January 13, 2026 • 17 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Johnny Carson reigned supreme as the host of The Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992, shaping modern late-night television and launching countless careers. Over three decades on the air, iconic sketches and unforgettable guests became part of American pop culture, from “Carnac the Magnificent” to appearances by Tiny Tim and Rodney Dangerfield. Mark Malkoff, author of Love Johnny Carson: One Obsessive Fan's Journey to Find the Genius Behind the Legend, shares behind-the-scenes stories of Carson’s influence, comedic instincts, and the moments that defined late-night television history.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American
people coming to you from the city where the West begins,
Fort Worth, Texas. Johnny Carson Reign Supreme, is the host
of The Tonight Show from nineteen sixty two to nineteen
ninety two, after thirty years of being on air. Some
(00:30):
of his skits Reigned Supreme, as well as some of
his guests. Here with his story is Mark Malkoff, author
of In Love with Johnny Carson, One obsessive fans journey
to find the genius behind the legend.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Here's Mark, Ladies and gentlemen, this is a very exciting
night for us. Not only are all the members of
our NBC family here with us, we also have a
great visitor from the East, the famous Seer Sage, all knowing,
all seeing, all obniscient, and former master of ceremonies at
a house of pies, Ladies and gentlemen, Karnak, the Magnificen.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Johnny's most famous character was Karnak the Magnificent Simsala them.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome. Once again, we have a special special
NBC family in our audience tonight anxious to see and
hear your great wisdom. I have the envelopes here. They've
been hermetically sealed Kepta in a mayonnaise jar and Bob
Howard's port since noon today. No one knows the contents
of these envelopes, but you, your incredibly divine way, will
(01:35):
ascertain the answers without ever before seeing the question.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Is that right, sir?
Speaker 4 (01:41):
That's impossible?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Oh? Yes, of course, of course that's what I'll do
the first envelope.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
May I have absolute silence, please, as I.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Divine the yes hermetically sealed.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Yes, I understand that I will divine the answer. Even
though the question has been sealed in the.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Meanson, no one could even open it up if they
want it except you.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
It's true.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Johnny would hold envelopes up to his head, and he
wore a cape and a turban. He would state what
the answer was to the question. He would open the
envelope and then read what the question was.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Three dog night, what's the bad night for a tree?
Speaker 2 (02:26):
A losing streak?
Speaker 3 (02:28):
A losing sneak.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
Describe a man running naked after chugging brune juice, And.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
It was very, very hard for the writers. Johnny thought
it was a night off for the writers. But the
writers all told me it was the hardest thing that
they had to write. They told me that when they
were flying in an airplane and it was crashing down,
that their one comforting thought was that I would never
have to write another Carnac the Magnificent again. Johnny's Carson's
writers have told me to this day, and it's been
(02:58):
decades that they still have dreams, anxiety dreams where they're
writing Carnacs.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Okay, thousand clowns, a thousand Clowns's what I said. Who
put together the NBC fall schedule.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Johnny Carson purchased the rights to Karnak in nineteen fifty
when he was local in Los Angeles. A gentleman named
Carl Winston in Collier's Magazine had written the word quiz
backwards and he was the one that would state what
the answer was, and then you had to come up
with the question. And Johnny thought this would be a
good comedy routine, and he bought the rights to it
(03:41):
for two hundred dollars. Little did he know that Steve
Allen's writers, and this happens in comedy, sometimes come up
with the same ideas and Steve Allen on The Tonight
Show when he was the first host of The Tonight Show,
did the Question Answer Man, which was essentially that routine.
Johnny Carson knew that when he got the Tonight Show
and it was national, that people would say that he
stole this routine, So for two years he did not
(04:03):
do it. He waited until the public was clearly behind
him and NBC was supporting him that he started doing
Karnak the Magnificent and it was by far his most
popular routine. Steve Island years later would accuse Carson of
stealing it, but as Johnny would say, and Carl Winston
said many times that Johnny was the rightful owner of
(04:23):
the bid. Carson loved when one of his Karnacks didn't
go well. There was always one or two jokes where
the audience would groan, and that's when Carson would do
what was called the Carson Saver. He would say to
the audience, may you and then some sort of insult
to the audience, which they loved.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
UCLA, ucla, Well, what happens when there is no any
smug made this sewers of entrepreeur Back into year six
(05:02):
o'clock News.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
At the very end, Ed McMahon of the bit. Ed
McMahon would say, I hold in my hand the final envelope.
