March 25, 2025 • 34 mins
The Democrat party crisis of reality!
The genetic testing firm “23 and Me” is filing for bankruptcy. Should their customers be concerned about what will happen to their DNA and other personal information? National Correspondent RORY O’NEILL has the story.
“Carson The Magnificent” is the definitive biography of Johnny Carson, the entertainer who redefined late-night television and American culture. Co-Author, Mike Thomas, joins us to share the amazing story of the making of the book and the riveting accounts of Carson’s legendary career and complex personal life.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, It's Michael.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Your morning show can be heard on great radio stations
across the country, like News Talk ninety two point one
and six hundred WREC in Memphis, Tennessee, or thirteen hundred
The Patriot in Tulsa or Talk six fifty KSTE in Sacramento, California.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
We invite you to listen.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Live while you're getting ready in the morning, and to
take us along for the drive to work. But as
we always say, better late than never. Thanks for joining
us for the podcast. Rise and Shine Early Bird gets
the warm Sleepy squirrel, Miss is the nut. Don't beat
that sleepy squirrel. By the way, can you tell I'm sleepy?
I was a victim last night. I'm a victim. I
tell you, what did you do? Well? I slept fourteen
(00:36):
hours Saturday night, Sunday morning, okay, and then Sunday night
Monday morning, I only slept about three hours, and then
last night I slept only about four hours.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
But I was a victim last night. What are you
doing Reacher? Oh? Really?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
That was That was a nasty binge.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
And I started I was gonna watch Conclave and just
fall asleep, and instead I thought I'm hearing at night
with my wife. I'll see if it's any good. It
was good, it's good. Eight hours later, I'm waiting on
the next episode.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
All right. Eight minutes after the hours sleep he or not?
Here we go.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Fbi A has a new task force to investigate recent
attacks against Tesla's President Trump is acting the Supreme Court
to block any order forcing the government to rehire fired
federal employees. And a big announcement to major US investment
by Hyundai made by the President during his cabinet meeting yesterday.
And if you've ever spit your DNA and sent it
(01:30):
off in the mail to twenty three and me, they
just filed bankruptcy, should as a customer you'd be concerned
about what might happen to your DNA. Roory O'Neil has
this story and he joins us, good morning, Rory.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Hey, good morning.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
And by the way, that woman's main accent makes me
bang my head on the table, just.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
So you know, well, actually she's supposed to be from Boston,
but she goes in and out of Boston and New York.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
And you and I are.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
The only two that have made that observation of how
aggravating that is a.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Terrible lost next and look, the story's fun. The dialogue
could use a little work. Well, No, but I actually
I know. I actually told my wife.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
I think because you know, he's just like this big,
like incredible hulk looking at wall, you know whatever, meathead. Yeah,
but I think the bad acting with the great scripts
kind of makes it work in a way. He's kind
of like part robot. But yeah, it was better than
I thought. And it caused me to binge, and now
I'm sleeping, all right. So it used to be the
(02:30):
biggest worry was you spit on your little thing and
send it off and dad, remember me, shows up. Now
you gotta worry about what's going to become of your
DNA and bankruptcy.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
So how does all this happen? Well?
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Right, So, and there are recommendations, even the California Attorney
General says might not be a bad idea if you
did use twenty three and meters. There are fifteen million
Americans who did to go in there and delete your account.
If you can not, everything is going to be deleted,
but it can go. It does send a signal about
how your DNA can be used going forward anyway. But
(03:04):
a lot of this stuff has already been sold off
for research purposes. So the recommendation is you delete the account.
But it also does bring up this bigger question about
Wait a minute, what about all these other private companies
that are out there collecting this data.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
We know that data is the new oil.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
So if my watch knows I was on the couch
all night watching Reacher and not taking stack and not
taking my steps or climbing stairs or walking enough. And
if my blood glucose monitor knows I was eating cake
while watching Reacher, well you know, then it can who
(03:41):
gets that information, how secret is it, how protected is it?
Speaker 1 (03:45):
And who's making money off it? So a lot of.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Questions overall about medical privacy when it comes to these
new devices.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Now, and again, unlike your medical records with your doctor,
there are no laws to protect it.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Right, this data can be sold, I mean are vague things. Yeah,
there are some vague things.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
And the twenty three meet folks say, oh, we will
abide by our privacy policy. But yeah, what about your
new owners that will be their bankrupt Well right, I
mean a lot of it because well and a lot
of it is because they went public and it didn't
go well when they did.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
All Right, so by and large, I have always been
curious to do this. I mean, I would love to know,
you know, if I have a proclivity to colon cancer
or some kind of a disease. But call me suspicious enough.
I'm just not spitting and sending my DNA off to
any company. But if they did deleting your account, that's
about all you can do, and that doesn't even completely
protect you, right.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Correct, because a lot of that information is already out there.
The company will still keep some identifying information, but they're
pretty vague about exactly what it is. But it does
again launch this bigger discussion about well, wait a minute,
where are our privacy protections at even states have different
rules versus federal law.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Right away, you got me eating cake at night like
a fat I know, I watermelon actually while I was
watching Reacher. Nice to know you got Netflix. I'll be
there Friday night. Roy and Neil's gonna be back in
the third hour. We're going to talk a little bit
about the postal service. They're feeling the cuts. Should it
be just privatized? I think it's already happened with other companies.
(05:20):
But we're going to be back with that story coming
up in the third hour.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Did I mention?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Next half hour we have author Mike Thomas who finished
the job for his mentor who started the book Carson
the Magnificent and then passed away. Mike stepped up, finished
the job, and we get the most definitive biography on
the king of late night television and an American cultural influence,
Johnny Carson, Carson Magnificent.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
We'll talk to the author next half hour.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
If there was one story I loved the most today,
it comes from Axios. So this is a far left publication.
Whenever we talk about The Atlantic, who's in the news
today for its editor in chiefest claiming that he got
an accidental text about the air strikes on Hoothy targets.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Of Pete Heseth.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Hexeth of course denies that this guy doubles down claims
he did accidentally get the text.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Okay, big deal when you.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Get to The Atlantic, UH, the Associated Press and some others.
These are the ones that influence the intelligentsia and influence
the editors of all the biased now dead journalism UH
in the mainstream and legacy.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
UH. Axios is a pretty big voice of the far left.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
And everybody's trying to figure out are the Democrats going
to admit, you know, how broke things are and begin
to fix it. So Axios weighs in with their story Behind.
By the way, did I mention we're doing a website soon.
We just got to simplify this and make it easier.
So we're gonna do a your morning show website, and
that's where all the stories that we talk about will
(07:02):
be in case you want to go read them for
yourselves or go deeper into a deep dive with them,
they're going to be there, The podcasts will be there
be a simpler place for us all to communicate. In
addition to on your local station's web page, everything that
we do on the website will automatically flow to those
so no matter where you get it. But it'll give
us one place to send you because a lot of
(07:22):
these stories I'd really love for you guys to read too.
But this one's call. It's from Axios if you want
to google it. Behind the Curtain the DEM's dark deep Pole.
So first you have a far left publication say the
Democrats are in a dark deep pole. Even rational thinking
progresses in the Democrat Party understand the deep hole that
(07:45):
they're in the Democrat Party has been propped up by
lies covered up for by the media for years. But
journalism died and with it its influence, and now there's
transparency everywhere. What is it really dying of Narratives are
dying of reality, and there's a bit of a cultural shift,
(08:06):
clearly away from wokeism and towards more conservative and traditional thought.
