July 5, 2025 • 11 mins
George Noory and author Howard Smith discuss his close friendship with his neighbor, legendary late night TV host Johnny Carson, how Carson never considered himself a celebrity despite his long career in Hollywood, and why he felt it was important to change public misconceptions about the entertainer after his death.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now here's a highlight from coast to coast am on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Now he's Johnny. I don't say it quite like Ed
mc mahon, but pretty close. Johnny Carson spent thirty years
as the host of the Tonight Show and did a
unbelievably marvelous job. But who knew it, Howard Smith did.
His neighbor, wrote a book called My Friend Johnny, The
Last twenty Years of a Beautiful Life with Johnny Carson
(00:50):
and Friends. Howard is a retired tech executive whose life
took a remarkable term when turned when he moved to Malibu, California,
and became close friends with his neighbor Johnny Carson. Their
friendship deeply shaped his next chapter. Following a decade leading
the world's largest software company, Howard, welcome to the program.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Well, thank you very much. Enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
What a fascinating time. Now did you move next to
Johnny or did Johnny move next to you?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Now, Johnny moved next to me. And you know, he
sewed his beach house to John McEnroe, and then he
bought this place four doors for me in Malibu. And
that's how we became friends. At a dinner that Jerry
(01:41):
weintraup put On and his wife Jane says, okay, we'd
like to have you sit with Johnny Carson and Alex.
They weren't married at time, and because John's very shy,
and so they said, us with John at his table there,
and so we had a nice conversation. And one of
(02:04):
the things that you know, he just moved there. And
when he sold his house to John McEnroe, John gave
him a tennis lesson at Pepperdine, at a college down
the road from us. And I says, well, John, I said,
I live four doors from you. I have a tennis court.
If you ever want to play tennis, you know, here's
(02:25):
my number. Give me a call. So the next morning,
nine o'clock the phone rings, says Howard, I made you
last night, and can I come over and played tennis
with you? So he walks over and that's kind of
the start of our acquaintance.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Oh cool is that? And by the way, were you
unaffected I hope from the recent fires out that way?
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Well, thank you for asky. No, I lost about eighty
percent of my house. Oh yeah, and let me tell
you all the homes in Malibu and the Palisade. I mean,
most of them are all gone. But anyway, so I
am up in Idaho. Now I have a home up
(03:10):
in Quarterly in Idahove, so I'm not in Malibu because
they're redoing the house, but it hopefully will be done
in about a year.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
What happened to Johnny's old place?
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Johnny's old place sold for I can't remember the guy's
name now, but he owned the Philadelphia Eagles, the guy
that bought John's place.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
So, and was that house affected by the fires?
Speaker 3 (03:42):
No, No, that was not. That was in Point Doom
and it was not affected by the fires.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
So what did you think of watching the tonight show
knowing you knew Johnny Carson?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Well, it's kind of interesting when I met John. I
can't say that I was an abbott a meyer of
John because I had a software company. We're at the
largest software coming in the world at that time. So
I used to put a bit about ten ten thirty
(04:16):
because I used to get up early. So I never
watched the show. So it wasn't a matter that you know,
when I met John that I was, you know, so
eager to meet him, and it was, you know, it
was one of his hero was my hero. So so
I think that was a good factor because John and
(04:40):
I became very very good friends. And I would say,
we played I'll give you example, we played tennis for
maybe two months, and then John and we'd played. It'd
come over my house like three days a week and
we played tennis, and then after tennis, we just talk
(05:01):
about life. And so, you know, I was not in
the entertainment business, so I think he felt comfortable, you know,
chatting with me and talking about different things because we
spent a lot of time just talking about our lives.
And Alex would say, Howard, you and John probably talk
(05:22):
more about different things than I have with John, and
so this is our After a couple of months playing,
he says, Howard, next week, I'm going to be sixty
years old and I'm having a birthday party at Spago's,
which is a very high end restaurant in Beverly Hills,
and I'd like to have you and your wife come
(05:45):
to my birthday party. And so I guess I was
under an impression that, wow, this is this is amazing,
because I you know, I only known him a couple
of months and we just played tennis and that's about it.
And so I was patting that Ricos and all the
you know, all the big stars that he knows would
(06:05):
be there at his birthday party. So we get to
the restaurant and I said, I'm here for Johnny Carson's birthday,
and they said, oh yeah, come right over here. So
we go over to this table and here's Henry Bushkin,
who was his attorney at that time, and he was
engaged to Joyce to Witch, she was an actress actress,
and John Alex and ourselves, and I guess that was it.
(06:32):
I pardon me, that was it. That was it? That
was it, And so I kind of pinched myself and
going like wow, I mean, you know, I've never felt that. Boy.
You know, we had this close relationship, but after that,
you know, being there and being a part of that
(06:54):
six people for his sixtieth birthday, I was so I guess,
uh and away and kind of saying, wow, this is unbelievable.