I hold in my hand the last and they would
hit the applause and the audience would cheer that they
were excited that this painful bit was going to be over,
but that was all part of the act. And then
Johnny would do another audio Carnac saver and make fun
of the audience.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
Now your only daughter going to syndication with an army camp.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
There was something that the audience has always looked forward
to when Johnny which would shine. In the late nineteen sixties,
a signer named tiny Tim debuted on The Tonight Show.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Very since here it's different.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Oh really he's different? What he's different?
Speaker 4 (05:52):
Yes, this would be like a but.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
This is not the day and age of the ordinary
run of the mill, and he's certainly not ordinary or
run of the mill.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
Right, would you welcome please?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Tiny Tim.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
His appearance caused a mini riot at the Tonight Show.
Tiny Tim would play a ukulele and had this high
falsetto voice, long straggly hair. Oh that the mere appearance
of him was shocking to the public, and the first
(06:25):
time he went on Johnny Carson Show. Johnny couldn't tell
if Tiny Tim was doing a character this was him,
And after talking to him for a few minutes, he
figured out that this was genuine. This is who Tiny
Tim was.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
Are you that that's the damna Jack I've ever seen?
Speaker 1 (06:53):
And you've been listening to Mark Malkoff tell some stories
about characters and guests that may Johnny Carson, Johnny Carson,
and one of them, of course, Karnak the Magnificent. I
knew when I was a kid sometimes well, I'd get
woken up from my sleep to see Karnak. My parents
knew I'd loved Karnak that much. Who knew that his
(07:14):
writers had anxiety about writing that skit, how hard, how
difficult it was. And then, of course we just heard
about tiny Tim. We'll hear more, I'm sure, more of
the story of Johnny Carson's characters, and in the end
the Johnny Carson Show. Here on our American stories. This
is Lee Habib and this is our American stories, and
(07:37):
all of our history stories are brought to us by
our generous sponsors, including Hillsdale College, where students go to
learn all the things that are beautiful in life and
all the things that matter in life. If you can't
get to Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come to you with their
free and terrific online courses. Go to Hillsdale dot edu.
(07:57):
That's Hillsdale dot edu. Can we continue with our American
stories and the story of Johnny Carson. Characters he brought
to life, and characters he brought on stage. Let's pick
(08:19):
up where we last left off on the subject of
Tiny Tim with Mark Malkoff, author of In Love with
Johnny Carson.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Take it Away, Mark, and the audience couldn't get enough
of this man.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
It was.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
It was absolutely shocking at the time, and Johnny didn't
make fun of Tiny Tim. The audience would laugh at
Johnny's reactions and just that this this man who was
extremely talented, who had admirers from everyone from the Beatles
to Bob Dylan that were impressed with Tiny Tim. That
he was an actually really solid musician, but just his
(08:53):
appearance and his high voice was something that the audiences
couldn't get enough at. So Tiny Tim would go on
Johnny's show routinely and he became one of the biggest
stars in America. He did a book siting in Philadelphia
and ten thousand people showed up and that is when
he met who became his bride, his fiance, Miss Vicky,
(09:17):
and they went on Johnny's show, and Johnny had the idea,
which had never been done on a late night show.
While you're engaged, you're going to be getting married, why
don't you get married on our show? And Tiny Tim,
without asking, Miss Vicky said yes. He liked the idea
of getting a free wedding and he was very much
into getting as much publicity as possible. So in December
(09:39):
of nineteen sixty nine, Tiny Tim got married to Miss
Vicky on The Tonight Show. It's the hottest ticket in town.
It was black tie. Everyone wanted to be in the show.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Well, I can't think of any better to it than
a very simple window which you both held done. Great
happiness in.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Your marriage, Tiny Tim getting married on the show that
was huge. No, I was in high school time and
it was It was the classic thing of what happened
on the Tonight Show. Everybody talked about. The show was
the highest rated show in the history of television, next
to The Moon Landing. Forty five million people tuned in
(10:16):
to this wedding, which was the biggest event. It was
front page news. Eighty five percent of all television sets
at the time were tuned to the Tiny Tim wedding.