They even managed to win a presidential election via COVID
when they never should have. Now the majority of the
American people no Biden wasn't president, knows his staff or
probably Podesta was using auto pen. Heck, even half of
(08:27):
California is leaning towards a Republican governor. So between the
worst president and vice president having been in office four years,
and a complete change of the media landscape, this house
of cards has just collapsed, and it gets only worse
as the Democrat Party moves even farther left to relevancy.
(08:50):
One of the examples we used this morning was look
what Doze is showing. And that's not government money being
frauded and wasted and misused. That's your money and your
children's future. And so the country is behind Doge, behind
the president, bed behind behind Elon Musk and the Democrats
(09:11):
are burning teslas. So here comes Axios saying top Democrats
are telling us their party is in the deepest toll
in fifty years, and these leaders fear it could get worse.
(09:32):
And I don't have to tell you the midterms have
already the cycle has already begun. It'll be in full
swing in a couple months coming out of the summer.
Here were the findings in Axios, the story the party
has its lowest favorability rating ever, no popular national leader
to help improve it. I think it's gonna end up
(09:53):
being Wes Moore and Ronnie Manuel. But you're only gonna
hear from Bernie and AOC and the crazy far left squad.
Insufficient numbers to stop most legislation in Congress, a durable
minority of the Supreme Court, dwindling influence over the media ecosystem.
(10:13):
The right, leading podcasters and social media accounts are ruling.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Nobody cares what.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
ABCNBCCBS, The View, sixty Minutes, Washington Post, New York Times, CNNMSM,
Nobody cares what any of them think. Young voters are
growing dramatically more conservative. We've had long conversations about this
is this rebellion. I mean, if our parents are going
to be so whacked out that they think, just because
(10:42):
you know, I watch Golden Girls, I'm suddenly gender challenge,
I'll just go crazy conservative, or have conservative voices reached,
especially through TikTok, reach this younger generation, or is there
something they were born for an hour just as this
some kind of a cultural rebirth, brink of a revival,
(11:07):
whatever it is, the young voters dramatically breaking Republican. There's
a really bad twenty twenty six Senate map on the
horizon for them, and Democratic Senate retirements could make it
harder for the party to flip the House. There are
only three House Republicans and district's former Vice President Harris
(11:30):
one in twenty twenty four, a dim sign for the
Democrats to have any kind of search or reawakening. And
thanks to the number of people fleeing blue states, which
we're going to do, I don't even I We're gonna
get today red. Maybe we'll get to it tomorrow. It's
a fascinating look. I noticed was a Charlie Kirk. Someone
(11:50):
did a post on it today. But I want to
I want to go through the whole thing with you,
so you can see. But as we see people in
mass California, Illinois, New York, Wisconsin's pretty high on that list,
so is Minnesota, in Pennsylvania, where are they going? And
(12:11):
that we see clearly they're going to Florida, they're going
to Texas, they're going to Tennessee, they're going Arizona, North Carolina.
And that's going to create a shift. That's how your
founding fathers set things up. The populace is represented in
the House, the people's House. So based on population, you'll
(12:33):
lose house seats. Area is two senators, but you'll lose
house seats, and that is going to shift dramatically. So
in Minnesota they're projected by twenty thirty to lose a seat,
four in California, one in Wisconsin, one in Illinois, two
in New York, one in Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, Texas stands to
gain four seats, Florida gain four seats, Arizona, North Carolina,
(12:57):
Tennessee gain a seat. A shift not just the makeup
of Congress, but the electoral college map with it. So
by twenty thirty, remember we always say if everybody just
shows up, if turnout is equal, the Democrats win every time.
Why there's more of them, or at least there used
(13:18):
to be. So here's Axios admitting this is as bad
as it's been in fifty years, and there's nothing looking
forward that looks any better. And the midterms have already begun.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
It's your Morning Show with Michael Delchano. These are your
top five stories of the Dame No own No.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
President Trump is announcing a major US investment by Hyundai, the.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
South Korean automaker, who is going to invest twenty billion dollars,
which includes a five billion dollars steel plan in Louisiana.
Speaker 5 (13:59):
In particular, we'll be building a brand new steel plant
in Louisiana which we will produce more than two point
seven million metric tons of steal a year, creating more
than fourteen hundred jobs for American steal workers.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
Trump said this is proof that his tariffs are working.
The president said the company will also increase auto manufacturing
in Georgia as part of the deal. The chairman of
Hundai and Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry joined Trump for the announcement.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
I'm Mark Neefield, Ah. The art of the deal strikes again.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
President Trump, playing tariffs like a Piano says he may
give certain countries exemptions for tariffs whilst taking it to others.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Brian Shook has more.
Speaker 6 (14:35):
He told reporters at the White House Monday, we might
be even nicer than that. Trump has suggested he would
impose reciprocal tariffs beginning April second on any nation with
duties on US goods. As that date comes closer, some
White House officials are indicating there may be wiggle room.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
I'm Brian Shook.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Police in New Mexico say there have now been four arrests,
three of them teenagers, in connection with Friday's deadly mass
shooting at a park and Las Crucis.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Lisa Carton has the very latest details.
Speaker 7 (15:05):
Three people were killed and fifteen others wounded when gunfire
erupted at what authorities called an unsanctioned car show.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
That altercation escalated to gunfire between both groups. Several other
people were also injuring the crossfire.
Speaker 7 (15:18):
Police Chief Jeremy Story said two nineteen year old men
and a sixteen year old boy were killed.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
I'm Lisa Carton.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
This year's ACM Awards, I should do this in my country.
Disc jockey voice in Syllables gonna feature some of country
music's biggest names, Eric Church, Blake, Sheldon Laney, Wilson all
Up announced to perform at the ceremony. Reed but McIntyre
said to be your host. Nominations will be announced this Thursday.
It's the sixtieth ACM Awards. They'll take place in Frisco, Texas,
(15:48):
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Speaker 1 (17:02):
This is Kay from Surprise, Arizona. My morning show is
your Morning Show with Michael del Jorno.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
I'm Michael, and your morning show is heard on great
radio stations across the country like one oh five, nine
twelve fifty w hn Z and Tampa, Florida, News Radio
five seventy WKBN and Youngstown, Ohio and News Radio one
thousand KTOK in Oklahoma City. Love to have you listen
to us live in the morning, And of course we're
so grateful you came for the podcast.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Enjoy.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
President Trump asking the Supreme Court to block an order
forcing the government to rehire any fired federal employees. The
FBI has a new task force to investigate the recent
attacks against Tesla, and the editor in chief of The
Atlantic is doubling down on his claims he accidentally got
a text on the plans for airstrikes with hoothy targets,
even though the Secretary of Defense Petex Scept denies that.
(17:59):
It's thirty six minutes after the hour and if you're
just waking up. The new book is called Carson the Magnificent.
It is a definitive biography of Johnny Carson, the entertainer
who redefined late night television and impacted American culture for
over thirty years. The co author of that book, Mike Thomas,
is joining us and what a thrill it is. And
the book is just terrific.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Hey, how are you.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
I'm doing great. I'm a huge obvious Johnny Carson fan.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Oh great to hear. I'm also a fan of your work.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
You've done bios on Andy Kaufman, Reaches, Philbin, Jay Leno,
Phil Hartman, among others.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
But this particular project, I don't know. We almost need
a book about the making of the book because really
kind of what the prologue is. Yeah, there's like two
great stories here.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
What went into making this book, and then the man
who lived the life worthy of this book.
