Just as the iconic “Here’s Johnny” introduction from “The Tonight Show” has lived on, so has Johnny Carson’s legacy — a legacy so strong that Wayne Federman compares Carson’s power in comedy to that of a mafia boss.
Together, Federman and David Bianculli presented “Johnny Carson at 100” on Wednesday morning in the Amphitheater, honoring Carson and his time hosting “The Tonight Show.” The lecture continued the Chautauqua Lecture Series’ Week Two theme “Comedy Now: A Week Curated with Lewis Black” in partnership with the National Comedy Center.
Federman has been a stand-up comedian for over 35 years. He’s featured on a variety of television shows and films, noting his favorite appearance was in Larry David’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Federman is currently producing a two-part Mel Brooks documentary for HBO Max.
Bianculli was a television critic for the New York Daily News from 1993 to 2007. He is currently a guest host on NPR’s “Fresh Air” and a professor at Rowan University in New Jersey. He’s written four books and is working on a fifth.
Federman and Bianculli took a walk through history, showing the Amp audience clips from the “The Tonight Show” that changed television history.
“Johnny Carson, at the height of his popularity on NBC, was responsible for almost 20% of the profits of the entire network,” said Bianculli. “He has never been fully replicated.”
The first clip was a montage Carson’s jokes, ending with a series of clips in which his jokes bombed. Oftentimes, when a joke didn’t hit with the audience, Carson would awkwardly dance on stage, breaking the silence and breaking the audience.
“He’s doing comedy on the comedy. He was doing this ‘meta’ commentary, which is popular now,” said Federman. “But he was doing it in the ’60s.”
Carson was very quick on his feet and was able to improvise no matter what happened. Bianculli showed the next clip, of what he called the moment Carson became a larger-than-life figure.
In the clip, Carson is throwing axes with Ed Ames; Ames’ ax lodges in the crotch of a cowboy-cutout on the wall. Carson holds Ames back from retrieving the ax, keeping the laughter going and letting the audience live in the moment.
According to Federman, this came from Carson’s inspiration from radio comedians. Carson’s love for this comedy even inspired his college thesis on radio comedy. “He loved radio comedians, especially Jack Benny,” said Federman.
The third clip featured American musician Tiny Tim’s appearance on the show. During an exchange, Carson asked him if he was married. After Tiny TIm paused, Carson said, “I’ll put that down as a no.”
While an awkward moment, Carson’s ability to improvise allowed the moment to be special and memorable.
Later, “The Tonight Show” would host Tiny Tim’s wedding, which brought in 40 million viewers. At the time, it was one of the most-watched events in television history. “(For) regular weekly shows on television, it was phenomenal,” said Bianculli.
Carson hosted other events like these on his show, like a wedding or a panel of celebrities. The fourth clip shown was of a 1969 episode when Bob Hope, Dean Martin and George Gobel all made appearances as guests. Federman described it like a cocktail party.
This moment signified the end of “The Tonight Show” in New York.
“Freddie de Cordova, who was the producer of the show, convinced Johnny that maybe they should move the show from New York, which was a big deal,” said Federman. “… Johnny saw he could get Dean Martin and Bob Hope as opposed to, you know, Truman Capote and whomever the columnist for the Daily News was.”
Moving to California opened up a sea of people who would not have been available in New York. This helped to spark the comedy boom of the ’80s. Carson moving the show changed the landscape of American comedy on television.
“The road to fame and stardom goes through studio one in Burbank, California,” said Federman.
This was most evident in the next clip, where 19-year-old Freddie Prinze wins over the room with his stand-up set. After Prinze finished, Carson called Prinze over to the couch for an interview.
“There is no greater thrill for me than for someone who is unknown and stands up in front of that audience and just lights up that experience, coast-to-coast. That is great,” said Carson.
“The next day, Freddie Prinze has $1 million worth of nightclub bookings and within months gets cast on a show called ‘Chico and the Man,’ and he plays Chico,” said Bianculli. “Carson becomes a kingmaker, and he is not only the king of late night — he can make people’s career.”
Gary Shandling, David Letterman, Jay Leno and Jim Carrey all came to California to perform on “The Tonight Show,” according to Federman. The key to getting on the show was having a “tight five minutes.”
Many comedians found success through Carson, although sometimes to Carson’s chagrin — especially in the case of Joan Rivers.
“Johnny Carson made her career,” said Federman. “Before she did ‘The Ed Sullivan Show,’ she did ‘The Tonight Show,’ not as a standup, by the way, as a TV writer on the couch. She did her material, and Carson was just set on her being a star.”
Rivers then became a recurring guest host on the show, alongside Leno and Shandling.
“She got the call to host a late-night Fox show, and go against Carson, and accepted it without telling him first,” said Bianculli. “That was what, according to my accounts, angered him so much.”
While Carson had an eye for comics, he often slipped into costume to perform as characters himself.
The next clip was a 10-second snippet of Carson in character as Carnac the Magnificent, a recurring comedic role. Bianculli noted this sketch as a reason for Carson’s originality and why other shows didn’t quite match his popularity until the very end of the show’s run.
“Joey Bishop went up against him for two-and-half years and then as soon as that show got canceled, Johnny Carson let him guest host ‘The Tonight Show,’ ” said Federman. “He had a number of guest hosts, and nobody could touch Carson until the very end.”
Federman notes “The Arsenio Hall Show” as a transition period, in which the era of Carson’s “The Tonight Show” began to come to an end.
“It was the last generation when it was truly a mass media, and everybody was watching television at once, and not only that, but everybody was watching the late-night shows while they were on from start to finish or until they fell asleep,” said Bianculli. “Instead of watching entire late-night shows, you wait for people to send you the good stuff.”
Federman noted his time as a writer on the first season of “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” which included segments specifically written to gain popularity on YouTube.
As the tour of “The Tonight Show” with Carson came to a close, Federman presented a clip from the penultimate episode. During the episode, Bette Midler sang Frank Sinatra’s “One More For My Baby (And One More For the Road),” changing the last few lines.
“The final show of ‘The Tonight Show’ was Johnny sitting on a stool, remembering things and showing clips, but what most people remember as the end of ‘The Tonight Show’ was Bette Midler serenading Johnny Carson,” said Bianculli.
According to Federman, Carson’s skill as a late night host remains unmatched, even today.
“They all live in the shadow of Carson,” said Federman during the Q-and-A section. “They all say, ‘Why did you have to be this good?’ They set a standard that none of us can match.’”
Even during Letterman’s time hosting “The Tonight Show,” Carson sent Letterman jokes to read on-air, which Letterman would read during his monologue anonymously up until Carson’s death in 2005.
“When Johnny Carson died, (Letterman’s) entire monologue was jokes that Johnny had sent him over the years,” said Bianculli.
As a television reporter at the time, Bianculli reflected on the last days of Carson’s life. “Carson is about to die, and we ask about his health. In front of 200 reporters, (executive producer) Peter Lassally said, ‘He is fine. I just had dinner with him last night. He is doing great,’ ” said Bianculli. “He died, I think, the next day.”
According to Bianculli, Lassally didn’t want people bothering Carson during his last days.
But even after his death, Carson’s legacy lives on in writers and comedians.
“I know this is going to sound harsh, but I do not think there is much of a legacy (from television hosts now) as opposed to this shining comet that was shown over our lives for 30 years,” said Federman. “He just had an uncommon ability to be comfortable and to be hilarious and to be himself.”
