A wildly entertaining book by one of the world’s most obsessed and informed fans of TV icon Johnny Carson, setting the record straight on Carson''s legacy and shining light on the personality behind the legendary comedian and talk show host Over the course of his thirty-year career hosting Carson aficionado Mark Malkoff has amassed more Carson stories from original sources than anyone in entertainment history, speaking to over four hundred individuals, and now, in In the end, Malkoff''s book serves not only as a biography but also as a love letter; a love letter to show business, to personalities, and to the singular show-business legend of Johnny Carson.

Autorentext

Mark Malkoff is a comedian, writer, and podcast host. He has been featured on Today, Good Morning America, CNN, NPR’s Weekend Edition, and for eight years hosted the popular podcast The Carson Podcast. His website can be found at www.markmalkoff.com.

David Ritz is a renowned writer and author who has worked with everyone from Ray Charles to Willie Nelson to Aretha Franklin. He’s written and cowritten sixty-five books, fifteen of which have been bestsellers, and is also a grammy award-nominated song writer.

Klappentext

*A Vulture* Best Comedy Book of 2025

A wildly entertaining book by one of the world’s most obsessed and informed fans of TV icon Johnny Carson, setting the record straight on Carson's legacy and shining light on the personality behind the legendary comedian and talk show host

*Over the course of his thirty-year career hosting The Tonight Show*, Johnny Carson appeared on some 4,500 broadcasts, interviewed over 25,000 guests, and solidified himself as a warm, witty, comforting presence to US audiences during turbulent times.

Carson aficionado Mark Malkoff has amassed more Carson stories from original sources than anyone in entertainment history, speaking to over four hundred individuals, and now, in Love Johnny Carson, he sets the record straight in this comprehensive portrait of Carson's life, career, legacy, and character. Read about the debuts of stand-up comics like David Letterman and Ellen DeGeneres, the never-before-detailed reasons why Johnny stopped talking to Joan Rivers, why he banned guests like William Shatner and Orson Welles, the true origins of Carnac the Magnificent (it wasn’t stolen from Steve Allen), the part Johnny played in getting Nixon elected president, the beloved comedian who the Carson writers dreaded guest-hosting, and many other behind-the-scenes stories of the funniest and most beloved Carson moments of all time.

In the end, Malkoff's book serves not only as a biography but also as a love letter; a love letter to show business, to personalities, and to the singular show-business legend of Johnny Carson.

Leseprobe
One

Beginnings

Replacing Royalty

September 1962

Johnny Carson was concerned. In a few weeks, he'd be moving from ABC to NBC, going from a run-of-the-mill afternoon game show, Who Do You Trust?, to hosting the esteemed Tonight Show.

He would be replacing megastar Jack Paar, a late-night fixture in American homes since 1957 and, according to Variety, "the most vivid TV personality since Milton Berle became Mister Television." Paar had battled NBC and the censors. He had relished his headline-making feuds with Ed Sullivan. Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa had sued him for slander. Paar had fearlessly interviewed everyone from Fidel Castro to John F. Kennedy. Hollywood legends like Judy Garland and James Cagney adored him. Journalists had dubbed him "the King of Late Night." A wit more than a comic, Paar dealt in humor that was razor sharp. Washington Post critic Tom Shales characterized him as "explosive, combative and combustive . . . It was the talk-show equivalent of a forest fire . . . He was volatile, unpredictable and uninhibited . . . notorious for being an easy weeper."

Paar had replaced the formidable Steve Allen, who, beyond his comedic talent, was a successful songwriter and jazz pianist. In many ways, Allen had created the talk show format, introducing an anything-goes attitude that made late-night TV fun. He invented man-on-the-street interviews and the kind of outrageous stunts later emulated by David Letterman.

Following icons like Allen and Paar was an intimidating challenge. Hosting a thirty-minute game show hadn't prepared Johnny to take on an hour-and-forty-five-minute talk show. Insiders were saying Carson had a hopeless task: Paar was irreplaceable. But after threatening to quit the show several times over his five years as host, Paar was on the way out, and someone had to take over the reins.

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Johnny’s decision to host Tonight required the steadfast support of his girlfriend of two years, Joanne Bee Copeland. Joanne was a brilliant thirty-year-old model, beauty queen, and former Pan Am stewardess, whom the business magnate and aerospace engineer Howard Hughes had put under contract with RKO as an actress. When she decided to focus on modeling, she moved to New York and worked on the network quiz show Top Dollar.

Johnny moved into the same York Avenue building as Joanne-she in apartment 6B, he in 8C. They had much in common. Both were voracious readers, and both loved the theater, comedy, and good music. Their early dates consisted of Johnny showing Joanne kinescopes of his former failed variety program, CBS's The Johnny Carson Show, as he carefully listened to her insightful critiques. When they went out, their favorite date spot was Eddie Condon's jazz club. Back at his apartment after nights out, Johnny would set up his telescope and point out the constellations to Joanne. He had a lifetime fascination with astronomy.

Joanne wasn't Johnny's first partner. Back in 1949, in his home state of Nebraska, Carson had married his college sweetheart, Jody Wolcott. They had three boys-Chris, born in 1950; Rick, in 1952; and Cory, in 1953. But by 1959, Jody and Johnny had separated in New York while he still hosted Who Do You Trust?

Joanne came along at a critical moment. She supplied whatever confidence Carson lacked, and her understanding of the pathways to power would form the strategy to get Carson the gig that would define his career.

Her efforts began in the spring of 1961. She was friends with Mort Werner and David Tebet, two NBC execs who were looking to replace Jack Paar as the host of The Tonight Show. On April 23, 1961, without Johnny's knowledge, Joanne convinced the two men to attend a Friars Club Roast of comedian/host Garry Moore. Having heard Johnny rehearse the material he'd written for the roast, Joanne knew Werner and Tebet would love it.

Carson won the two men over by reading a mock Variety performance review of the obviously fictitious comedy team of Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (the first human to travel in space). Carson began "Yuri and Kru Boffo in Red Square," a title that mocked Variety's overuse of the word boffo as praise, usually with regard to box-office success: "Pudgy stand-up comic Nikita Khrushchev and straight man Yuri Gagarin drew big mitt from first nighters in Moscow. Both need more topical material."

The day after Johnny's show-stopping performance at the roast, Joanne sent Werner and Tebet a reel of highlights from Who Do You Trust? and The Johnny Carson Show. They were sold.

Three days after the roast, columnist Earl Wilson reported that Paar's agent, Dick Rubin, had told NBC that Paar was serious about leaving the show and that they should look for a replacement. They already had one. Werner and Tebet persuaded NBC president Robert Kintner to approve Carson for the job, and the offer was made.

One problem: Johnny turned it down. The execs were upset. In pushing for Carson, Werner had put his job on the lin…