What Happened to Johnny Carson?

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Johnny Carson.Image via Wikimedia Commons

The Rise to Fame

John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, and writer. He was best known as the host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, the third installment of The Tonight Show, which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1992.

Born in Corning, Iowa, Carson was raised in Norfolk, Nebraska, graduating from Norfolk High School. During World War II, Carson served in the United States Navy. After the war, Carson graduated from the University of Nebraska with a Bachelor of Arts. Carson began his a career in radio and local television in Omaha, NE. He eventually took over as host of the late-night talk show Tonight from Jack Paar in 1962.

In a career spanning four decades, Carson received six Primetime Emmy Awards, the Television Academy's 1980 Governor's Award, and a 1985 Peabody Award. He was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987. Carson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992 and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1993.

Carson remained an American cultural icon even after his retirement in 1992. He adopted a casual, conversational approach with extensive interaction with guests, an approach pioneered by Arthur Godfrey and previous Tonight Show hosts Paar and Steve Allen, but enhanced by Carson's lightning-quick wit. A cultural phenomenon, Carson is widely regarded as the King of Late Night Television. Former late-night host and friend David Letterman, as well as many others, have cited Carson's influence.

The Peak Years

Early life and career

John William Carson was born on October 23, 1925, in Corning, Iowa, to Ruth Elizabeth Carson (née Hook; 1901–1985) and Homer Lloyd "Kit" Carson (1899–1983), a power company manager. Carson was the second of three children. He had an older sister, and a younger brother, Richard "Dick" Carson (1929–2021).

Growing up initially in Iowa, Carson lived in the towns of Avoca, Clarinda, and Red Oak before moving to Norfolk, Nebraska, at age eight. There, Carson began developing his talent for entertaining. At age 12, he found a book on magic at a friend's house and purchased a mail-order magician's kit. After purchasing the kit, Carson practiced his entertainment skills on family members with card tricks. During this period, he would follow his family members around, saying, "Pick a card, any card." Carson's mother made him a cape, and his first performance was in front of the local Kiwanis Club. He debuted as "The Great Carsoni" at age 14 and was paid $3 a show.

After graduating from high school, Carson hitchhiked to Hollywood, Los Angeles. There, he was arrested and fined $50 for impersonating a midshipman, a story often regarded as apocryphal.

Military service

What Changed

Carson joined the United States Navy on June 8, 1943, and received V-12 Navy College Training Program officer training at Columbia University and Millsaps College. Commissioned an ensign late in the war, Carson was assigned to USS Pennsylvania in the Pacific. He arrived on the Pennsylvania on August 14, 1945, the same day Imperial Japan announced its surrender. The ship was sent to Guam after a torpedo bomber attack damaged its stern prior to Carson's arrival.

Once in drydock, Carson, assigned to damage control, was given the task of supervising the removal of the bodies of 20 servicemen and their effects. He recounted the experience in an unpublished 1967 Time interview, stating "Jesus, that was an awful experience. They'd been down there for 18 days by the time, and I want to tell you, that was a terrible job." Carson returned stateside with the Pennsylvania to Seattle and was assigned to command a troop train for returning servicemen. He finished his service in Guam, decoding encrypted messages.

Carson later said that the high point of his military career was performing a magic trick for U.S. secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal. In a conversation with Forrestal, the secretary asked Carson if he planned to stay in the Navy after the war. In response, Carson said no and told him he wanted to be a magician. Forrestal asked him to perform, and Carson responded with a card trick. Carson discovered that he could entertain and amuse someone as cranky and sophisticated as Forrestal.

While in the Navy, Carson was an amateur boxer, with most of his bouts fought on board Pennsylvania.

Taking advantage of educational opportunities from the Navy, Carson attended the University of Nebraska, where he joined the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and continued performing magic, then paid $25 per appearance. Carson majored in journalism with the intention of becoming a comedy writer, but instead switched his major to speech and drama a few months later because he wanted to become a radio performer. His college thesis, titled "How to Write Comedy for Radio", was a compilation of taped skits and jokes from popular radio shows with Carson explaining the comedic technique in a voiceover. It allowed him to graduate in three years. Carson graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in radio and speech with a minor in physics in 1949.