Speaker 8 (18:48):
Yeah, well, thanks for noticing that. It was kind of
an epic getting into this. It was I you know,
I did those books that Andy Kaufman Jay Leno reads
with Bill Zami and the Sinatra book. Actually back in
the day when I was like in my twenties, I
was his research assistant, and then I went off and
had a fifteen year career at the Sun Times and
(19:08):
then started doing books on my own, including Phil Hartman
and Second City Book. And then when this came along,
it was kind of the perfect full circle moment. I mean,
you know, obviously it was horrible that Bill died in
twenty twenty three, but I said, what can I do
to honor my late friend?
Speaker 2 (19:25):
And it was finishing finished the book. So yeah, because
you know, anybody can remember that's a function of the mind,
but honoring is a function of the heart. But you know,
let's go through that function with the audience. Explain to
them why this was important to Bill. It starts with
an exclusive interview, right, and then the notes of that
and the audio of that interview, and then a contract
(19:46):
to write a book, and a book that didn't quite
get finished until you decided to finish it. So walk
them through that whole extraordinary story.
Speaker 8 (19:53):
Yeah. So, you know Bill had been a Carson fanboy. Really,
I think he would describe himself that way since he
was his early teens in South Holland, a suburb of Chicago,
And you know, he would watch Johnny in the seventies
on his little black and white television. You know, he
got it as a birthday gift when he was fifteen.
He would lock himself in the room and not just
(20:14):
be entertained by Johnny, but study Johnny how he did
what he did. And he retained that fascination as his
writing career started blossoming, you know, and once he got
to Rolling Stone in the late eighties early nineties, he
had enough of a profile there to make an ask
(20:35):
of Johnny when Johnny was in his last year of
doing the show in ninety one ninety two. And so
I found the letter that Bill wrote to his editor
and then Joan Winner, the publisher of Rolling Stone, wrote
on Bill's behalf to the Carson camp, asking if Johnny
would sit down for kind of an exit interview with Bill.
He wasn't able to do that because Johnny was inundated,
(20:57):
you know that last year. But Bill was able to
get back stage, hang out, talk to people, see Johnny
do his thing in and out of makeup, stuff like that,
to write an appreciation for Rolling Stone. It wouldn't be
for another ten years after Johnny retired in ninety two
that Bill would actually get a long sit down with Johnny,
(21:19):
luckily three years before Johnny's passing. Luckily three years before
Johnny's passing. But Bill had tried. He had made inroads,
little by little by little. He was a very patient guy,
played this, played a long game. He got to know
Johnny's assistance, you know, people who helped him out at
his post retirement offices in Santa Monica. He would pop
in every now and then once in a while Johnny
(21:39):
would be there. And and Bill had also been writing
a lot about Late Night, about Leno, about Letterman, about Kimmel,
about all these guys were part of the Late Night
firmament ed McMahon. He wrote a piece about sidekicks, so
he was very plugged into that world.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
And I'm sure Johnny noticed that.
Speaker 8 (21:55):
And he finally got a chance to interview him in
two thousand and two over a long lineunch in Santa Monica.
So that was the story of Bill's journey to Johnny.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
I remember growing up, and I grew up in Arington Heights,
a suburb of Chicago, and we would watch two things
I remember from my childhood. One sitting at McDonald's that
was connected to the burger The Burger Kings shared a
parking lot with McDonald's. McDonald's would be packed and we
would sit there and eat. I'd look at my father
and I'd point to the one guy eating at Burger
King and going.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Who eats at Burger King? And you'd have that same
feeling watching the Tonight Show, right, Who's watching Dick Cavott?
You know?
Speaker 2 (22:29):
I mean, Johnny was bigger than life. He is still
the greatest. He is still the king of talk even
after his death.
Speaker 8 (22:34):
That's funny. Dick Cavot was Burger King.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Yeah, he was Burger King.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Carson the Magnificent is the book started by Bill's amy
and then now being finished by Mike Thomas.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
And just in time.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
And by the way, I'm so distracted. You got the
Tonight Show curtain behind you. I just oh, yeah, I figured,
you know, why not Johnny? You know in the making
of this interview, in the making of this book, and
the book that you would finish for your mentor so
many things fame to divorce, to the death of his son,
to being perceived as a private person. I would think
(23:06):
one of the biggest things is Johnny would never take
the bait and do what all the late night host
shoot show hosts are doing now and being political. I mean,
there are so many Where do you begin to tell
the story of the magnificence of Johnny Carson.
Speaker 8 (23:20):
Yeah, you know, Johnny was occasionally political, but it was always,
you know, whatever was funny. It was never really a
partisan thing. And it was a lot gentler too.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Back in the day.
Speaker 8 (23:31):
Johnny always wanted to retain the widest possible audience and
he did, you know, because part of Carson too, and
I think this is why people still have an emotional
connection to him to this day, is that he put
you to sleep at night. He didn't get you all
wound up. It was this like promise of a new tomorrow.
You know, Johnny's there, He's the last image flickering on
(23:51):
your brain. And that makes such a positive imprint that
lasts for decades and decades. I'm sorry, I got off
the main idea you were asking, Well, I mean, just
where do you begin to tell his story?
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I mean, for all of us that are fans, I
get the PDF of it, so I've already got to
read it. But I'm trying to let you tell the story.
I want them to know if you love Johnny Carson,
this is a unique view of Johnny Carson. You're going
to see some things you've never seen before, and then
there are some things you know about him that can
get more in depth.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
It's it was quite a man. It was. It was
a life of triumphant tragedy.
Speaker 8 (24:28):
It was He's a complicated guy, like any good you know,
biography figure is. He had been written about before, but
a lot of what had been written was you.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Know, unfair, a raw deal.
Speaker 8 (24:41):
Well, I don't know if yeah, it was, it was
you know, the mean Johnny, the cruel, Johnny the I
I'd like to think this is a much more nuanced
portrait written by a person and building most of the
writing in this who was a true fan who truly
appreciated Carson's art form, and it was an art form.
So you get a lot of that in the book.
(25:02):
You get a lot of bills, you know, sort of
picking apart Johnny's you know, monologues and everything else, you know,
talking about how he did what he did. But there's
also the more emotional Johnny and the softer side of
Johnny that I had never seen before, especially after his
son dies in nineteen ninety eight.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
When they came up in the final episode, because he
featured him those and all to come back Guard.
Speaker 8 (25:27):
He did feature his son in the final episode, but
also before that when he came back, he did a
five and a half minute eulogy for his son on
the air. And he never saw Johnny emotional like that
on the air, wearing his heart on his sleeve, and
he did that one time. And there's various other scenes
about when his son died that make you realize, Okay,
(25:48):
this wasn't just a cold, robotic person. I mean, he
was a guy who had a depth of emotion.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Yeah. By the way, Mike Thomas is the co author.
He's finishing the job of his mentor and friend, Bill's
Aim and Carson the Magnificent. I encourage you to get
the book everywhere great books are sold. You know this,
I remember as a child watching it, and I remember
Johnny's mother and father were in the audience, and you
could see the awkwardness in Johnny discussing his mother. That's
(26:17):
something that comes out in your in Bill's interviews and
in this book. If there is a cold side of
Johnny Carson, it's kind of what he got from mom
and never was able to shake. I hate when people
blame their parents for things. At some point, at sixty
years old, it's on you. But I don't think Johnny
ever really recovered from the cold upbringing Diddy.