And this is where I realized at that time that
I became probably one of John's best friends, and that
he and I for twenty twenty five years, we would
(07:17):
play tennis three days a week. We'd go out to dinner,
maybe two or three times a month. We'd go on
vacations together on his boat together. And so this is
where John was a shy guy. But John never thought
himself as a big star. And I have to say
(07:38):
that I got Jay Lennel to do the forward on
my book. And Jay, you know, I talked to Jay
no Jay, and I called him up and I said,
you know, I would like to have you, you know,
write a little thing about forward for my book. He's absolutely, Howard,
I'd love to do that. He writes this three page
(07:59):
forward the book. And I would have to say, people
that read that, most of them would call me and says, Howard,
I'm crying because Jay Leno wrote this unbelievable forward and
it was basically Jay didn't know John very well. Jay
(08:19):
said that he was at John's house for dinner one
night that's set and then you know when he took over.
You know, he and John were not that close and
didn't know that each other. But his comment was that
he felt that John and him were very similar and
that they were not Hollywood people. They were not considered
(08:40):
in the Hollywood group. They and I knowing Jay now more,
I can understand that because John just loved what he
was doing, and Jay too, Jay loves I was at
one of his concerts here a couple of months ago
in Florida and Jay's doing like one hundred and seventy
cons a year. Wow. And you know, and I guess
(09:04):
I would say that why he's doing that because he
loves to do that. He loves the entertain people. And
that was John's love too. John, just like I say,
never thought himself as a star, just felt that he
was doing something he loved to do, and that was
the entertain people and make them happy. And that's where
(09:25):
both of them are very very similar in that, you know,
they were just down to earth people. And I have
to say, the one thing that I wanted people to
know about John is that. And the reason I was
I wrote this book is that there was an article,
a book came out about John five years after he died,
(09:48):
and it was not very positive on John. It was
a lawyer that John had that he fired and he
wrote this book and it was you know, if you
read it, think that John was a womanizer, it was
an alcoholic, and all these negative things. And that's kind
of what prompt me to do this book because I said,
(10:11):
you know what I've known of john he was none,
nothing like that. And so this is why that prompt
me to go and say, one day I'm going to
write a book and tell people what who Johnny Carson
was like. I say, not many people that he related
(10:34):
to or it was close to as I was. And
so that's why, you know, I wrote this book about
you know that he was bigger. It's a big star,
just down the earth guy, enjoyed loving what he was doing, okay,
but never thought that he was this big star.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Listen to more Coast to Coast AM every weeknight at
one a m. Eastern and go to coastcast a m
dot com for more
Now here's a highlight from coast to coast am on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Now he's Johnny. I don't say it quite like Ed
mc mahon, but pretty close. Johnny Carson spent thirty years
as the host of the Tonight Show and did a
unbelievably marvelous job. But who knew it, Howard Smith did.
His neighbor, wrote a book called My Friend Johnny, The
Last twenty Years of a Beautiful Life with Johnny Carson
(00:50):
and Friends. Howard is a retired tech executive whose life
took a remarkable term when turned when he moved to Malibu, California,
and became close friends with his neighbor Johnny Carson. Their
friendship deeply shaped his next chapter. Following a decade leading
the world's largest software company, Howard, welcome to the program.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Well, thank you very much. Enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
What a fascinating time. Now did you move next to
Johnny or did Johnny move next to you?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Now, Johnny moved next to me. And you know, he
sewed his beach house to John McEnroe, and then he
bought this place four doors for me in Malibu. And
that's how we became friends. At a dinner that Jerry
(01:41):
weintraup put On and his wife Jane says, okay, we'd
like to have you sit with Johnny Carson and Alex.
They weren't married at time, and because John's very shy,
and so they said, us with John at his table there,
and so we had a nice conversation. And one of
(02:04):
the things that you know, he just moved there. And
when he sold his house to John McEnroe, John gave
him a tennis lesson at Pepperdine, at a college down
the road from us. And I says, well, John, I said,
I live four doors from you. I have a tennis court.
If you ever want to play tennis, you know, here's
(02:25):
my number. Give me a call. So the next morning,
nine o'clock the phone rings, says Howard, I made you
last night, and can I come over and played tennis
with you? So he walks over and that's kind of
the start of our acquaintance.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Oh cool is that? And by the way, were you
unaffected I hope from the recent fires out that way?
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Well, thank you for asky. No, I lost about eighty
percent of my house. Oh yeah, and let me tell
you all the homes in Malibu and the Palisade. I mean,
most of them are all gone. But anyway, so I
am up in Idaho. Now I have a home up
(03:10):
in Quarterly in Idahove, so I'm not in Malibu because
they're redoing the house, but it hopefully will be done
in about a year.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
What happened to Johnny's old place?
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Johnny's old place sold for I can't remember the guy's
name now, but he owned the Philadelphia Eagles, the guy
that bought John's place.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
So, and was that house affected by the fires?
