Johnny Carson Tribute

Carson became the host of NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (taking over after Jack Paar quit) in October 1962. His announcer and sidekick was Ed McMahon throughout his entire tenure with the program.

For millions of people, watching The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson at the end of the evening became a ritual, and Carson, with his quick wit and natural charm, became a well-known entertainer loved by many. Most of the later shows began with music and the announcement by Ed McMahon "Heeeeeere's Johnny!", followed by a brief comedic monologue by Carson. This was often followed by comedy sketches, interviews, and music. Carson's trademark was a phantom golf swing at the end of his Tonight Show monologues, aimed at stage left where the band was. Guest hosts would sometimes parody that gesture. Bob Newhart, for example, would finish by simulating rolling a bowling ball toward the audience.

Paul Anka wrote the theme song ("Johnny's Theme"), a reworking of an earlier Anka song called "Toot Sweet" that had been given lyrics, renamed "It's Really Love," and recorded by Annette Funicello in 1959. Anka gave Carson co-authorship credit and they split the royalties for the next three decades. For years, the theme opened with a memorable drum riff that was later dropped.

The show was originally produced in New York City, with occasional stints in California. It was not live in its early years, however during the 1970s, NBC fed the live taping from Burbank to New York via satellite for editing (see below). The program had been done "live on tape" (uninterrupted unless a serious problem occurred) since the Jack Paar days. In May 1972 the show permanently moved from New York to Burbank, California.

After the move, Carson stopped doing shows five days a week. Instead, on Monday nights there was a "guest host" (leaving Carson to do the other four each week). Joan Rivers became the "permanent" guest host from September 1983 until 1986, when she was fired for accepting a competing show on the startup Fox network without consulting Carson first. Thereafter, The Tonight Show returned to using various guest hosts, with Jay Leno the most frequent. Leno then became the exclusive guest host in the fall of 1987. Eventually, the pattern became relatively set. Monday night was for Jay Leno. Tuesday night was for the Best of Carson, which were rebroadcasts of earlier episodes (usually of a year previous but occasionally back into the 1970s with edited episodes).

Carson had a talent for coming up with quick quips to deal with unexpected problems. If the opening monologue fared poorly, the band would start playing the song "Tea for Two" and Carson would start to dance, which invariably earned laughs from the studio audience. Alternately, Carson might pull down the boom mike close to his face and announce "Attention K-Mart shoppers!"

Carson's show was the launching pad for many talented performers, notably comedians. Many got their "big break" by appearing on the show, and it was considered the crowning achievement to not only get Johnny to laugh out loud, but also to be called over to the guest chair. In many ways, Carson was the successor to The Ed Sullivan Show as a showcase for all kinds of talent, as well as continuing the Vaudeville variety-show tradition.

In 1973, Carson had a legendary run-in with popular psychic Uri Geller when he invited Geller to appear on his show. Carson, an experienced stage magician, wanted a neutral demonstration of Geller's alleged abilities, so, at the advice of his friend and fellow magician James Randi, he gave Geller several spoons out of his desk drawer and asked him to bend them with his psychic powers. Geller proved unable, and his appearance on The Tonight Show has since been regarded as the beginning of Geller's fall from glory.

An oft-repeated story—since dismissed as an "urban legend"—involved a guest appearance by Zsa Zsa Gabor carrying a white Persian cat. Gabor is said to have asked Johnny if he would like to "pet my pussy?" During a 1989 appearance, Jane Fonda noted that her son had repeated the claim, and "my son said that you said, uh, 'I'd love to, if you'd remove that damned cat!' Is it true?" Carson denied the episode on-air ("No, I think I would recall that...") and both he and Gabor responded to researchers by stating the event "never happened." Despite widespread insistence by people who claimed to see the episode, no audio or video recording has ever been produced.

However, a bit of risqué humor was not beyond Carson. During an interview with Dolly Parton, in reference to her large bust, she said, "People are always asking if they're real and .... I'll tell you what, these are mine." Carson replied, "I have certain guidelines on this show. But I would give about a year's pay to peek under there."

In a 1980 Rolling Stone article, Carson caused quite a public backlash when he called the Brian Wilson penned (Beach Boys) song "Johnny Carson" (from 1977's "Love You" LP) not a "work of art". Wilson wrote the song tribute citing the fact no such song had exisited prior about the 'king of late night'.

Carson played several continuing characters on sketches during the show; these include:

    * Art Fern, the "Tea Time Movie" announcer (always selling strange or shoddy merchandise). The character was previously named Honest Bernie Schlock and then Ralph Willie when the Tea-Time sketches first aired (mid-late 1960s).
    * A right-wing extremist in a plaid hunting coat and cap who always introduced himself as "Floyd R. Turbo American" (with no pause between words)
    * Aunt Blabby, a cantankerous and sometimes amorous old lady who played the foil to Ed McMahon's straightman through pestering and berating.
    * Perhaps his best-known character, Carnac the Magnificent, who pretended to be a psychic who could answer questions before seeing them (and reading them out loud). (This is in fact a parody of a real act known as "one ahead" where the first answer is known to the performer in advance, and each succeeding answer is in fact on the card containing the previous item's question.) Carnac's answers were always humorous, ironic, or puns. Ed McMahon would always announce near the end, "I hold in my hand the last envelope," at which news the audience would applaud wildly, prompting Carnac to pronounce a comedic "curse" on the audience, such as "May all your genes be recessive!" (In fact, the name Carnac the Magnificent was the stage name Johnny used in his magic act as a youth.)

Even though Carson's program was based in Burbank, NBC's editing and production services for the program were located in New York, resulting in the requirement that Carson's program be transmitted from Burbank to New York. Beginning in 1976 NBC utilized the Satcom 2 satellite to do this, feeding the live taping (which usually took place in the early evening) directly to New York where it would be edited prior to the normal broadcast. This live feed lasted usually from two to two and a half hours a night, and was uncensored and commercial-free. During the commercial breaks the audio and picture would be left on, resulting in risque language and other events that would certainly be edited out later going out over the feed.

At the same time, however, satellite earth stations owned by private individuals were going into use, and some managed to find the live feed. These people began to document their sightings in technical journals, giving the general public knowledge of something they were not meant to see. Carson and his production staff grew concerned about this, and pressured NBC into ceasing the satellite transmissions of the live taping in the early 1980s. The satellite link was replaced by microwave landline transmission until the show's editing facilities were moved to Burbank.

Carson was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987. His other awards include six Emmy Awards and a George Foster Peabody Award. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 1993.