They saved the wedding until the very end of the
show to make people stay up until twelve to fifty am,
even though they had worked the next day. And Tiny
Tim married Miss Vicki, and it became television history that
(10:41):
many eyeballs on one late night show and it has
never been broken since. Rodney Dangerfield was a struggling comedian.
He had been doing nightclubs. He had previously been selling
aluminum siding doors, and he always wanted to be a
commedian and he was very, very funny, but struggling comedian.
(11:04):
And one night he had noticed that Johnny Carson did
one a joke that he had done in a nightclub,
and he accused one of Johnny's writers of stealing the joke,
and Rodney Dangerfield wrote a very offensive letter to Johnny Carson,
who he had never met, telling Johnny that he was
ripping him off and a lot of four letter words,
I can't say. And Johnny told his comedy booker, Rodney
(11:27):
Dangerfield will never do the Tonight Show. Ronnie Dangerfield started
doing Ed Sullivan's show. It became a big stand up star.
The one show that he needed to do for his
career was Johnny Carson's show. They had a new comedy
booker who told Rodney, I want you to do Carson Show.
And Ronnie said, I don't think Johnny will let me on.
I think he'll remember. He's like, now, Johnny, I'm sure
(11:48):
he doesn't remember this, And sure enough, Johnny said He's
not doing the show. Johnny. One night in the late sixties,
was at the Copa Cabana to see Tony Bennett and
Ronnie Ingerfield had been opening up at the Cobakavandon saw
Johnny and his manager, who Rodney Dangerfield had known, and
Rodney went up to Johnny and said, I'm sorry I
(12:10):
was wrong, and he got Johnny Carson, his manager. He
took them in the service entrance in the kitchen and
got them so they didn't have to wait in line
and they were seated with great spots, and Rodney apologized.
That was the thing that got Rodney back on the
show to make his debut the first time ever on Carson.
But Rodney Dangerfield's manager was told under no circumstances is
(12:32):
Rodney gonna sit down with Johnny, He's going to do
stand up, and he is gonna leave. And then Rodney said, well,
if he's going to have that attitude, I'm not going
to do it. His manager said, now, Rodney, you need
to do this for your career. Just go on and
do it.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
Here are his friends. He got his suit back just
just this time time, and no matter what happens in
his life.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
He gets absolutely no respect.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Would you welcome Rodney Dangervild.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Ronnie was so funny his first time on Carson that
Carson broke his own little on Rodney danger I Field
over to the couch.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
I tell you, my neighbor, I don't I got no
respect Either're no respect at all. You'll kid me, there's
no respect from anybody. That's the way it works out.
I bought some rock poisoner girl asked me, if I
wrap it up, you're gonna eat it here. And I
was an ugly kid too. I worked in a pet
store and that people got asking how big I'd.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Get Rodney Dangerfield with somebody normally comedian who would do
twenty five jokes Ronnie Dangerfield every Carson appearance, did fifty
new jokes, twenty five jokes doing stand up that needs
it with Johnny down on the panel, and do twenty five.
Speaker 5 (13:38):
More's always something new generations. So my dog too. She
gives me truckled. I got a female dog.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
You know.
Speaker 5 (13:45):
I tried to mate it. She wants fifty biscuits.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Kid, Oh my god, kay.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
Female, No matter what the species, right, every every day.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
There's something Johnny and tonight's been a terrible day. Terrible day.
I get up this one of my push ups in
the nude. I didn't see the mouse trap. Yeah, I
can't take the pressure. Johnny is bad for my health,
your health. That was time for health of any boom.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Yeah, that's the one. My health is fair head taking
me very bad.
Speaker 5 (14:34):
I'm not a kidding. I'm getting old. I know I'm
getting old. Well, my last birthday cake look like a
prairie fire.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
You know how it is.
Speaker 5 (14:45):
I know I'm getting my age. I want two girls
at once, you know. And if I fall asleep, they
got each other to talk to you. What's now with do.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
I assume your crew?
