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July 22, 2025, 07:26:28 AM

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Johnny Carson, King of Late Night, Dies

Quote from: AP

Johnny Carson, King of Late Night, Dies

By JEFF WILSON, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES - Johnny Carson (news), the "Tonight Show" TV host who served America a smooth nightcap of celebrity banter, droll comedy and heartland charm for 30 years, has died. He was 79. "Mr. Carson passed away peacefully early Sunday morning," his nephew, Jeff Sotzing, told The Associated Press. "He was surrounded by his family, whose loss will be immeasurable. There will be no memorial service."

Sotzing would not give further details, including the time of death or the location.

The boyish-looking Nebraska native with the disarming grin, who survived every attempt to topple him from his late-night talk show throne, was a star who managed never to distance himself from his audience.

His wealth, the adoration of his guests — particularly the many young comics whose careers he launched — the wry tales of multiple divorces: Carson's air of modesty made it all serve to enhance his bedtime intimacy with viewers.

"Heeeeere's Johnny!" was the booming announcement from sidekick Ed McMahon that ushered Carson out to the stage. Then the formula: the topical monologue, the guests, the broadly played skits such as "Carnac the Magnificent."

But America never tired of him; Carson went out on top when he retired in May 1992. In his final show, he told his audience: "And so it has come to this. I am one of the lucky people in the world. I found something that I always wanted to do and I have enjoyed every single minute of it."

His personal life could not match the perfection of his career. Carson was married four times, divorced three. In 1991, one of his three sons, 39-year-old Ricky, was killed in a car accident.

Nearly all of Carson's professional life was spent in television, from his postwar start at Nebraska stations in the late 1940s to his three decades with NBC's "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson."

Carson choose to let "Tonight" stand as his career zenith and his finale, withdrawing into a quiet retirement that suited his private nature and refusing involvement in other show business projects.

In 1993, he explained his absence from the limelight.

"I have an ego like anybody else," Carson told The Washington Post, "but I don't need to be stoked by going before the public all the time."

He was open to finding the right follow-up to "Tonight," he told friends. But his longtime producer, Fred de Cordova, said Carson didn't feel pressured — he could look back on his TV success and say "I did it."

"And that makes sense. He is one of a kind, was one of a kind," de Cordova said in 1995. "I don't think there's any reason for him to try something different."

Carson spent his retirement years sailing, traveling and socializing with a few close friends including media mogul Barry Diller and NBC executive Bob Wright. He simply refused to be wooed back on stage.

"The reason I really don't go back or do interviews is because I just let the work speak for itself," he told Esquire magazine in 2002 in a rare interview.

The former talk show host did find an outlet for his creativity: He wrote short humor pieces for The New Yorker magazine, including "Recently Discovered Childhood Letters to Santa," which purported to give the youthful wish lists of William Buckley, Don Rickles and others.

Carson made his debut as "Tonight" host in October 1962. Audiences quickly grew fond of his boyish grin and easy wit. He even made headlines with such clever ploys as the 1969 on-show marriage of eccentric singer Tiny Tim to Miss Vicki, which won the show its biggest-ever ratings.

The wedding and other noteworthy moments from the show were collected into a yearly "Tonight" anniversary special.

In 1972, "Tonight" moved from New York to Burbank. Growing respect for Carson's consistency and staying power, along with four consecutive Emmy Awards, came his way in the late 1970s.

His quickness and his ability to handle an audience were impressive. When his jokes missed their target, the smooth Carson won over a groaning studio audience with a clever look or sly, self-deprecating remark.

Politics provided monologue fodder for him as he skewered lawmakers of every stripe, mirroring the mood of voters. His Watergate jabs at President Nixon were seen as cementing Nixon's fall from office in 1974.

He made presidential history again in July 1988 when he had then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton (news - web sites) on his show a few days after Clinton came under widespread ridicule for a boring speech at the Democratic National Convention. Clinton traded quips with Carson and played "Summertime" on the saxophone. Four years later, Clinton won the presidency.

