50 Fun Facts About Johnny Carson

Which long-running NBC show was created after Johnny Carson had his weekend Tonight Show reruns pulled?

Saturday Night Live debuted in October 1975 to fill the hole. Carson wanted the weekend repeats saved for weeknights so he could take more time off, which left NBC needing something new to send its stations.

Johnny Carson's monologue joke about a shortage of which household product set off real panic buying across America?

Toilet paper vanished from shelves for weeks after the December 1973 joke, because viewers took it seriously and hoarded. Carson apologized the following month.

Which Muppet filled in for Johnny Carson as guest host of The Tonight Show for one night in April 1979?

Kermit the Frog hosted the full show, with horror star Vincent Price among the guests and other Muppets popping up in the sketches.

Which Milton Bradley game became a sensation after Johnny Carson played it on the air with actress Eva Gabor?

Twister was little known until that May 1966 broadcast. The following year, three million copies were sold.

Which falsetto-voiced ukulele singer married his bride Miss Vicki on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show in December 1969?

Tiny Tim wed 17-year-old Victoria Budinger on the air, and the ceremony is among the few moments from Carson's New York years that survive on tape.

Which announcer and sidekick sat beside Johnny Carson for all 30 years of his Tonight Show run?

Ed McMahon first teamed with Carson on a daytime ABC quiz in the late 1950s. A Marine Corps flight instructor in World War II, he was recalled to fly spotter planes in Korea.

In which film does Jack Nicholson shout the nightly introduction of Johnny Carson through a smashed door?

The Shining borrowed the announcer's drawn-out opening call, which Nicholson improvised on the set. Carson later replayed the clip to open one of his anniversary shows.

Myrtle Young gasped when Johnny Carson pretended to crunch an item from her prized collection of what?

Potato chips that looked like faces and objects were her hobby as a factory inspector in Indiana. While her back was turned, Carson faked a loud bite, a gag TV Guide later named television's funniest moment.

Which turbaned Johnny Carson character held sealed envelopes to his forehead and gave answers before the questions?

Carnac the Magnificent wore a feathered turban and a cape, stumbled on his way to the desk, and laid a comic curse on the audience whenever one of his puns died.

Which singer brought Johnny Carson to tears by serenading him on his next-to-last Tonight Show in May 1992?

Bette Midler sang One for My Baby to a visibly moved Carson and won an Emmy for the performance. Earlier in the hour the two had slipped into an unplanned duet of one of his favorite songs.

Which comedian, Johnny Carson's permanent guest host from the late 1980s, took over The Tonight Show in May 1992?

Jay Leno had filled in for Carson more than 300 times, and joked that he won the bookings by keeping his fee low while the other stand-ins raised theirs.

Which teen-idol singer of Diana and Put Your Head on My Shoulder composed Johnny Carson's Tonight Show theme?

Paul Anka reworked a tune that Annette Funicello had already recorded. Carson wrote lyrics for it that were never sung, which earned him half the royalties every time the theme was played.

To which California city did Johnny Carson move The Tonight Show from New York in May 1972?

Burbank put the show within easy reach of Hollywood's stars, which is why Carson wanted the move. A park across from the old NBC studios there now carries his name.

In which Great Plains state did Johnny Carson grow up, in the town of Norfolk, from the age of eight?

Nebraska kept his loyalty for life, though he was born in Corning, Iowa. He later gave millions to his old university and paid for a cancer center and a theater in Norfolk.

Johnny Carson earned $3 a show at age 14 billed as The Great Carsoni, performing what kind of act?

Magic tricks came out of a mail-order kit he bought at 12. His mother sewed him a cape, and his first booking was the local Kiwanis Club.

Which late-night host used jokes that the retired Johnny Carson quietly sent him for his own monologues?

David Letterman opened his first show after Carson's death with a monologue made entirely of Carson's jokes, then told viewers who wrote them. Carson's last TV appearance was a 1994 surprise visit to Letterman's show.

Which comedian did Johnny Carson never speak to again after she left as his permanent guest host for a rival Fox show?

Joan Rivers had been his regular stand-in since 1983 and called him her mentor. Her Fox show was soon canceled, and she did not appear on The Tonight Show again until 2014.