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Looking back in a minute. Ronnie Dangerfield became the best
comedian stand up comedian to do the Tonight Show. His
appearances became legendary on YouTube. They have millions and millions
of you. It became a blueprint on how a comedian
did the Tonight Show and how prepared they were. Rodney
(15:34):
Dangerfield would not go on Carson Show unless he knew
he had fifty killer jokes. Eventually, in the early eighties,
Rodney Dangerfield one night helped Johnny Carson home after Carson
had too much to drink at a comedy club. Johnny
didn't remember it at all, but Rodney had helped Johnny
get home. Rodney was very upset that Johnny never said
(15:56):
thank you for helping me back, and Rodney refused to
do the show for eight years until Johnny's final months
on the show, where finally, after Johnny asked and Rodney
was promoting a movie, he finally got nostalgic and went
back on with Johnny and it was like eight years
and that hadn't happened, and all was good. Rodney Dangerfield's
work lives on on YouTube and is still to this
(16:18):
day some of the funniest stand up you will ever see,
and a.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Terrific job on the production, editing and storytelling by our
own Greg Hangler, and a special thanks to Mark Malkoff,
author of In Love with Johnny Carson, One obsessive fans
journey to find the genius behind the legend. Go to
Bookstories Anywhere, or go to Amazon or the usual suspects
and get the book. You won't put it down. In
(16:45):
my goodness, we learned so much about Carson's use of
both characters and his ability to launch or take advantage
of talent to make not only his show must see TV,
but to launch the careers of salute talents like Rodney Dangerfield.
And it's so remarkable to think that this guy is
(17:05):
in his fifties, danger Field and out there selling aluminum
siding and struggling and what do you know, those guest
hits on Carson, in addition to the Ed Sullivan Show,
made him well who he is. And you can go
on YouTube and just well just check it out. You will.
If you've not or not familiar with Dangerfield's appearances on
(17:26):
The Carson Show, you know him from movie appearances, but
they're everywhere. They're all over YouTube with millions upon millions
of views. They'll live forever and Carson as straight man,
because that's what you learn here. Carson is straight man,
even in Karnak the Magnificent. How he dealt with silence,
how he dealt with dramatic pauses, A master craftsman. The
(17:47):
Story of Karnak the Magnificent, Tiny Tim and Rodney Dangerfield.
Here on our American stories.
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American
people coming to you from the city where the West begins,
Fort Worth, Texas. Johnny Carson Reign Supreme, is the host
of The Tonight Show from nineteen sixty two to nineteen
ninety two, after thirty years of being on air. Some
(00:30):
of his skits Reigned Supreme, as well as some of
his guests. Here with his story is Mark Malkoff, author
of In Love with Johnny Carson, One obsessive fans journey
to find the genius behind the legend.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Here's Mark, Ladies and gentlemen, this is a very exciting
night for us. Not only are all the members of
our NBC family here with us, we also have a
great visitor from the East, the famous Seer Sage, all knowing,
all seeing, all obniscient, and former master of ceremonies at
a house of pies, Ladies and gentlemen, Karnak, the Magnificen.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Johnny's most famous character was Karnak the Magnificent Simsala them.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome. Once again, we have a special special
NBC family in our audience tonight anxious to see and
hear your great wisdom. I have the envelopes here. They've
been hermetically sealed Kepta in a mayonnaise jar and Bob
Howard's port since noon today. No one knows the contents
of these envelopes, but you, your incredibly divine way, will
(01:35):
ascertain the answers without ever before seeing the question.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Is that right, sir?
Speaker 4 (01:41):
That's impossible?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Oh? Yes, of course, of course that's what I'll do
the first envelope.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
May I have absolute silence, please, as I.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Divine the yes hermetically sealed.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Yes, I understand that I will divine the answer. Even
though the question has been sealed in the.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Meanson, no one could even open it up if they
want it except you.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
It's true.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Johnny would hold envelopes up to his head, and he
wore a cape and a turban. He would state what
the answer was to the question. He would open the
envelope and then read what the question was.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Three dog night, what's the bad night for a tree?
Speaker 2 (02:26):
A losing streak?