Speaker 8 (26:39):
I don't think he did. I mean, even at the
highest point of his fame, she acted unimpressed with what's
happened to.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Remember the Jimmy Pearsall story. Are you proud of me? Right?
I'm just the thing and talk.
Speaker 8 (26:53):
I don't know if that's just her way, because she did. Ultimately,
she saved the whole scrap book of his clips from
when he was coming up that they found in his
closet at some point, so obviously she was proud of him.
She just couldn't fully express it. Who know who knew
if that was from her upbringing or if it was
a Nebraska thing. They were very reserved Midwest people. They
didn't wear their hearts on their sleeve, you know. So
(27:16):
it was not a warm and fuzzy household.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Johnny often joked about divorces on the show, but that
was a big part of the disappointment of his life.
I don't think that he took any of those divorces lightly.
I think the first your your opinion, would be hurt
the most.
Speaker 8 (27:31):
Yeah, I think so too, you know, And it just
but you know, his behavior would pry them apart.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
He was, you know, stepping out.
Speaker 8 (27:40):
Yes, he was drinking, he was you know, so he
bore a lot of that burden. And yeah, I mean
he was married four times. You know, it's still married
to his last wife. From what I understand, they weren't
you know, in great shape at the end. But you know,
Johnny was not in great shape health wise. But yeah,
he he'd didn't get divorced the fourth time. I think
(28:01):
he told people because he didn't want to be a
four time loser. He just but he had to get married.
There was this I think Sinatra had the same sort
of thing going on where he had to be with
someone and not just a girlfriend.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
He needed to be married some you know, is that mentality.
I have seen this before. Some people just need to
be married to have the thrill of cheating.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
I don't know if that's it, but it's something bizarre
in that close. Yeah, it was. It was bizarre. Mike
Thomas is joining us. Carson the Magnificent, he really was.
You know, I was watching the movie about Saturday Night Live,
and you think, if if Lauren Michaels doesn't take the chance,
if that original cast doesn't pull off the impossible, I mean,
(28:42):
what movies would we have watched in the eighties and nineties,
let alone since then, you know, and beyond, if not
for Satday Night Live. And then you think of Johnny Carson,
who I don't know if in your research you did it,
but his thesis paper was on comedy and it's brilliant
and under his heroes were Groucho Marx and Jack Benny.
(29:03):
This guy got the science of comedy and he made
comedians on that show. And without those comedians, you don't
have the sitcoms. Without those comedians, you don't have the movies.
I know you can make a case without those comedians,
and the whole fight for Johnny to hang on to
Saturday Night you don't get or you do get Saturday
Night Live. There are so many webs to this, isn't there?
Speaker 1 (29:23):
There are tons?
Speaker 8 (29:24):
I mean, yeah, you could say that, you know, Johnny
really formed comedy in the seventies, eighties, nineties and beyond
as we know it. And yeah, if not for Johnny
wanting more time off and wanting to pull reruns from
Saturdays and put them on a weekday like, there wouldn't
have been a slot for Saturday Night Live. And so
Lauren Michaels would not have been able to revolutionize comedy
(29:45):
as he did.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
And Lauren revered Johnny.
Speaker 8 (29:47):
I mean there's in the new Lauren book which is
terrific this Carson has sprinkled all over it. So yeah,
they both in their own ways formed for final minute.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I think the best part of the story is how
you finished this book for your mentor I really do
beyond that to the story itself. What's the lesson of
Johnny Carson's life? What was the one thing you took
away when you hit the end?
Speaker 8 (30:08):
I think Johnny was a great appreciator of comedy, a
great practitioner of comedy, but he was far better at
comedy than he was at life. And I don't think
that's atypical for a lot of performers. You know, they
pour everything they have into whatever art form it is.
They're movies, TV, and a lot of other stuff goes
(30:30):
by the wayside.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Sometimes making the right career choices is making all the
wrong life choices, Isn't.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
It sometimes depends.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Maybe that's why it took me till sixty to get
a national show.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Tell it.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
I'll stick with my wife and kids. Congratulations Carson the Magnificit.
Get it everywhere books, great books are sold, Mike Thomas,
and good job finishing this for your mentor Bill. It's
a great story. Thanks Michael. I really appreciate it. God
bless you and your curtain behind you. Thank you. I
appreciate it. Carson the Magnificit. You can get it in
Amazon books, anywhere books are sold. If you love Johnny Carson,
(31:02):
you're going to love this book. And it's a fair
look at the complexity of his life. The divorces, the
death of his son, the fame, the success, the intimate
personal failures, and yes, some of the grudges. Johnny was
big on loyalty. Just ask Joan Rivers or Jay Leto
about that. Great Spotlight interview author Mike Thomas Carson the Magnificent.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
This is your Morning Show with Michael del Chono to
the talk back line we go.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
I think Doug Columbus, Georgia is where we're starting.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
I think the access story is a psyop to try
and limit Republican turnout and donations in the future for
the midterms.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
That or they're looking at the dark hole the Democrats
are in and forced to be reasonable and honest about it.
The question is how much of that list can be
overcome and really a process that's already begun and it'll
be in full swing after the summer break. I have
no clue who the second one is, but it was
a great comment.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Nonetheless, Hey, Michael Lovers.
Speaker 9 (32:08):
Though I'm a government teacher, one of the things about
reapportionment that a lot of people didn't connect the dots
to is that the population leaving California you going to
places like Tennessee, Texas, Florida. That basically explains Joe Biden's
entire immigration plan.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Yeah, I don't have the name, but that calls from Nashville.
Great comment and great work you do teaching our kids
somewhere along the line this generation, and I think it's
a gifting of faith that they're born with that God
knows this next generation is going to do some heavy
lifting in the future. But somewhere on the line, our
(32:50):
teachers haven't been failing us as much as we thought,
or they failed us so brilliantly that the kids could
see how irrational we think they went too far with
woke issues. When you can't figure out what bathroom to
go do, you lost credibility with the kids. But teachers
are doing There are a lot of teachers doing a
great job out there, and my guess.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Is you're one of them. Yeah, that kind of backfired
on him.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
I mean, I think probably what killed the beginning cancer
cells of the whole immigration issue. You can turn to
the governor of Texas when he started brilliantly just sending
them to Martha's vineyard. You know, that woke everybody up
when it ceased being a border state problem. That was
the beginning of the end of the issue for the left.
(33:31):
But there's no question part of their strategy with the
kind of invasion of twenty million was to disperse them
in the electoral college map, and that's certainly backfired. But
their failed worldview, their failed platform and their failed policies
state by state, municipality by municipality, and nationally spectacularly.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
As costs.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
Because remember, our funding fathers gave us the ultimate right
to vote with our feet, and they've done it, and
they're going to change the electoral college map in that move.
That's what's lost in all this. You think the story is, oh,
five hundred thousand people have left California, But where did
they go? And where will the seats go from California
and to where? And by twenty thirty how does that
make the electoral college map? Almost to checkmate. I had
(34:21):
several emails, but I got to get this one in
from Catherine on the Venezuelan illegals. If those Venezuelan illegals
are actually agents of the Venezuelan government, are we sure
we want to send them back to Venezuela where they
can be redeployed. I'd keep sending them to El Salvador.