Which bandleader, known for his gaudy stage outfits, led Johnny Carson's Tonight Show orchestra from 1967 to the finale?

Doc Severinsen, a trumpeter, took his nickname from his father, the only dentist in their Oregon town. He had joined the show's orchestra as first-chair trumpet in 1962.

On which animated series did the retired Johnny Carson voice himself in 1993, juggling a car while singing opera?

The Simpsons landed him for the episode in which Krusty the Clown stages a comeback special. The writers had first pitched him a part as a houseguest who sponges off the family.

Which imaginary sports move did Johnny Carson make toward the orchestra to close his nightly Tonight Show monologue?

A golf swing, aimed stage left, was his sign-off to the jokes. Stand-ins liked to spoof it: Bob Newhart rolled an invisible bowling ball at the audience instead.

Which host of Tonight since 1957 did Johnny Carson replace at the desk in October 1962?

Jack Paar bowed out in March 1962, but Carson was tied to an ABC contract for six more months. NBC covered the gap with stand-ins such as Merv Griffin and Art Linkletter.

In which military branch did Johnny Carson serve as a young ensign in the final days of World War II?

The U.S. Navy posted him to the battleship Pennsylvania, which he reached on the very day Japan announced its surrender. He boxed as an amateur aboard ship.

Which illness did Johnny Carson, a heavy smoker for decades, reveal in 2002 and die from three years later?

Emphysema brought on the respiratory failure that killed him in January 2005, at 79. He had once smoked four packs of Pall Malls a day, often on camera in the show's early years.

Which annual Hollywood ceremony did Johnny Carson host five times between 1979 and 1984?

The Oscars had him as host five times in six years. One critic wrote that the brisk 1984 ceremony found its greatest asset in his return as master of ceremonies.

Which astronomer and frequent guest did Johnny Carson tease by exaggerating how he pronounced the word billions?

Carl Sagan took the ribbing in good humor and titled his final book Billions and Billions. Carson was a keen stargazer himself, owned several telescopes and has a minor planet named in his honor.

What did singer Ed Ames throw at a cowboy outline on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show in 1965, striking the groin?

A tomahawk was his stock in trade as Mingo on the TV series Daniel Boone. When he went to pull it out of the board, Carson held him back so the audience's long laugh could run its course.

Which self-proclaimed psychic flopped on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show in 1973 after the staff supplied their own props?

Uri Geller could not produce a single feat that night and complained of being pressed to perform. Carson had asked skeptic James Randi how to prevent any sleight of hand, though the plan to debunk him backfired.

Which comedian played the talk-show host in The King of Comedy after Johnny Carson turned Martin Scorsese down?

Jerry Lewis took the part of Jerry Langford opposite Robert De Niro in the 1983 film. Carson was the director's first choice but declined, saying one take was enough for him.

Johnny Carson turned down a part in which 1974 Mel Brooks comedy?

Blazing Saddles was one of many film offers he refused; he also passed on the title role in The Thomas Crown Affair. Mel Brooks had been a guest on his very first Tonight Show.

Which future Price Is Right host was invited to Johnny Carson's couch after his 1991 stand-up set, a rare honor?

Drew Carey impressed Carson enough in November 1991 to be waved over to the seat beside the desk, an invitation that comedians counted among the highest honors in the business.

Which ABC daytime game show did Johnny Carson host from 1957 until he took over The Tonight Show?

Who Do You Trust? paired him with his future Tonight Show announcer and gave him room to ad-lib with guests. It had begun in prime time as Do You Trust Your Wife?, hosted by ventriloquist Edgar Bergen.

Which comedy legend introduced Johnny Carson to viewers on his first Tonight Show as host in October 1962?

Groucho Marx, who had turned the hosting job down himself, sent Carson on with a joking warning to stay out of Hollywood. No film of the night survives, only photographs and a sound recording.

Which comedian launched Tonight as its first host in 1954, two hosts before Johnny Carson took the desk?

Steve Allen left for prime time in 1957. Carson's envelope-reading psychic was taken from Allen's Answer Man routine, which Allen himself traced back to a Kansas City comic, Bob Arbogast.

Which comedian knocked himself out before a 1954 live broadcast, leaving his writer Johnny Carson to fill in?