Speaker 3 (02:28):
A losing sneak.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
Describe a man running naked after chugging brune juice, And.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
It was very, very hard for the writers. Johnny thought
it was a night off for the writers. But the
writers all told me it was the hardest thing that
they had to write. They told me that when they
were flying in an airplane and it was crashing down,
that their one comforting thought was that I would never
have to write another Carnac the Magnificent again. Johnny's Carson's
writers have told me to this day, and it's been
(02:58):
decades that they still have dreams, anxiety dreams where they're
writing Carnacs.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Okay, thousand clowns, a thousand Clowns's what I said. Who
put together the NBC fall schedule.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Johnny Carson purchased the rights to Karnak in nineteen fifty
when he was local in Los Angeles. A gentleman named
Carl Winston in Collier's Magazine had written the word quiz
backwards and he was the one that would state what
the answer was, and then you had to come up
with the question. And Johnny thought this would be a
good comedy routine, and he bought the rights to it
(03:41):
for two hundred dollars. Little did he know that Steve
Allen's writers, and this happens in comedy, sometimes come up
with the same ideas and Steve Allen on The Tonight
Show when he was the first host of The Tonight Show,
did the Question Answer Man, which was essentially that routine.
Johnny Carson knew that when he got the Tonight Show
and it was national, that people would say that he
stole this routine, So for two years he did not
(04:03):
do it. He waited until the public was clearly behind
him and NBC was supporting him that he started doing
Karnak the Magnificent and it was by far his most
popular routine. Steve Island years later would accuse Carson of
stealing it, but as Johnny would say, and Carl Winston
said many times that Johnny was the rightful owner of
(04:23):
the bid. Carson loved when one of his Karnacks didn't
go well. There was always one or two jokes where
the audience would groan, and that's when Carson would do
what was called the Carson Saver. He would say to
the audience, may you and then some sort of insult
to the audience, which they loved.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
UCLA, ucla, Well, what happens when there is no any
smug made this sewers of entrepreeur Back into year six
(05:02):
o'clock News.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
At the very end, Ed McMahon of the bit. Ed
McMahon would say, I hold in my hand the final envelope.
I hold in my hand the last and they would
hit the applause and the audience would cheer that they
were excited that this painful bit was going to be over,
but that was all part of the act. And then
Johnny would do another audio Carnac saver and make fun
of the audience.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
Now your only daughter going to syndication with an army camp.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
There was something that the audience has always looked forward
to when Johnny which would shine. In the late nineteen sixties,
a signer named tiny Tim debuted on The Tonight Show.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Very since here it's different.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Oh really he's different? What he's different?
Speaker 4 (05:52):
Yes, this would be like a but.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
This is not the day and age of the ordinary
run of the mill, and he's certainly not ordinary or
run of the mill.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
Right, would you welcome please?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Tiny Tim.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
His appearance caused a mini riot at the Tonight Show.
Tiny Tim would play a ukulele and had this high
falsetto voice, long straggly hair. Oh that the mere appearance
of him was shocking to the public, and the first
(06:25):
time he went on Johnny Carson Show. Johnny couldn't tell
if Tiny Tim was doing a character this was him,
And after talking to him for a few minutes, he
figured out that this was genuine. This is who Tiny
Tim was.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
Are you that that's the damna Jack I've ever seen?
Speaker 1 (06:53):
And you've been listening to Mark Malkoff tell some stories
about characters and guests that may Johnny Carson, Johnny Carson,
and one of them, of course, Karnak the Magnificent. I
knew when I was a kid sometimes well, I'd get
woken up from my sleep to see Karnak. My parents
knew I'd loved Karnak that much. Who knew that his
(07:14):
writers had anxiety about writing that skit, how hard, how
difficult it was. And then, of course we just heard
about tiny Tim. We'll hear more, I'm sure, more of
the story of Johnny Carson's characters, and in the end
the Johnny Carson Show. Here on our American stories. This
is Lee Habib and this is our American stories, and
(07:37):
all of our history stories are brought to us by
our generous sponsors, including Hillsdale College, where students go to
learn all the things that are beautiful in life and
all the things that matter in life. If you can't
get to Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come to you with their
free and terrific online courses. Go to Hillsdale dot edu.