Speaker 3 (03:42):
No, No, that was not. That was in Point Doom
and it was not affected by the fires.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
So what did you think of watching the tonight show
knowing you knew Johnny Carson?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Well, it's kind of interesting when I met John. I
can't say that I was an abbott a meyer of
John because I had a software company. We're at the
largest software coming in the world at that time. So
I used to put a bit about ten ten thirty
(04:16):
because I used to get up early. So I never
watched the show. So it wasn't a matter that you know,
when I met John that I was, you know, so
eager to meet him, and it was, you know, it
was one of his hero was my hero. So so
I think that was a good factor because John and
(04:40):
I became very very good friends. And I would say,
we played I'll give you example, we played tennis for
maybe two months, and then John and we'd played. It'd
come over my house like three days a week and
we played tennis, and then after tennis, we just talk
(05:01):
about life. And so, you know, I was not in
the entertainment business, so I think he felt comfortable, you know,
chatting with me and talking about different things because we
spent a lot of time just talking about our lives.
And Alex would say, Howard, you and John probably talk
(05:22):
more about different things than I have with John, and
so this is our After a couple of months playing,
he says, Howard, next week, I'm going to be sixty
years old and I'm having a birthday party at Spago's,
which is a very high end restaurant in Beverly Hills,
and I'd like to have you and your wife come
(05:45):
to my birthday party. And so I guess I was
under an impression that, wow, this is this is amazing,
because I you know, I only known him a couple
of months and we just played tennis and that's about it.
And so I was patting that Ricos and all the
you know, all the big stars that he knows would
(06:05):
be there at his birthday party. So we get to
the restaurant and I said, I'm here for Johnny Carson's birthday,
and they said, oh yeah, come right over here. So
we go over to this table and here's Henry Bushkin,
who was his attorney at that time, and he was
engaged to Joyce to Witch, she was an actress actress,
and John Alex and ourselves, and I guess that was it.
(06:32):
I pardon me, that was it. That was it? That
was it, And so I kind of pinched myself and
going like wow, I mean, you know, I've never felt that. Boy.
You know, we had this close relationship, but after that,
you know, being there and being a part of that
(06:54):
six people for his sixtieth birthday, I was so I guess,
uh and away and kind of saying, wow, this is unbelievable.
And this is where I realized at that time that
I became probably one of John's best friends, and that
he and I for twenty twenty five years, we would
(07:17):
play tennis three days a week. We'd go out to dinner,
maybe two or three times a month. We'd go on
vacations together on his boat together. And so this is
where John was a shy guy. But John never thought
himself as a big star. And I have to say
(07:38):
that I got Jay Lennel to do the forward on
my book. And Jay, you know, I talked to Jay
no Jay, and I called him up and I said,
you know, I would like to have you, you know,
write a little thing about forward for my book. He's absolutely, Howard,
I'd love to do that. He writes this three page
(07:59):
forward the book. And I would have to say, people
that read that, most of them would call me and says, Howard,
I'm crying because Jay Leno wrote this unbelievable forward and
it was basically Jay didn't know John very well. Jay
(08:19):
said that he was at John's house for dinner one
night that's set and then you know when he took over.
You know, he and John were not that close and
didn't know that each other. But his comment was that
he felt that John and him were very similar and
that they were not Hollywood people. They were not considered
(08:40):
in the Hollywood group. They and I knowing Jay now more,
I can understand that because John just loved what he
was doing, and Jay too, Jay loves I was at
one of his concerts here a couple of months ago
in Florida and Jay's doing like one hundred and seventy
cons a year. Wow. And you know, and I guess
(09:04):
I would say that why he's doing that because he
loves to do that. He loves the entertain people. And
that was John's love too. John, just like I say,
never thought himself as a star, just felt that he
was doing something he loved to do, and that was
the entertain people and make them happy. And that's where
(09:25):
both of them are very very similar in that, you know,
they were just down to earth people. And I have
to say, the one thing that I wanted people to
know about John is that. And the reason I was
I wrote this book is that there was an article,
a book came out about John five years after he died,
(09:48):
and it was not very positive on John. It was
a lawyer that John had that he fired and he
wrote this book and it was you know, if you
read it, think that John was a womanizer, it was
an alcoholic, and all these negative things. And that's kind
of what prompt me to do this book because I said,
(10:11):
you know what I've known of john he was none,
nothing like that. And so this is why that prompt
me to go and say, one day I'm going to
write a book and tell people what who Johnny Carson
was like. I say, not many people that he related
(10:34):
to or it was close to as I was. And
so that's why, you know, I wrote this book about
you know that he was bigger. It's a big star,
just down the earth guy, enjoyed loving what he was doing, okay,
but never thought that he was this big star.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Listen to more Coast to Coast AM every weeknight at
one a m. Eastern and go to coastcast a m
dot com for more
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Host
George Noory
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