The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
| The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson | |
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| Also known as | The Tonight Show (franchise brand) |
| Genre | Talk/Variety |
| Created by | |
| Written by |
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| Presented by | Johnny Carson |
| Narrated by | Ed McMahon |
| Theme music composer | Paul Anka |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 30 |
| No. of episodes | 4,531 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | |
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| Running time | 47–105 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Picture format | Color |
| Original release | October 1, 1962 – May 22, 1992 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Tonight Starring Jack Paar |
| Followed by | The Tonight Show with Jay Leno |
| Website | |
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from October 1, 1962 through May 22, 1992.
It originally aired during late-night. For its first decade, Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show was based at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York City, with some episodes recorded at NBC-TV's West Coast studios in Burbank, California; on May 1, 1972, the show moved to Burbank as its main venue and remained there exclusively after May 1973 until Carson's retirement. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked No. 12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time, and in 2013 it was ranked No. 22 on their list of 60 Best Series.
Johnny Carson's Tonight Show established the modern format of the late-night talk show: a monologue sprinkled with a rapid-fire series of 16 to 22 one-liners (Carson had a rule of no more than three on the same subject) was followed by sketch comedy, then moving on to guest interviews and performances by musicians and stand-up comedians. Particularly during the early years of Carson's tenure, his guests included politicians such as former U.S. Vice President (and future U.S. President) Richard M. Nixon, former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, Vice President Hubert Humphrey and (near the end of his run) presidential candidate Bill Clinton; by 1970, Carson had primarily settled into interviewing as guests people that had a book, movie, television show, or stage performance to promote. Other regulars were selected for their entertainment or information value, in contrast to those who offered more cerebral conversation; Carson refused to discuss politics on The Tonight Show out of concern it might alienate his audience, and it was Carson's preference for access to Hollywood stars that caused the show's move to the West Coast on May 1, 1972. When asked about intellectual conversation on Tonight, Carson and his staff invariably cited "Carl Sagan, Paul Ehrlich, Margaret Mead, Gore Vidal, Shana Alexander, Madalyn Murray O'Hair" as guests; one television critic stated, however, "he always presented them as if they were spinach for your diet when he did [feature such names]". Psychologist Joyce Brothers was also one of Carson's most frequent guests. Carson strongly disliked prop comedy and generally refused to have such comics on his show; such acts (Gallagher being a prominent example) only appeared on nights when guests hosted the show. Gallagher first appeared on The Tonight Show Dec. 5, 1975, when he demonstrated his prop, "The Tonight Show Home Game", and Carson noted that it was his first appearance. Gallagher again appeared on May 9, 1979, a show hosted by Carson.
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