(07:57):
That's Hillsdale dot edu. Can we continue with our American
stories and the story of Johnny Carson. Characters he brought
to life, and characters he brought on stage. Let's pick
(08:19):
up where we last left off on the subject of
Tiny Tim with Mark Malkoff, author of In Love with
Johnny Carson.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Take it Away, Mark, and the audience couldn't get enough
of this man.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
It was.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
It was absolutely shocking at the time, and Johnny didn't
make fun of Tiny Tim. The audience would laugh at
Johnny's reactions and just that this this man who was
extremely talented, who had admirers from everyone from the Beatles
to Bob Dylan that were impressed with Tiny Tim. That
he was an actually really solid musician, but just his
(08:53):
appearance and his high voice was something that the audiences
couldn't get enough at. So Tiny Tim would go on
Johnny's show routinely and he became one of the biggest
stars in America. He did a book siting in Philadelphia
and ten thousand people showed up and that is when
he met who became his bride, his fiance, Miss Vicky,
(09:17):
and they went on Johnny's show, and Johnny had the idea,
which had never been done on a late night show.
While you're engaged, you're going to be getting married, why
don't you get married on our show? And Tiny Tim,
without asking, Miss Vicky said yes. He liked the idea
of getting a free wedding and he was very much
into getting as much publicity as possible. So in December
(09:39):
of nineteen sixty nine, Tiny Tim got married to Miss
Vicky on The Tonight Show. It's the hottest ticket in town.
It was black tie. Everyone wanted to be in the show.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Well, I can't think of any better to it than
a very simple window which you both held done. Great
happiness in.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Your marriage, Tiny Tim getting married on the show that
was huge. No, I was in high school time and
it was It was the classic thing of what happened
on the Tonight Show. Everybody talked about. The show was
the highest rated show in the history of television, next
to The Moon Landing. Forty five million people tuned in
(10:16):
to this wedding, which was the biggest event. It was
front page news. Eighty five percent of all television sets
at the time were tuned to the Tiny Tim wedding.
They saved the wedding until the very end of the
show to make people stay up until twelve to fifty am,
even though they had worked the next day. And Tiny
Tim married Miss Vicki, and it became television history that
(10:41):
many eyeballs on one late night show and it has
never been broken since. Rodney Dangerfield was a struggling comedian.
He had been doing nightclubs. He had previously been selling
aluminum siding doors, and he always wanted to be a
commedian and he was very, very funny, but struggling comedian.
(11:04):
And one night he had noticed that Johnny Carson did
one a joke that he had done in a nightclub,
and he accused one of Johnny's writers of stealing the joke,
and Rodney Dangerfield wrote a very offensive letter to Johnny Carson,
who he had never met, telling Johnny that he was
ripping him off and a lot of four letter words,
I can't say. And Johnny told his comedy booker, Rodney
(11:27):
Dangerfield will never do the Tonight Show. Ronnie Dangerfield started
doing Ed Sullivan's show. It became a big stand up star.
The one show that he needed to do for his
career was Johnny Carson's show. They had a new comedy
booker who told Rodney, I want you to do Carson Show.
And Ronnie said, I don't think Johnny will let me on.
I think he'll remember. He's like, now, Johnny, I'm sure
(11:48):
he doesn't remember this, And sure enough, Johnny said He's
not doing the show. Johnny. One night in the late sixties,
was at the Copa Cabana to see Tony Bennett and
Ronnie Ingerfield had been opening up at the Cobakavandon saw
Johnny and his manager, who Rodney Dangerfield had known, and
Rodney went up to Johnny and said, I'm sorry I
(12:10):
was wrong, and he got Johnny Carson, his manager. He
took them in the service entrance in the kitchen and
got them so they didn't have to wait in line
and they were seated with great spots, and Rodney apologized.
That was the thing that got Rodney back on the
show to make his debut the first time ever on Carson.