Carson dispatched would-be late-night competitors with aplomb. Competing networks tried a variety of formats and hosts but never managed to best "Tonight" and Carson.

There was the occasional battle with NBC: In 1967, for instance, Carson walked out for several weeks until the network managed to lure him back with a contract that reportedly gave him $1 million-plus yearly.

In 1980, after more walkout threats, the show was scaled back from 90 minutes to an hour. Carson also eased his schedule by cutting back on his work days; a number of substitute hosts filled in, including Joan Rivers, David Brenner, Jerry Lewis and Jay Leno, Carson's eventual successor.

Rivers was one of the countless comedians whose careers took off after they were on Carson's show. After she rocked the audience with her jokes in that 1965 appearance, he remarked, "God, you're funny. You're going to be a star."

"If Johnny hadn't made the choice to put me on his show, I might still be in Greenwich Village as the oldest living undiscovered female comic," she recalled in an Associated Press interview 20 years later. She tried her own talk show in 1986, quickly becoming one of the many challengers who could not budge Carson.

In the '80s, Carson was reportedly the highest-paid performer in television history with a $5 million "Tonight" show salary alone.

His Carson Productions created and sold pilots to NBC, including "TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes." Carson himself made occasional cameo appearances on other TV series.

He also performed in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, N.J., and was host of the Academy Awards (news - web sites) five times in the '70s and '80s.

Carson's graceful exit from "Tonight" did not avoid a messy, bitter tug-of-war between Leno and fellow comedian David Letterman. Leno took over as "Tonight" host on May 25, 1992, becoming the fourth man to hold the job after founding host Steve Allen, Paar and Carson.

Carson was born in Corning, Iowa, and raised in nearby Norfolk, Neb. He started his show business career at age 14 as the magician "The Great Carsoni."

After World War II service in the Navy, he took a series of jobs in local radio and TV in Nebraska before starting at KNXT-TV in Los Angeles in 1950.

There he started a sketch comedy show, "Carson's Cellar," which ran from 1951-53 and attracted attention from Hollywood. A staff writing job for "The Red Skelton Show" followed.

The program provided Carson with a lucky break: When Skelton was injured backstage, Carson took the comedian's place in front of the cameras.

Producers tried to find the right program for the up-and-coming comic, trying him out as host of the quiz show "Earn Your Vacation" (1954) and in the variety show "The Johnny Carson Show" (1955-56).

From 1957-62 he was host of the daytime game show "Who Do You Trust?" and, in 1958, was joined for the first time by McMahon, his durable "Tonight" buddy.

A few acting roles came Carson's way, including one on "Playhouse 90" in 1957, and he did a pilot in 1960 for a prime-time series, "Johnny Come Lately," that never made it onto a network schedule.

In 1958, Carson sat in for "Tonight Show" host Jack Paar. When Paar left the show four years later, Carson was NBC's choice as his replacement.

After his retirement, Carson took on the role of Malibu-based retiree with apparent ease. An avid tennis fan, he was still playing a vigorous game in his 70s.

He and his wife, Alexis, traveled frequently. The pair met on the Malibu beach in the early 1980s; he was 61 when they married in June 1987, she was in her 30s.

Carson's first wife was his childhood sweetheart, Jody, the mother of his three sons. They married in 1949 and split in 1963.

He married Joanne Copeland Carson in 1963; divorce came in 1972. His third marriage, to Joanna Holland Carson, took place in 1972. They separated in 1982 and reached a divorce settlement in 1985.

On the occasion of Carson's 70th birthday in 1995, former "Tonight" bandleader Doc Severinsen, who toured with musicians from the show, said he was constantly reminded of Carson's enduring popularity.

"Every place we go people ask `How is he? Where is he? What is he doing? Tell him how much we miss him.' It doesn't surprise me," Severinsen said.

The brisk sale of the video collection "Johnny Carson: His Favorite Moments From The Tonight Show," released in 1994, offered further proof of his appeal.