Red Skelton had hired Carson as a writer after becoming a fan of his low-budget Los Angeles sketch show, Carson's Cellar. The accident happened in rehearsal, an hour before air.

Which tennis champion bought Johnny Carson's Malibu house on terms that required six lessons for the seller?

John McEnroe and Tatum O'Neal bought the house, and the escrow terms obliged him to coach Carson six times. Carson played throughout his retirement and travelled to Wimbledon with his own teacher.

Which Las Vegas singer feuded with Johnny Carson after buying the Aladdin casino that Carson had tried to acquire?

Wayne Newton, by his own account, grew so tired of Carson's jokes about him that he walked into the host's NBC office and threatened to beat him up unless they stopped.

In which short-lived maker of gull-wing sports cars did Johnny Carson invest $500,000 in 1979?

DeLorean drew private money from several entertainers: Sammy Davis Jr. and Roy Clark invested too. Once drug-trafficking allegations engulfed the company, a guest teased Carson about his stake on the air.

Joan Embery brought animals to Johnny Carson's couch for years as goodwill ambassador for which wildlife institution?

The San Diego Zoo sent her with everything from a painting baby elephant to a tarantula. Her pygmy marmoset once climbed onto Carson's head, settled in and relieved itself there.

Which Hollywood star of It's a Wonderful Life read his own homespun poems on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show?

James Stewart shared verses he had written at different times in his life, and they were later gathered in a 1989 collection, Jimmy Stewart and His Poems.

Which insult comic did Johnny Carson confront mid-taping on the set of C.P.O. Sharkey over a broken cigarette box?

Don Rickles had cracked the wooden box, a fixture of Carson's desk since 1967, while Bob Newhart was guest-hosting. The next night Carson marched a camera crew into the sitcom studio next door.

Which American band released an admiring song titled Johnny Carson on a 1977 album?

The Beach Boys put it on their album Love You. Brian Wilson wrote it as a tribute to one of his idols, admiring how the host managed to keep entertaining night after night.

Johnny Carson served as master of ceremonies at which president's inaugural gala at Frank Sinatra's request?

Ronald Reagan's 1981 gala had Carson as its MC, yet on his own show he kept his politics to himself, saying that taking sides could only hurt him as an entertainer.

Which future ABC talk-show host wrote jokes for Johnny Carson in the early years of his Tonight Show?

Dick Cavett began doing stand-up in 1964, and later went head to head with his old boss when ABC moved his own talk show into late night.

Which instrument did Johnny Carson play as a hobby, as a 1979 segment of 60 Minutes showed him doing at home?

Drums were his release, played on a kit given to him by his close friend Buddy Rich, the jazz musician who appeared most often on the show.

Johnny Carson stored the surviving Tonight Show tapes in what kind of underground site near Hutchinson, Kansas?

A salt mine, described as bomb-proof, protected the later shows. Most of his first ten years had already been lost: NBC threw those tapes out to free storage space, to Carson's fury.

Johnny Carson later apologized to which children's TV host for a parody that made him seem wimpy?

Mister Rogers told Carson that he liked a joke as much as anyone, but feared the takeoffs would teach viewers that his program was only something to laugh at.

Johnny Carson's younger brother Richard was an Emmy-winning director of which long-running game show?

Wheel of Fortune sat on his credits beside his brother's Tonight Show and a competitor, The Merv Griffin Show. Known as Dick, he outlived Johnny by 16 years.

Which comedian's old-lady character Maude Frickert did Johnny Carson's cranky Aunt Blabby closely resemble?

Jonathan Winters liked to arrive on the show already in character, leaving Carson to tease out the backstory. Aunt Blabby borrowed Maude's black dress and wig along with her barbed tongue.

Which Tonight Show producer, once director of Bedtime for Bonzo, sat off camera trading banter with Johnny Carson?

Fred de Cordova joined as producer in 1970 and stayed to the final night. He had earlier directed the TV program of Jack Benny, the comedian Carson named among his chief influences.

Which conductor led the NBC Orchestra when Johnny Carson's Tonight Show began, later founding the New York Pops?

Skitch Henderson had also led the orchestra for Tonight's first host in the 1950s. He left Carson's show in 1966, and the Pops he founded in 1983 makes its home at Carnegie Hall.