But Rodney Dangerfield's manager was told under no circumstances is
(12:32):
Rodney gonna sit down with Johnny, He's going to do
stand up, and he is gonna leave. And then Rodney said, well,
if he's going to have that attitude, I'm not going
to do it. His manager said, now, Rodney, you need
to do this for your career. Just go on and
do it.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
Here are his friends. He got his suit back just
just this time time, and no matter what happens in
his life.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
He gets absolutely no respect.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Would you welcome Rodney Dangervild.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Ronnie was so funny his first time on Carson that
Carson broke his own little on Rodney danger I Field
over to the couch.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
I tell you, my neighbor, I don't I got no
respect Either're no respect at all. You'll kid me, there's
no respect from anybody. That's the way it works out.
I bought some rock poisoner girl asked me, if I
wrap it up, you're gonna eat it here. And I
was an ugly kid too. I worked in a pet
store and that people got asking how big I'd.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Get Rodney Dangerfield with somebody normally comedian who would do
twenty five jokes Ronnie Dangerfield every Carson appearance, did fifty
new jokes, twenty five jokes doing stand up that needs
it with Johnny down on the panel, and do twenty five.
Speaker 5 (13:38):
More's always something new generations. So my dog too. She
gives me truckled. I got a female dog.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
You know.
Speaker 5 (13:45):
I tried to mate it. She wants fifty biscuits.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Kid, Oh my god, kay.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
Female, No matter what the species, right, every every day.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
There's something Johnny and tonight's been a terrible day. Terrible day.
I get up this one of my push ups in
the nude. I didn't see the mouse trap. Yeah, I
can't take the pressure. Johnny is bad for my health,
your health. That was time for health of any boom.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Yeah, that's the one. My health is fair head taking
me very bad.
Speaker 5 (14:34):
I'm not a kidding. I'm getting old. I know I'm
getting old. Well, my last birthday cake look like a
prairie fire.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
You know how it is.
Speaker 5 (14:45):
I know I'm getting my age. I want two girls
at once, you know. And if I fall asleep, they
got each other to talk to you. What's now with do.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
I assume your crew?
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Looking back in a minute. Ronnie Dangerfield became the best
comedian stand up comedian to do the Tonight Show. His
appearances became legendary on YouTube. They have millions and millions
of you. It became a blueprint on how a comedian
did the Tonight Show and how prepared they were. Rodney
(15:34):
Dangerfield would not go on Carson Show unless he knew
he had fifty killer jokes. Eventually, in the early eighties,
Rodney Dangerfield one night helped Johnny Carson home after Carson
had too much to drink at a comedy club. Johnny
didn't remember it at all, but Rodney had helped Johnny
get home. Rodney was very upset that Johnny never said
(15:56):
thank you for helping me back, and Rodney refused to
do the show for eight years until Johnny's final months
on the show, where finally, after Johnny asked and Rodney
was promoting a movie, he finally got nostalgic and went
back on with Johnny and it was like eight years
and that hadn't happened, and all was good. Rodney Dangerfield's
work lives on on YouTube and is still to this
(16:18):
day some of the funniest stand up you will ever see,
and a.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Terrific job on the production, editing and storytelling by our
own Greg Hangler, and a special thanks to Mark Malkoff,
author of In Love with Johnny Carson, One obsessive fans
journey to find the genius behind the legend. Go to
Bookstories Anywhere, or go to Amazon or the usual suspects
and get the book. You won't put it down. In
(16:45):
my goodness, we learned so much about Carson's use of
both characters and his ability to launch or take advantage
of talent to make not only his show must see TV,
but to launch the careers of salute talents like Rodney Dangerfield.
And it's so remarkable to think that this guy is
(17:05):
in his fifties, danger Field and out there selling aluminum
siding and struggling and what do you know, those guest
hits on Carson, in addition to the Ed Sullivan Show,
made him well who he is. And you can go
on YouTube and just well just check it out. You will.
If you've not or not familiar with Dangerfield's appearances on
(17:26):
The Carson Show, you know him from movie appearances, but
they're everywhere. They're all over YouTube with millions upon millions
of views. They'll live forever and Carson as straight man,
because that's what you learn here. Carson is straight man,
even in Karnak the Magnificent. How he dealt with silence,
how he dealt with dramatic pauses, A master craftsman. The
(17:47):
Story of Karnak the Magnificent, Tiny Tim and Rodney Dangerfield.
Here on our American stories.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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