That's our email of the day. Keep the emails coming,
(34:42):
Michael d Atiheartmedia dot com, and of course, use that
talkback button on your iHeartRadio app. Can't have your morning
show without your voice.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
We're all in this together. This is Your Morning Show
with Michael ndheld chow Now
Hi, It's Michael.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Your morning show can be heard on great radio stations
across the country, like News Talk ninety two point one
and six hundred WREC in Memphis, Tennessee, or thirteen hundred
The Patriot in Tulsa or Talk six fifty KSTE in Sacramento, California.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
We invite you to listen.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Live while you're getting ready in the morning, and to
take us along for the drive to work. But as
we always say, better late than never. Thanks for joining
us for the podcast. Rise and Shine Early Bird gets
the warm Sleepy squirrel, Miss is the nut. Don't beat
that sleepy squirrel. By the way, can you tell I'm sleepy?
I was a victim last night. I'm a victim. I
tell you, what did you do? Well? I slept fourteen
(00:36):
hours Saturday night, Sunday morning, okay, and then Sunday night
Monday morning, I only slept about three hours, and then
last night I slept only about four hours.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
But I was a victim last night. What are you
doing Reacher? Oh? Really?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
That was That was a nasty binge.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
And I started I was gonna watch Conclave and just
fall asleep, and instead I thought I'm hearing at night
with my wife. I'll see if it's any good. It
was good, it's good. Eight hours later, I'm waiting on
the next episode.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
All right. Eight minutes after the hours sleep he or not?
Here we go.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Fbi A has a new task force to investigate recent
attacks against Tesla's President Trump is acting the Supreme Court
to block any order forcing the government to rehire fired
federal employees. And a big announcement to major US investment
by Hyundai made by the President during his cabinet meeting yesterday.
And if you've ever spit your DNA and sent it
(01:30):
off in the mail to twenty three and me, they
just filed bankruptcy, should as a customer you'd be concerned
about what might happen to your DNA. Roory O'Neil has
this story and he joins us, good morning, Rory.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Hey, good morning.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
And by the way, that woman's main accent makes me
bang my head on the table, just.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
So you know, well, actually she's supposed to be from Boston,
but she goes in and out of Boston and New York.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
And you and I are.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
The only two that have made that observation of how
aggravating that is a.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Terrible lost next and look, the story's fun. The dialogue
could use a little work. Well, No, but I actually
I know. I actually told my wife.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
I think because you know, he's just like this big,
like incredible hulk looking at wall, you know whatever, meathead. Yeah,
but I think the bad acting with the great scripts
kind of makes it work in a way. He's kind
of like part robot. But yeah, it was better than
I thought. And it caused me to binge, and now
I'm sleeping, all right. So it used to be the
(02:30):
biggest worry was you spit on your little thing and
send it off and dad, remember me, shows up. Now
you gotta worry about what's going to become of your
DNA and bankruptcy.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
So how does all this happen? Well?
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Right, So, and there are recommendations, even the California Attorney
General says might not be a bad idea if you
did use twenty three and meters. There are fifteen million
Americans who did to go in there and delete your account.
If you can not, everything is going to be deleted,
but it can go. It does send a signal about
how your DNA can be used going forward anyway. But
(03:04):
a lot of this stuff has already been sold off
for research purposes. So the recommendation is you delete the account.
But it also does bring up this bigger question about
Wait a minute, what about all these other private companies
that are out there collecting this data.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
We know that data is the new oil.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
So if my watch knows I was on the couch
all night watching Reacher and not taking stack and not
taking my steps or climbing stairs or walking enough. And
if my blood glucose monitor knows I was eating cake
while watching Reacher, well you know, then it can who
(03:41):
gets that information, how secret is it, how protected is it?
Speaker 1 (03:45):
And who's making money off it? So a lot of.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Questions overall about medical privacy when it comes to these
new devices.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Now, and again, unlike your medical records with your doctor,
there are no laws to protect it.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Right, this data can be sold, I mean are vague things. Yeah,
there are some vague things.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
And the twenty three meet folks say, oh, we will
abide by our privacy policy. But yeah, what about your
new owners that will be their bankrupt Well right, I
mean a lot of it because well and a lot
of it is because they went public and it didn't
go well when they did.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
All Right, so by and large, I have always been
curious to do this. I mean, I would love to know,
you know, if I have a proclivity to colon cancer
or some kind of a disease. But call me suspicious enough.
I'm just not spitting and sending my DNA off to
any company. But if they did deleting your account, that's
about all you can do, and that doesn't even completely
protect you, right.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Correct, because a lot of that information is already out there.
The company will still keep some identifying information, but they're
pretty vague about exactly what it is. But it does
again launch this bigger discussion about well, wait a minute,
where are our privacy protections at even states have different
rules versus federal law.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Right away, you got me eating cake at night like
a fat I know, I watermelon actually while I was
watching Reacher. Nice to know you got Netflix. I'll be
there Friday night. Roy and Neil's gonna be back in
the third hour. We're going to talk a little bit
about the postal service. They're feeling the cuts. Should it
be just privatized? I think it's already happened with other companies.
(05:20):
But we're going to be back with that story coming
up in the third hour.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Did I mention?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Next half hour we have author Mike Thomas who finished
the job for his mentor who started the book Carson
the Magnificent and then passed away. Mike stepped up, finished
the job, and we get the most definitive biography on
the king of late night television and an American cultural influence,
Johnny Carson, Carson Magnificent.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
We'll talk to the author next half hour.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
If there was one story I loved the most today,
it comes from Axios. So this is a far left publication.
Whenever we talk about The Atlantic, who's in the news
today for its editor in chiefest claiming that he got
an accidental text about the air strikes on Hoothy targets.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Of Pete Heseth.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Hexeth of course denies that this guy doubles down claims
he did accidentally get the text.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Okay, big deal when you.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Get to The Atlantic, UH, the Associated Press and some others.
These are the ones that influence the intelligentsia and influence
the editors of all the biased now dead journalism UH
in the mainstream and legacy.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
UH. Axios is a pretty big voice of the far left.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
And everybody's trying to figure out are the Democrats going
to admit, you know, how broke things are and begin
to fix it. So Axios weighs in with their story Behind.
By the way, did I mention we're doing a website soon.
We just got to simplify this and make it easier.
So we're gonna do a your morning show website, and
that's where all the stories that we talk about will
(07:02):
be in case you want to go read them for
yourselves or go deeper into a deep dive with them,
they're going to be there, The podcasts will be there
be a simpler place for us all to communicate. In
addition to on your local station's web page, everything that
we do on the website will automatically flow to those
so no matter where you get it. But it'll give
us one place to send you because a lot of
(07:22):
these stories I'd really love for you guys to read too.
But this one's call. It's from Axios if you want
to google it. Behind the Curtain the DEM's dark deep Pole.
So first you have a far left publication say the
Democrats are in a dark deep pole. Even rational thinking
progresses in the Democrat Party understand the deep hole that
(07:45):
they're in the Democrat Party has been propped up by
lies covered up for by the media for years. But
journalism died and with it its influence, and now there's
transparency everywhere. What is it really dying of Narratives are
dying of reality, and there's a bit of a cultural shift,
(08:06):
clearly away from wokeism and towards more conservative and traditional thought.