He won a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in 1992, with the first President Bush (news - web sites) saying, "With decency and style he's made America laugh and think." In 1993, he was celebrated by the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors for career achievement.

Johnny, you will be missed.

Wow. Wasn't expecting that one today.

A great man. Your infectious laughter will be missed. Rest in peace.

That's a shame. In the immortal words of Ice Cube "Fuck that Johnny Carson Ho, never had me on the late night show."

And I think that sums up a depth of feeling that we all share.

I have never known a world without Carson... It just seems a bit darker now without his light.

I already missed him before he passed away. I always wished he would have come back for a special occasion or something, but I guess now my wish is that late night talk shows will some day live up to the past.

The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson was like some ritual before-bedtime-event I always enjoyed with my family as a kid. Letterman, Leno, and O'Brian are all funny, but they just don't have it. Whatever "it" is..

Quote from: Stray

The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson was like some ritual before-bedtime-event I always enjoyed with my family as a kid. Letterman, Leno, and O'Brian are all funny, but they just don't have it. Whatever "it" is..

[EdMcMahon]You are correct, sir.[/EdMcMahon]

I'm normally unaffected by the death of celebs, but this one struck me. Johnny's death seems like the end of an era.

Thanks for the memories Johnny!

Quote from: DarkDryad

I have never known a world without Carson... It just seems a bit darker now without his light.

Dude, Johnny was cool and all, but you make it sound like we need to put you in a room and take away your shoelaces.

RIP Johnny Late Night. Leno and Letterman combined still weren't enough to replace you.

Bring the noise.
Cheers.............

Johnny got it right the first time. The rest of the chuckleheads on Late night TV are just pale comparisons. He was an innovator, a trusted voice, and a comedian all in one.

Quote from: Dark Vengeance

Quote from: DarkDryad

I have never known a world without Carson... It just seems a bit darker now without his light.

Dont make me bitchsmack you in my time of sadess biatch. Meh its just that with all these old schoolers passing on I'm starting to feel my gae. I'll be better soon.

Quote from: DarkDryad

Dont make me bitchsmack you in my time of sadness bitch. Meh it's just that with all of these old schoolers passing on I'm starting to feel I'm gay. I'll be better soon.

Fixed some typos for you there.

Bring the noise.
Cheers............

Quote from: DarkDryad

Meh its just that with all these old schoolers passing on I'm starting to feel my gae. I'll be better soon.

You spelled 'gay' wrong.

You bastard.

Edit: I was referring to DV, not myself!

Ok ok must start proofreading the spelling nazis are about.

Wow, what a tribute to the great Johnny Carson. Flames, accusations of homosexuality, and spelling fascism. YAY US!

The comedy of this thread does Johnny justice.

Mmmmm, that's good trolling.

Sorry... didn't mean to offend. Bad me. I don't know much about Johnny Carson. I never really watched his show. I think I probably know more about his car than him. But, sorry.

My favorite all-time Tonight Show bit (and this one is on the "Best Moments" tape):

Johnny has Crazy Potato Chip Lady on. She's an old whack-job who collects potato chips that are shaped like the heads of famous people. Johnny manages to have a sincere, non-patronizing conversation with this loon for several minutes, with all her prized potato chips carefully laid out on display.

Then, with impeccable timing, as CPCL glances away for a moment, Carson reaches under his desk and pops an ordinary Lay's potato chip in his mouth, crunching loudly. The look of utter shock and horror on CPCL's face, who thought Johnny was tucking into her most worshipped possessions in life, was far funnier than I can describe here. (And, once she realized the joke, even CPCL laughed.)

Genius.

He was completely overated, arrogant, and towards the end of his career, disconnected and irrelevant. He publicly beat one of his wives, and did his level best to screw them all in his divorces. He might have been good in the 70's or something, but from the 80's on he was only relevant to the blue-hair moth ball crowd. Honestly, between the wife beating and other crap he was up to anybody would have a hard time making a case that he wasn't a turd.

I won't say I'm glad he's dead, but that's only because it's probably against the rules to directly say it.

