Johnny Carson

[wbraswell]

I always like Jonathan Winters, too. He would come on Carson as Maude Frickert. I wonder if they ever did a skit together with Johnny in his old lady character? I remember the wildest one I ever saw was Rose Marie, Rickles, and Don Adams, were there. Carson made a joke about Rose and she acted offended and her and all the guys, including Ed walked off together. Johnny sat there by himself acting silly, until he loosened his tie. Doc started playing stripper music and Carson started taking it off, down to his slacks. He sat back down and they all came back on stage with only Rose wearing a shirt. It was a scream.

 

[DWalt]

Buddy Hackett was my favorite guest when Carson held sway. Many may not know it, but he was a first-class gun nut and had a great collection.

 

[RightArm]

I loved the Carson show, expecially when Jim (I think that was his name) would bring animals on the show. Carson was a master at playing off the animals. I believed his reactions, but never knew how much of it was for the audiece's sake.
Letterman was alright when he first started following Carson. He had all kinds of obscure guests, and his quirkiness was a good contrast to Carson. Letterman quickly became old hat in my opinion.

 

[goldenlight]

As much as I like Jay Leno, NONE of these new guys including Leno can hold a candle to Johnny Carson. He was the best and there will never be another like him.

THis is true, but in real life, he was a massive jerk. He was selfish, self centered, had a HUGE ego, and vindictive.

Nobody with a personality like his has real class.

He was the absolute best at what he did, but I wouldn't want to have lunch with him.

I would jump at the chance to have lunch with Jay Leno. I would even get the check.

 

[mwtdvm]

I loved the Carson show, expecially when Jim (I think that was his name) would bring animals on the show. Carson was a master at playing off the animals. I believed his reactions, but never knew how much of it was for the audiece's sake.

Johnny was not amused when the Marmoset(Small Monkey) peed down the back of his neck..

 

[gregintenn]

Johnny was not amused when the Marmoset(Small Monkey) peed down the back of his neck..

Nor when the trick rooster took a dump on his desk. Anyone remember that? It was my favorite Carson moment.

 

[george minze]

Carson was the BEST!!! Hard to improve on the BEST.....

 

[westcoast362]

Carnac's answer was "El Paso", the question was what does a Mexican quarterback do when he dosen't choose el punto, or el runo.

 

[A10]

I recall one time when Hackett was on. He proceeded to tell a terribly dirty joke, but managed to self edit well enough to get it past the censors. The last question and punch line:

"What is he taking for it?"

"Pepper...."

 

[DeadAye]

Johnny Carson was a bit player on The Steve Allen Show which Steve Allen did after he was the original Tonight Show host.
Carson and several others from The Steve Allen Show went on to be famous.
Other than Don Knotts, do you remember any?

P.S. Carnac was a version of Allen's *Answer Man* skit. Steve didn't wear a turban though

 

[jaykellogg]

I've often heard the one about Zsa Zsa and the cat. Was that a myth or did it really happen?

I tried to find something on this via. Google. I did find a clip where Jane Fonda asked Johnny about it and He said "I think I would remember that" Snopes says it never happened. I doubt he could have gotten it by the censors.

I remember when Jack Parr (Johnny's predecessor) told the joke "The Wayside Chapel" on the Tonight show and the censors took him off the air. My health teacher said in class that it wasn't really a bad joke and that my mother had told it to him. The whole class turned to look at me.

 

[mtgianni]

Johnny Carson was a bit player on The Steve Allen Show which Steve Allen did after he was the original Tonight Show host.
Carson and several others from The Steve Allen Show went on to be famous.
Other than Don Knotts, do you remember any?

P.S. Carnac was a version of Allen's *Answer Man* skit. Steve didn't wear a turban though

Johnny was a writer for the Steve Allen show as was Ed McMahn IIRC.