you generally needed to make it onto one show to actually demonstrate you were genuinely famous. That was Carson (officially The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson). That was a sign of your significance.
Johnny Carson was a kingmaker when he was on. If you showed up on Carson you had really made it for that moment. If you kept coming on Carson your position was secure. I don’t think such a figure existed before or since in late night television. The Ed Sullivan Show (originally called Toast of the Town) was itself a bit of a kingmaker but was not only on earlier but much more of a variety show and owed much of its structure to vaudeville. Carson on the other hand used the format we still see today. Certainly going on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon or any of the others currently airing does not make or break a person anymore. If you failed to entertain or your interview was boring Carson cut you short and that was it. You were most likely on your way down.
I say that with the one caveat where in an attempt to discredit Uri Geller-which Carson successfully did with his experience as a magician-he only made Uri Geller more famous and secured him his place in stardom. But that’s a whole other thing. There is always an outlier yet it still demonstrated the power and reach of Carson in his time.
The celebrities may have come on to tout their latest project or simply let the world know they were still there, but Carson did what he did in a conversational style like he was hanging out with friends making it more like a friendly visit. And often he would have friends on just to hang out. He was your friend or family member that you invited into your living room at 11:30 at night several times a week. Does anybody feel like that about any other late-night host today?
You knew when Carson was bored. The interview was waaaaaaaaaaaaay shorter than the preceding and/or following one. Your standup set was stopped and you did not make it to the guest chair or whatever. And that meant the clock was probably ticking on your fifteen minutes. Carson did not like you and his opinion held sway.
I think what made Carson so good was that he came off as somebody you would like to meet. Whether or not that was true I don’t know but he seemed normal. There was something genuine about him. It gave a connection to the audience that few hosts can manage. Even though he really wasn’t he felt like your friend or neighbor.
The man was a natural. There was an is an effortlessness with how he performed and interacted. I’m sure he had an ego. But it wasn’t an ego that made the show about him. It was an ego to be the best performer he could be. It was an ego to give the best and to get the best interview he possibly could and find the best entertainment. And he did that.
Though born in Iowa, he often referenced his time in Nebraska. On some level there was still a connection to that farm boy and perhaps that’s why he was able to connect so strong with his audience but also become a king maker. He never lost a way to understand what the everyday person might like. At least to no great extent. I don’t know if anybody else has that kind of mentality today or ever will again.
And his sketches were silly and just fun. Floyd R. Turbo, Art Fern, Aunt Blabby, Carnac the Magnificent among others appeared regularly along with other one-off characters. He went for the laugh and to entertain the audience first and himself second. They may not have all been 100% original but were funny. Everybody was a possible target regardless of political affiliation or fame and that’s one thing I genuinely liked about him. I honestly never had a sense of his politics. If somebody screwed up, they got it.
And he was a skilled professional on stage. He could turn a bomb more often than not into success. The man never got the flop sweats. And if you were fortunate to catch a time when he got the giggles and couldn’t stop laughing you were in for a real treat as you got infected with that laughter too.
Carson was a show featuring amazing talent. Sometimes the talent even impressed Johnny himself. He wasn’t above being starstruck by somebody he had watched and enjoyed such as Gregory Peck. I watched that interview and he didn’t seem quite on his game. I’m not talking in a bad way but in the way of somebody who was meeting somebody he couldn’t believe he was meeting. Carson starstruck?
And how can you talk about Johnny without Ed McMahon? His loyal sidekick since before The Tonight Show. As important as Johnny Carson was Ed McMahon was almost as important to the show. Ed would be there to help the host out when something was failing. Sometimes a punching bag for this or that guest (I’m looking at you Don Rickles) he was the perfect sidekick. He humanized Carson. The smiles and the laughs amongst them felt genuine.
Johnny Carson had a style and general persona that is probably what a late-night host should go for but too often does not. He genuinely was the king of late night and he is something we will never see again.
Warren Watched A Movie 