Quote from: angry.bob

did his level best to screw them all in his divorces.

As opposed to all the ex husbands who tried to donate money to their ex wives during their divorce?

The bastard should fry for his failure to give away his fortune in a divorce.

Quote from: angry.bob

He publicly beat one of his wives

I did some Googling on this accusation, and came up empty.

Right now, I have to assume you're a trolling asshat. Please provide some linkage for proof, and I'll retract my opinion of your dipshittery.

Nahh hes just a sad little boy looking for attention.

Quote from: Ardent

Right now, I have to assume you're a trolling asshat. Please provide some linkage for proof, and I'll retract my opinion of your dipshittery.

Wow, and if a 10 minute search with Google didn't turn up anythimg, then it must not have happened. I bet you won't find anything about his drunk driving either. Newsflash: a year after he was retired no one gave a shit about him and he was a fast fading memory. A few years after that when tha intarweb caught on, the only people who even remembered his irrelevant ass or gave a shit were not the sort of people to go posting his faults. It happened. Decades ago. NOT EVERYTHING THATS EVER HAPPENED IS ON THE FUCKING INTERNET OR INDEXED BY GOOGLE. Using your fucking assfag dipshit logic, Nazis, The Third Reich, Adolph Hitler, or the SS never existed if you looked for them in AltaVista a few years ago (about '98). Because at the time, none of those terms returned result either. That was about the same time that Google started catching on. It happened. He flat out punched his wife right in the middle of a party, in front of lots of people. He also got arrested for drunk driving. And he got a cheap fuck Mexican divorce from his first wife and the mother his children. Read an actual biography about him, not the blowjob obits that are all over the place right now. Shit, read The Night Shift. Whatever. If you're going to make me go find a print source, which is probably going to be what it'll take to find something that far back, you're going to have to bet me something good. Up for a good, high stakes bet on whether I'm wrong or not?

Quote from: angry.bob

He flat out punched his wife right in the middle of a party, in front of lots of people. He also got arrested for drunk driving. And he got a cheap fuck Mexican divorce from his first wife and the mother his children.

It is very well documented about his many divorces including the first one and the arrest for drunk driving. That's undeniably true. Still, just because you surround your point with other facts doesn't mean your first assertion is correct. Provide backup or shut up.

If you really cared, you would have made a complaint about these things before he was dead.

Quote from: Paelos

Exactly. Try to find much information, or even any for that matter, in google about the drunk driving or anything other than cursory information about his divorces. His point was because shit doesn't show up in google that it didn't happen. My point is only a fucking retard would use that arguement, and here's a bunch of other shit he did but doesn't show up in google either. Using the internet for anything other than trival amusement makes you a stupid asshole, unless you're using it to make money. And then it makes you cool. Retards use internet "facts" to back stuff up. Fuck, if that's all you you people want I could have an official looking site up in a couple of hours full of facts and apocryphal evidence that the Pope fucks donkeys with a Buddy Jesus statue. I've already told you where to prove it. Read a fucking non-official Johnny Carson biography, just about any one will do. Shit, you won't be able to avoid them if leave your house soon. If you're too lazy to do that, find someone over 45 and ask them about it. They'll probably remember it. If you guys want me to actually pedal my ass to a library or bookstore, get a book, scan it, and post a fucking picture of the page with the shit highlighted, whatever. If you guys insist on being "prove it, it's not in google" tards about this, I guess I will, but you're going to have to put up some heavy collateral. Make your offers, but it's going to have to make you hurt on a personal level to make it worth my time to read for your lazy asses

Quote from: Stray

If you really cared, you would have made a complaint about these things before he was dead.

I did, just not here, because there was never a thread full of people getting full-on ghey for him before. Face it people, you're all writing crap about how "great" he was, but honestly: a) What do you know about his personal life and how he treated people in the industry, b) When was the last time he even entered your thoughts. Six months after he retired no one gave a shit about him or cared that he was gone except the hacks that used to be on the show with him, and he had 0 relevance in the industry, and any other enterprise he was involved in fell flat on it's face. Delorean, his clothing line. A a clothing line? He really wasn't a talented guy. He just had good luck with the space in time that his career happened in. If he was starting out today he'd be lucky to get a local morning show.