Where Johnny Carson Is Now

Early radio and television

Carson began his broadcasting career in 1950 at WOW-AM and WOW-TV (now WOWT-TV) in Omaha, Nebraska. He soon hosted a morning television program called The Squirrel's Nest. One of his routines involved interviewing pigeons on the roof of the local courthouse that would report on the political corruption they had seen. Carson supplemented his income by serving as master of ceremonies at local church dinners—attended by some of the same politicians and civic leaders he had lampooned on the radio.

The wife of one of the Omaha political figures that Carson spoofed owned stock in a radio station in Los Angeles, and in 1951, referred Carson to her brother, who was influential in the emerging television market in Southern California. Carson joined CBS-owned Los Angeles television station KNXT (now KCBS-TV).

In 1953, comic Red Skelton—a fan of Carson's low-budget sketch comedy show, Carson's Cellar (1951–1953) on KNXT—asked Carson to join his show as a writer. In 1954, Skelton accidentally knocked himself unconscious during rehearsal, an hour before his live show began. Carson successfully filled in for him. In 1955, Jack Benny invited Carson to appear on one of his programs during the opening and closing segments. Carson imitated Benny and claimed that Benny had copied his gestures. Benny predicted that Carson, who readily admitted Benny's substantial influence on aspects of his comedic delivery, would have a successful career as a comedian.

Carson hosted several shows besides Carson's Cellar, including the game show Earn Your Vacation (1954) and the variety show The Johnny Carson Show (1955–1956). He was a guest panelist on the original To Tell the Truth beginning in 1960, becoming a regular panelist from 1961 to 1962.

Legacy

After the primetime Johnny Carson Show failed, Carson moved to New York City to host ABC's Who Do You Trust? (1957–1962). It was on Who Do You Trust? that Carson met his future sidekick and straight man, Ed McMahon. Although Carson believed moving to daytime television would hurt his career, Who Do You Trust? was a success. It was the first show where he could ad lib and interview guests. Because of his on-camera wit, the show became "the hottest item on daytime television" during his six years at ABC. From his experience as a radio host, in 2000 Carson wrote a parody for The New Yorker of former talk-show host Dennis Miller having the new role at the time as an NFL sports announcer, titled "Proverbs of Dennis Miller".

NBC's Tonight was the late-night counterpart to its early-morning show Today. Originating in 1954 with host Steve Allen, Tonight was somewhat experimental at the time, as the only previous network late-night program was NBC's Broadway Open House (1950–51), which starred Jerry Lester and Dagmar. Tonight was successful. Allen moved to primetime comedy-variety shows in 1957 when Jack Paar became host of Tonight. Paar left the show in 1962.

Carson's success on Who Do You Trust? led NBC to invite him to take over Tonight a few months before Paar's departure. Carson declined the offer because he feared the difficulty of interviewing celebrities for 105 minutes each day. Bob Newhart, Jackie Gleason, Groucho Marx, and Joey Bishop also declined. NBC finally convinced Carson to sign by early February 1962. He can be seen discussing his upcoming job for the first time on the February 11, 1962, episode of What's My Line? Because Carson had six months left on his ABC contract, NBC used multiple guest hosts until he could take over. Guest hosts included Bishop, Marx, Merv Griffin, Art Linkletter, Arlene Francis, Bob Cummings, Jerry Lewis, Donald O'Connor and others.

Although he continued to have doubts about his new job, Carson became the host of Tonight (later called The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson) on October 1, 1962. After a difficult first year, he overcame his fears. While Tonight under its previous hosts had been successful, especially under Paar, Carson's version eventually did very well in the ratings. Billy Wilder said of Carson:

By the simple law of survival, Carson is the best. He enchants the invalids and the insomniacs as well as the people who have to get up at dawn. He is the Valium and the Nembutal of a nation. No matter what kind of dead-asses are on the show, he has to make them funny and exciting. He has to be their nurse and their surgeon. He has no conceit. He does his work and he comes prepared. If he's talking to an author, he has read the book. Even his rehearsed routines sound improvised. He's the cream of middle-class...

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