They even managed to win a presidential election via COVID
when they never should have. Now the majority of the
American people no Biden wasn't president, knows his staff or
probably Podesta was using auto pen. Heck, even half of
(08:27):
California is leaning towards a Republican governor. So between the
worst president and vice president having been in office four years,
and a complete change of the media landscape, this house
of cards has just collapsed, and it gets only worse
as the Democrat Party moves even farther left to relevancy.
(08:50):
One of the examples we used this morning was look
what Doze is showing. And that's not government money being
frauded and wasted and misused. That's your money and your
children's future. And so the country is behind Doge, behind
the president, bed behind behind Elon Musk and the Democrats
(09:11):
are burning teslas. So here comes Axios saying top Democrats
are telling us their party is in the deepest toll
in fifty years, and these leaders fear it could get worse.
(09:32):
And I don't have to tell you the midterms have
already the cycle has already begun. It'll be in full
swing in a couple months coming out of the summer.
Here were the findings in Axios, the story the party
has its lowest favorability rating ever, no popular national leader
to help improve it. I think it's gonna end up
(09:53):
being Wes Moore and Ronnie Manuel. But you're only gonna
hear from Bernie and AOC and the crazy far left squad.
Insufficient numbers to stop most legislation in Congress, a durable
minority of the Supreme Court, dwindling influence over the media ecosystem.
(10:13):
The right, leading podcasters and social media accounts are ruling.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Nobody cares what.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
ABCNBCCBS, The View, sixty Minutes, Washington Post, New York Times, CNNMSM,
Nobody cares what any of them think. Young voters are
growing dramatically more conservative. We've had long conversations about this
is this rebellion. I mean, if our parents are going
to be so whacked out that they think, just because
(10:42):
you know, I watch Golden Girls, I'm suddenly gender challenge,
I'll just go crazy conservative, or have conservative voices reached,
especially through TikTok, reach this younger generation, or is there
something they were born for an hour just as this
some kind of a cultural rebirth, brink of a revival,
(11:07):
whatever it is, the young voters dramatically breaking Republican. There's
a really bad twenty twenty six Senate map on the
horizon for them, and Democratic Senate retirements could make it
harder for the party to flip the House. There are
only three House Republicans and district's former Vice President Harris
(11:30):
one in twenty twenty four, a dim sign for the
Democrats to have any kind of search or reawakening. And
thanks to the number of people fleeing blue states, which
we're going to do, I don't even I We're gonna
get today red. Maybe we'll get to it tomorrow. It's
a fascinating look. I noticed was a Charlie Kirk. Someone
(11:50):
did a post on it today. But I want to
I want to go through the whole thing with you,
so you can see. But as we see people in
mass California, Illinois, New York, Wisconsin's pretty high on that list,
so is Minnesota, in Pennsylvania, where are they going? And
(12:11):
that we see clearly they're going to Florida, they're going
to Texas, they're going to Tennessee, they're going Arizona, North Carolina.
And that's going to create a shift. That's how your
founding fathers set things up. The populace is represented in
the House, the people's House. So based on population, you'll
(12:33):
lose house seats. Area is two senators, but you'll lose
house seats, and that is going to shift dramatically. So
in Minnesota they're projected by twenty thirty to lose a seat,
four in California, one in Wisconsin, one in Illinois, two
in New York, one in Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, Texas stands to
gain four seats, Florida gain four seats, Arizona, North Carolina,
(12:57):
Tennessee gain a seat. A shift not just the makeup
of Congress, but the electoral college map with it. So
by twenty thirty, remember we always say if everybody just
shows up, if turnout is equal, the Democrats win every time.
Why there's more of them, or at least there used
(13:18):
to be. So here's Axios admitting this is as bad
as it's been in fifty years, and there's nothing looking
forward that looks any better. And the midterms have already begun.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
It's your Morning Show with Michael Delchano. These are your
top five stories of the Dame No own No.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
President Trump is announcing a major US investment by Hyundai, the.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
South Korean automaker, who is going to invest twenty billion dollars,
which includes a five billion dollars steel plan in Louisiana.
Speaker 5 (13:59):
In particular, we'll be building a brand new steel plant
in Louisiana which we will produce more than two point
seven million metric tons of steal a year, creating more
than fourteen hundred jobs for American steal workers.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
Trump said this is proof that his tariffs are working.
The president said the company will also increase auto manufacturing
in Georgia as part of the deal. The chairman of
Hundai and Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry joined Trump for the announcement.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
I'm Mark Neefield, Ah. The art of the deal strikes again.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
President Trump, playing tariffs like a Piano says he may
give certain countries exemptions for tariffs whilst taking it to others.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Brian Shook has more.
Speaker 6 (14:35):
He told reporters at the White House Monday, we might
be even nicer than that. Trump has suggested he would
impose reciprocal tariffs beginning April second on any nation with
duties on US goods. As that date comes closer, some
White House officials are indicating there may be wiggle room.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
I'm Brian Shook.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Police in New Mexico say there have now been four arrests,
three of them teenagers, in connection with Friday's deadly mass
shooting at a park and Las Crucis.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Lisa Carton has the very latest details.
Speaker 7 (15:05):
Three people were killed and fifteen others wounded when gunfire
erupted at what authorities called an unsanctioned car show.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
That altercation escalated to gunfire between both groups. Several other
people were also injuring the crossfire.
Speaker 7 (15:18):
Police Chief Jeremy Story said two nineteen year old men
and a sixteen year old boy were killed.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
I'm Lisa Carton.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
This year's ACM Awards, I should do this in my country.
Disc jockey voice in Syllables gonna feature some of country
music's biggest names, Eric Church, Blake, Sheldon Laney, Wilson all
Up announced to perform at the ceremony. Reed but McIntyre
said to be your host. Nominations will be announced this Thursday.
It's the sixtieth ACM Awards. They'll take place in Frisco, Texas,
(15:48):
on May the eighth. Well, what's your plan if you
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Speaker 1 (17:02):
This is Kay from Surprise, Arizona. My morning show is
your Morning Show with Michael del Jorno.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
I'm Michael, and your morning show is heard on great
radio stations across the country like one oh five, nine
twelve fifty w hn Z and Tampa, Florida, News Radio
five seventy WKBN and Youngstown, Ohio and News Radio one
thousand KTOK in Oklahoma City. Love to have you listen
to us live in the morning, And of course we're
so grateful you came for the podcast.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Enjoy.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
President Trump asking the Supreme Court to block an order
forcing the government to rehire any fired federal employees. The
FBI has a new task force to investigate the recent
attacks against Tesla, and the editor in chief of The
Atlantic is doubling down on his claims he accidentally got
a text on the plans for airstrikes with hoothy targets,
even though the Secretary of Defense Petex Scept denies that.
(17:59):
It's thirty six minutes after the hour and if you're
just waking up. The new book is called Carson the Magnificent.
It is a definitive biography of Johnny Carson, the entertainer
who redefined late night television and impacted American culture for
over thirty years. The co author of that book, Mike Thomas,
is joining us and what a thrill it is. And
the book is just terrific.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Hey, how are you.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
I'm doing great. I'm a huge obvious Johnny Carson fan.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Oh great to hear. I'm also a fan of your work.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
You've done bios on Andy Kaufman, Reaches, Philbin, Jay Leno,
Phil Hartman, among others.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
But this particular project, I don't know. We almost need
a book about the making of the book because really
kind of what the prologue is. Yeah, there's like two
great stories here.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
What went into making this book, and then the man
who lived the life worthy of this book.
