Title:
The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson's Best Moments
Word Count:
814
Summary:
This article describes how Johnny Carson's classic television moments
during his run as host on The Tonight Show made him one of the most loved
entertainers of our time.
Keywords:
Johnny Carson, classic television on DVD, classic television, classic TV
DVD
Article Body:
The 30-year run of Johnny Carson as host of The Tonight Show was both
memorable and historic. It was the setting for a number of classic TV
moments remembered by television watchers of several generations. Though
many people remember Carson for his hilarious characters and skits, he
was not one to shy away from controversial topics when it was something
that he truly believed in. Many of his best-known moments have been
captured on various classic TV DVD's, enabling fans of Carson to watch
their favorite bits over and over again.
One of Johnny Carson’s best known moments, one that demonstrated to the
world just how quick his wit really was, happened two years after he
began his run on The Tonight Show. On April 29, 1965, Ed Ames of the
Daniel Boone television series was Carson’s guest. Ames was
demonstrating how to throw a tomahawk using a wooden silhouette of a man,
and when he threw the tomahawk it landed squarely in the silhouette’s
crotch. As the crowd laughed, Carson quipped, “I didn’t even know you
were Jewish.” This piece of classic television comedy was so popular
that it was often replayed on the show’s anniversary.
Other classic moments on The Tonight Show revolved around some of the
recurring characters that Johnny Carson portrayed, often with the help of
Ed McMahon. Quite possibly the most famous of these classic television
characters was Carnac the Magnificent, a mentalist played by Carson who
would claim to be able to answer questions sealed in envelopes without
ever seeing the question. The answers, of course, would never be
straight answers and would instead be puns. When the audience didn’t like
one of the jokes, he would respond with equally outlandish curses, such
as “May a diseased yak befriend your sister.” Carson had a number of
other popular characters as well, such as Floyd R. Turbo, Ralph Willie,
and Aunt Blabby.
Not all of the comedy sketches that Carson did contained these repeating
characters. There were a number of one-shot skits which appeared on the
classic television show, including Carson’s portrayal of Hamlet
delivering the famous “To be or not to be…” soliloquy. In the Johnny
Carson version, however, were a number of product advertisements which
flowed directly from the famous Shakespearean lines to create one of the
funniest portrayals of the play to date.
In addition to providing laughs and unexpected punchlines, Carson would
from time to time use his show as a means of exposing scams and fakes who
were taking advantage of the public at large. Famed psychic Uri Gellar
appeared on the show in 1973. Carson himself set up the props for
Gellar’s act without Gellar or his manager being able to see them before
filming. Despite Gellar’s claims of having genuine mental powers, he was
unable to reproduce his usual tricks with the props that Carson provided.
This method of proving Gellar a fraud had been suggested by Carson’s
friend James Randi, a trained stage magician (like Carson himself) who
later appeared on the show in 1987 to expose the supposed faith healer
Peter Popoff. Though Popoff claimed that his knowledge of the audience’s
problems came from “Godly visions”, Randi provided Carson and his
audience with video that showed Popoff’s wife describing the people for
him to heal via a microphone which broadcast to a speaker hidden in his
hearing aid.
Other classic TV moments on The Tonight Show included visits from
zoologists such as Joan Embery and Jim Fowler. They brought animals
which Carson would often interact with in some way; many episodes
featured Carson being crawled on by smaller animals. One famous incident
often shown as a clip featured Carson leaning down too close to a
panther’s cage which caused the cat to swipe at him with its paw. Carson
ran across the stage and jumped into Ed McMahon’s arms for comedic
effect.
When Johnny Carson retired from the show, his final episodes were
considered major events. The most sentimental moment came on the next-
to-last of his episodes. Bette Midler and Robin Williams were his
guests. After Carson revealed in conversation some of his favorite
songs, Midler began to sing one. The song soon became a duet between her
and Carson. She finished her appearance by singing “One for My Baby (and
One More for the Road).” An emotional Carson began to tear up on camera.
This historic and touching moment was caught on film using a long camera
angle never used in the previous 30 years of Carson’s run. One of his
most emotional classic moments became a historic milestone in late night
television filming.
Carson was an amazing entertainer, a charismatic personality and a moment
maker. His appeal as a celebrity and a comedian carries on to future
generations as classic television shows become available on DVD.
~Ben Anton, 2008