Shining light... Pheh.

The main point is that we are on an internet forum, not in a bookstore, Bob. Assertions to fact usually don't include "find the book" in this medium of information swapping. They are internet linkable or they are useless. I'm not saying that the internet is 100% factual at all. I'm just saying that nobody is going to be hunting down old written word to debunk an internet debate.

Quote from: Paelos

And that's why the only thing worthwile on the internet is USENET porn. Supporting "facts" from the internet are useless. I've got hunrdreds of "fact" filled Adsense and scumware delivery sites. And most of the stuff is just text I scraped from other peoples sites that they in turn made up. And my tacky shit is listed for reference by some places that should really know just by looking that my crap sites are just that - crap. The real point is, it's not a debate. It happened, it is fact. But you're not going to find any mention of it on the internet now that he's dead and there's a billion retards acting reverant about him. Especially since any keywords you would use to to find it will hit solidly on glowing obits about him. Your assertion that I need to prove it via an internet source is wrong, and asserting printed resources are useless is flat out wrong. There is far, far more information-solid, factual information available in print than there is on the internet. And most of it will never be available online in any of our lifetimes. You don't need to dig up microfiche at the Library of Congress. You just have to go the the mall and find a book about Johnny Carson for fuck's sake. I'm sorry that dick waving contests on faggy internet message boards don't usually require people to spend more than 5 minutes googling up psuedofacts to make them instant experts, but sometimes there's just no way around it. Just because you're unwilling to actually make the effort doesn't invalidate the truth of what I said.

Hey, memorial thread and all that. Do we need to write up the fucking rules or something?

Quote

When was the last time he even entered your thoughts.

Actually, not to long ago, after watching an infomercial for the Johnny Carson DVD's. And like I said earlier, I always wished he came back for one last TV special or something, or even just as a guest somewhere. I wished the same for Bob Hope and Rodney Dangerfield.

It's not like I'm overcome with grief though, or that he was in my thoughts 24/7. But I can honestly say that I didn't forget about him. Why?

I thought he was a funny and entertaining guy. No more, no less -- And you are a seriously fucked up cat if you've got a bone to pick with that.

Quote from: angry.bob

I won't say I'm glad he's dead, but that's only because it's probably against the rules to directly say it.

I have a strong feeling that lots of people will be thinking the same thing after you croak.

Is it possible to take the vote I cast to ban Bruce and apply it to this paragon of human empathy instead?

Quote from: Ardent

I have a strong feeling that lots of people will be thinking the same thing after you croak.

And I'll care even less then than I do now.

Quote from: Ardent

Is it possible to take the vote I cast to ban Bruce and apply it to this paragon of human empathy instead?

Ohhhh, that would be a good bet... Permaban by IP range for whichever one of us is wrong. You up for that wager drama queen?

Angry Bob is right. I asked my father and he's actually old enough to remember the wife punching incident. If you want proof, at least that it was an issue, you can ask your own fathers. The drunk driving in a Delorean you can find all over the internet.

Now kiss and make up. This is supposed to be sad or something.

I never claimed to be right. I was just waiting for the accuser to prove his assertion. Still waiting.

Funny that I'm being accused of being the drama queen, when there are several paragraphs above me spewing some rather bilious monologues. At least Carson's monologues were funny.

I love your new avatar, Signe. Zappa is another great that was taken away from us far before his time.

"Ram it,
Ram it,
Ram it,
Ram it up your poop chute."
- Broken Hearts Are For Assholes

I wonder if he ever performed that one on Carson?

Quote from: Rasix

Hey, memorial thread and all that. Do we need to write up the fucking rules or something?

I was about 2 steps from locking this thread with something along the lines of "Don't fag up memorial threads with your petty shit-flinging about dead people" but your post should be sufficient.