Speaker 8 (18:48):
Yeah, well, thanks for noticing that. It was kind of
an epic getting into this. It was I you know,
I did those books that Andy Kaufman Jay Leno reads
with Bill Zami and the Sinatra book. Actually back in
the day when I was like in my twenties, I
was his research assistant, and then I went off and
had a fifteen year career at the Sun Times and
(19:08):
then started doing books on my own, including Phil Hartman
and Second City Book. And then when this came along,
it was kind of the perfect full circle moment. I mean,
you know, obviously it was horrible that Bill died in
twenty twenty three, but I said, what can I do
to honor my late friend?
Speaker 2 (19:25):
And it was finishing finished the book. So yeah, because
you know, anybody can remember that's a function of the mind,
but honoring is a function of the heart. But you know,
let's go through that function with the audience. Explain to
them why this was important to Bill. It starts with
an exclusive interview, right, and then the notes of that
and the audio of that interview, and then a contract
(19:46):
to write a book, and a book that didn't quite
get finished until you decided to finish it. So walk
them through that whole extraordinary story.
Speaker 8 (19:53):
Yeah. So, you know Bill had been a Carson fanboy. Really,
I think he would describe himself that way since he
was his early teens in South Holland, a suburb of Chicago,
And you know, he would watch Johnny in the seventies
on his little black and white television. You know, he
got it as a birthday gift when he was fifteen.
He would lock himself in the room and not just
(20:14):
be entertained by Johnny, but study Johnny how he did
what he did. And he retained that fascination as his
writing career started blossoming, you know, and once he got
to Rolling Stone in the late eighties early nineties, he
had enough of a profile there to make an ask
(20:35):
of Johnny when Johnny was in his last year of
doing the show in ninety one ninety two. And so
I found the letter that Bill wrote to his editor
and then Joan Winner, the publisher of Rolling Stone, wrote
on Bill's behalf to the Carson camp, asking if Johnny
would sit down for kind of an exit interview with Bill.
He wasn't able to do that because Johnny was inundated,
(20:57):
you know that last year. But Bill was able to
get back stage, hang out, talk to people, see Johnny
do his thing in and out of makeup, stuff like that,
to write an appreciation for Rolling Stone. It wouldn't be
for another ten years after Johnny retired in ninety two
that Bill would actually get a long sit down with Johnny,
(21:19):
luckily three years before Johnny's passing. Luckily three years before
Johnny's passing. But Bill had tried. He had made inroads,
little by little by little. He was a very patient guy,
played this, played a long game. He got to know
Johnny's assistance, you know, people who helped him out at
his post retirement offices in Santa Monica. He would pop
in every now and then once in a while Johnny
(21:39):
would be there. And and Bill had also been writing
a lot about Late Night, about Leno, about Letterman, about Kimmel,
about all these guys were part of the Late Night
firmament ed McMahon. He wrote a piece about sidekicks, so
he was very plugged into that world.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
And I'm sure Johnny noticed that.
Speaker 8 (21:55):
And he finally got a chance to interview him in
two thousand and two over a long lineunch in Santa Monica.
So that was the story of Bill's journey to Johnny.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
I remember growing up, and I grew up in Arington Heights,
a suburb of Chicago, and we would watch two things
I remember from my childhood. One sitting at McDonald's that
was connected to the burger The Burger Kings shared a
parking lot with McDonald's. McDonald's would be packed and we
would sit there and eat. I'd look at my father
and I'd point to the one guy eating at Burger
King and going.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Who eats at Burger King? And you'd have that same
feeling watching the Tonight Show, right, Who's watching Dick Cavott?
You know?
Speaker 2 (22:29):
I mean, Johnny was bigger than life. He is still
the greatest. He is still the king of talk even
after his death.
Speaker 8 (22:34):
That's funny. Dick Cavot was Burger King.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Yeah, he was Burger King.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Carson the Magnificent is the book started by Bill's amy
and then now being finished by Mike Thomas.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
And just in time.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
And by the way, I'm so distracted. You got the
Tonight Show curtain behind you. I just oh, yeah, I figured,
you know, why not Johnny? You know in the making
of this interview, in the making of this book, and
the book that you would finish for your mentor so
many things fame to divorce, to the death of his son,
to being perceived as a private person. I would think
(23:06):
one of the biggest things is Johnny would never take
the bait and do what all the late night host
shoot show hosts are doing now and being political. I mean,
there are so many Where do you begin to tell
the story of the magnificence of Johnny Carson.
Speaker 8 (23:20):
Yeah, you know, Johnny was occasionally political, but it was always,
you know, whatever was funny. It was never really a
partisan thing. And it was a lot gentler too.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Back in the day.
Speaker 8 (23:31):
Johnny always wanted to retain the widest possible audience and
he did, you know, because part of Carson too, and
I think this is why people still have an emotional
connection to him to this day, is that he put
you to sleep at night. He didn't get you all
wound up. It was this like promise of a new tomorrow.
You know, Johnny's there, He's the last image flickering on
(23:51):
your brain. And that makes such a positive imprint that
lasts for decades and decades. I'm sorry, I got off
the main idea you were asking, Well, I mean, just
where do you begin to tell his story?
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I mean, for all of us that are fans, I
get the PDF of it, so I've already got to
read it. But I'm trying to let you tell the story.
I want them to know if you love Johnny Carson,
this is a unique view of Johnny Carson. You're going
to see some things you've never seen before, and then
there are some things you know about him that can
get more in depth.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
It's it was quite a man. It was. It was
a life of triumphant tragedy.
Speaker 8 (24:28):
It was He's a complicated guy, like any good you know,
biography figure is. He had been written about before, but
a lot of what had been written was you.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Know, unfair, a raw deal.
Speaker 8 (24:41):
Well, I don't know if yeah, it was, it was
you know, the mean Johnny, the cruel, Johnny the I
I'd like to think this is a much more nuanced
portrait written by a person and building most of the
writing in this who was a true fan who truly
appreciated Carson's art form, and it was an art form.
So you get a lot of that in the book.
(25:02):
You get a lot of bills, you know, sort of
picking apart Johnny's you know, monologues and everything else, you know,
talking about how he did what he did. But there's
also the more emotional Johnny and the softer side of
Johnny that I had never seen before, especially after his
son dies in nineteen ninety eight.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
When they came up in the final episode, because he
featured him those and all to come back Guard.
Speaker 8 (25:27):
He did feature his son in the final episode, but
also before that when he came back, he did a
five and a half minute eulogy for his son on
the air. And he never saw Johnny emotional like that
on the air, wearing his heart on his sleeve, and
he did that one time. And there's various other scenes
about when his son died that make you realize, Okay,
(25:48):
this wasn't just a cold, robotic person. I mean, he
was a guy who had a depth of emotion.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Yeah. By the way, Mike Thomas is the co author.
He's finishing the job of his mentor and friend, Bill's
Aim and Carson the Magnificent. I encourage you to get
the book everywhere great books are sold. You know this,
I remember as a child watching it, and I remember
Johnny's mother and father were in the audience, and you
could see the awkwardness in Johnny discussing his mother. That's
(26:17):
something that comes out in your in Bill's interviews and
in this book. If there is a cold side of
Johnny Carson, it's kind of what he got from mom
and never was able to shake. I hate when people
blame their parents for things. At some point, at sixty
years old, it's on you. But I don't think Johnny
ever really recovered from the cold upbringing Diddy.
Speaker 8 (26:39):
I don't think he did. I mean, even at the
highest point of his fame, she acted unimpressed with what's
happened to.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Remember the Jimmy Pearsall story. Are you proud of me? Right?
I'm just the thing and talk.
Speaker 8 (26:53):
I don't know if that's just her way, because she did. Ultimately,
she saved the whole scrap book of his clips from
when he was coming up that they found in his
closet at some point, so obviously she was proud of him.
She just couldn't fully express it. Who know who knew
if that was from her upbringing or if it was
a Nebraska thing. They were very reserved Midwest people. They
didn't wear their hearts on their sleeve, you know. So
(27:16):
it was not a warm and fuzzy household.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Johnny often joked about divorces on the show, but that
was a big part of the disappointment of his life.
I don't think that he took any of those divorces lightly.
I think the first your your opinion, would be hurt
the most.
Speaker 8 (27:31):
Yeah, I think so too, you know, And it just
but you know, his behavior would pry them apart.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
He was, you know, stepping out.
Speaker 8 (27:40):
Yes, he was drinking, he was you know, so he
bore a lot of that burden. And yeah, I mean
he was married four times. You know, it's still married
to his last wife. From what I understand, they weren't
you know, in great shape at the end. But you know,
Johnny was not in great shape health wise. But yeah,
he he'd didn't get divorced the fourth time. I think
(28:01):
he told people because he didn't want to be a
four time loser. He just but he had to get married.
There was this I think Sinatra had the same sort
of thing going on where he had to be with
someone and not just a girlfriend.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
He needed to be married some you know, is that mentality.
I have seen this before. Some people just need to
be married to have the thrill of cheating.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
I don't know if that's it, but it's something bizarre
in that close. Yeah, it was. It was bizarre. Mike
Thomas is joining us. Carson the Magnificent, he really was.
You know, I was watching the movie about Saturday Night Live,
and you think, if if Lauren Michaels doesn't take the chance,
if that original cast doesn't pull off the impossible, I mean,
(28:42):
what movies would we have watched in the eighties and nineties,
let alone since then, you know, and beyond, if not
for Satday Night Live. And then you think of Johnny Carson,
who I don't know if in your research you did it,
but his thesis paper was on comedy and it's brilliant
and under his heroes were Groucho Marx and Jack Benny.
(29:03):
This guy got the science of comedy and he made
comedians on that show. And without those comedians, you don't
have the sitcoms. Without those comedians, you don't have the movies.
I know you can make a case without those comedians,
and the whole fight for Johnny to hang on to
Saturday Night you don't get or you do get Saturday
Night Live. There are so many webs to this, isn't there?
Speaker 1 (29:23):
There are tons?
Speaker 8 (29:24):
I mean, yeah, you could say that, you know, Johnny
really formed comedy in the seventies, eighties, nineties and beyond
as we know it. And yeah, if not for Johnny
wanting more time off and wanting to pull reruns from
Saturdays and put them on a weekday like, there wouldn't
have been a slot for Saturday Night Live. And so
Lauren Michaels would not have been able to revolutionize comedy
(29:45):
as he did.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
And Lauren revered Johnny.
Speaker 8 (29:47):
I mean there's in the new Lauren book which is
terrific this Carson has sprinkled all over it. So yeah,
they both in their own ways formed for final minute.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I think the best part of the story is how
you finished this book for your mentor I really do
beyond that to the story itself. What's the lesson of
Johnny Carson's life? What was the one thing you took
away when you hit the end?
Speaker 8 (30:08):
I think Johnny was a great appreciator of comedy, a
great practitioner of comedy, but he was far better at
comedy than he was at life. And I don't think
that's atypical for a lot of performers. You know, they
pour everything they have into whatever art form it is.
They're movies, TV, and a lot of other stuff goes
(30:30):
by the wayside.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Sometimes making the right career choices is making all the
wrong life choices, Isn't.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
It sometimes depends.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Maybe that's why it took me till sixty to get
a national show.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Tell it.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
I'll stick with my wife and kids. Congratulations Carson the Magnificit.
Get it everywhere books, great books are sold, Mike Thomas,
and good job finishing this for your mentor Bill. It's
a great story. Thanks Michael. I really appreciate it. God
bless you and your curtain behind you. Thank you. I
appreciate it. Carson the Magnificit. You can get it in
Amazon books, anywhere books are sold. If you love Johnny Carson,
(31:02):
you're going to love this book. And it's a fair
look at the complexity of his life. The divorces, the
death of his son, the fame, the success, the intimate
personal failures, and yes, some of the grudges. Johnny was
big on loyalty. Just ask Joan Rivers or Jay Leto
about that. Great Spotlight interview author Mike Thomas Carson the Magnificent.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
This is your Morning Show with Michael del Chono to
the talk back line we go.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
I think Doug Columbus, Georgia is where we're starting.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
I think the access story is a psyop to try
and limit Republican turnout and donations in the future for
the midterms.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
That or they're looking at the dark hole the Democrats
are in and forced to be reasonable and honest about it.
The question is how much of that list can be
overcome and really a process that's already begun and it'll
be in full swing after the summer break. I have
no clue who the second one is, but it was
a great comment.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Nonetheless, Hey, Michael Lovers.
Speaker 9 (32:08):
Though I'm a government teacher, one of the things about
reapportionment that a lot of people didn't connect the dots
to is that the population leaving California you going to
places like Tennessee, Texas, Florida. That basically explains Joe Biden's
entire immigration plan.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Yeah, I don't have the name, but that calls from Nashville.
Great comment and great work you do teaching our kids
somewhere along the line this generation, and I think it's
a gifting of faith that they're born with that God
knows this next generation is going to do some heavy
lifting in the future. But somewhere on the line, our
(32:50):
teachers haven't been failing us as much as we thought,
or they failed us so brilliantly that the kids could
see how irrational we think they went too far with
woke issues. When you can't figure out what bathroom to
go do, you lost credibility with the kids. But teachers
are doing There are a lot of teachers doing a
great job out there, and my guess.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Is you're one of them. Yeah, that kind of backfired
on him.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
I mean, I think probably what killed the beginning cancer
cells of the whole immigration issue. You can turn to
the governor of Texas when he started brilliantly just sending
them to Martha's vineyard. You know, that woke everybody up
when it ceased being a border state problem. That was
the beginning of the end of the issue for the left.
(33:31):
But there's no question part of their strategy with the
kind of invasion of twenty million was to disperse them
in the electoral college map, and that's certainly backfired. But
their failed worldview, their failed platform and their failed policies
state by state, municipality by municipality, and nationally spectacularly.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
As costs.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
Because remember, our funding fathers gave us the ultimate right
to vote with our feet, and they've done it, and
they're going to change the electoral college map in that move.
That's what's lost in all this. You think the story is, oh,
five hundred thousand people have left California, But where did
they go? And where will the seats go from California
and to where? And by twenty thirty how does that
make the electoral college map? Almost to checkmate. I had
(34:21):
several emails, but I got to get this one in
from Catherine on the Venezuelan illegals. If those Venezuelan illegals
are actually agents of the Venezuelan government, are we sure
we want to send them back to Venezuela where they
can be redeployed. I'd keep sending them to El Salvador.
That's our email of the day. Keep the emails coming,
(34:42):
Michael d Atiheartmedia dot com, and of course, use that
talkback button on your iHeartRadio app. Can't have your morning
show without your voice.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
We're all in this together. This is Your Morning Show
with Michael ndheld chow Now
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