Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Aside from maybe the frumpy billionaire nonagenarian over on Farnham Street,
this guy is the most recognizable Nebraskan since Buffalo Bill Cody.
And if he were alive, today would be his one
hundredth birthday.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
And now, ladies and gentlemen, he.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Johnny King of the Night, norfolks, Johnny Carson.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Johnny Carson, You're a neutron comedian. That means, when I'm
through with the monologue, you will be gone, but the
building will be left standing.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Twenty years after his death, thirty three years since his
last appearance on television's The Tonight Show, Carson remains one
of the most beloved and admired entertainers in American history.
For thirty years, five nights a week, he tucked in
the Whole Country with a combination of snappy one liners,
insightful but non threatening, casual conversations with celebrities, athletes, politicians,
(00:56):
animal bits with boa constrictors, marmoset it's even rogue elephants,
hilariously funny and memorable comedic routines with original characters like
the Tea time movie announcer Art Fern, cantankerous but amorous
old lady aunt, Blabby Karnak, the magnificent, the turbine wearing psychic.
(01:17):
The country loved this Nebraska kid.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
I thought my very first girlfriend today. Lot of good stuff.
She was in high school. Lotti measured in marine biology.
She studied the biology of every marine.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
It was an all American television original.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Good nice thing to tell you about it. He did
a shivalrous thing last night. He was a Chasin's restaurant
and he performed the heinlich maneuver on Raquel welch Raquelson.
But I'm not choking, and it's just why wait till
the last minute.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
After leaving the Navy, he got free tuition at unl
on the GI Bill, the degree in journalism and theater Arts.
His first job made Carson Kfab's most famous former employee.
Much of that we all know. But what about Johnny
Carson might we not know?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Well?
Speaker 1 (02:11):
As a kid, he was pretty much a trouble maker.
He was always in trouble. The day after he graduated
high school, he hitchhiked from Norfolk to Los Angeles on
a dare. When he got there, he was arrested and
fined fifty dollars for impersonating a midshipman, serious business when
your country is fighting World War Two. So he enlisted
was assigned to the USS Pennsylvania, a naval battleship en
(02:34):
route to a combat zone when the war ended. But
aboard that ship he was no pleab assigned an important
task of decoding encrypted messages, a skill revealing just how
naturally intelligent Johnny Carson was, and a great boxer nobody's
fool on board. Carson was fifteen and oh in the ring,
but the highlight of his military career was also cathartic.
(02:57):
One day, he performed a magic trick and old a
joke in front of the humorless US Secretary of the Navy,
a crusty old sailor named James Forrestall, who cracked a
rare smile, threw his head back in laughter, slapped Ends
and Carson on the back. It was then Johnny k
new I'm a performer. But he wasn't done having fun.
(03:18):
At Nebraska, he was a male cheerleader and a fraternity guy.
Like most Vets, he partied pretty hard but graduated in
just three years with a dual major in radio and
speech and a minor in physics. His first TV gig
was on Channel six. He did a fifteen minute daily
variety show in the afternoons and a wildly popular radio
show doing silly stuff like interviewing the pigeons loitering around
(03:42):
City Hall, who confessed in a carson voice they could
overhear the evil plans of the corrupt politicians inside the building.
And then he'd MC church and service club dinners at night,
lampooning the big cigars all over again. One of them,
whose wife had some interest in a law Los Angeles
TV station, ordered her to get him a job there
(04:04):
and leave us alone. He wrote comedy for popular entertainers,
which kept him in show business. Desperate to perform, though,
he moved to New York City to host a daytime
TV show to tell the Truth, and then the tonight
show slot opened. He was not the first choice, not
even close. Bob Newhart, Jackie Glease, and Joey Bishop, they
all got the offer, all said no. NBC took a
(04:25):
big chance, and it worked out at its peak fifteen
million viewers a night at ten thirty long Live. The
King might still be His successors have blown it. Only
a fraction watches anymore. They're not funny they're not smart,
they're political. They alienate half the audience forgetting every lesson
(04:46):
that Johnny Carson taught. They aren't here for a lecture
but a laugh.
Aside from maybe the frumpy billionaire nonagenarian over on Farnham Street,
this guy is the most recognizable Nebraskan since Buffalo Bill Cody.
And if he were alive, today would be his one
hundredth birthday.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
And now, ladies and gentlemen, he.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Johnny King of the Night, norfolks, Johnny Carson.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Johnny Carson, You're a neutron comedian. That means, when I'm
through with the monologue, you will be gone, but the
building will be left standing.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Twenty years after his death, thirty three years since his
last appearance on television's The Tonight Show, Carson remains one
of the most beloved and admired entertainers in American history.
For thirty years, five nights a week, he tucked in
the Whole Country with a combination of snappy one liners,
insightful but non threatening, casual conversations with celebrities, athletes, politicians,
(00:56):
animal bits with boa constrictors, marmoset it's even rogue elephants,
hilariously funny and memorable comedic routines with original characters like
the Tea time movie announcer Art Fern, cantankerous but amorous
old lady aunt, Blabby Karnak, the magnificent, the turbine wearing psychic.
(01:17):
The country loved this Nebraska kid.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
I thought my very first girlfriend today. Lot of good stuff.
She was in high school. Lotti measured in marine biology.
She studied the biology of every marine.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
It was an all American television original.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Good nice thing to tell you about it. He did
a shivalrous thing last night. He was a Chasin's restaurant
and he performed the heinlich maneuver on Raquel welch Raquelson.
But I'm not choking, and it's just why wait till
the last minute.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
After leaving the Navy, he got free tuition at unl
on the GI Bill, the degree in journalism and theater Arts.
His first job made Carson Kfab's most famous former employee.
Much of that we all know. But what about Johnny
Carson might we not know?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Well?
Speaker 1 (02:11):
As a kid, he was pretty much a trouble maker.
He was always in trouble. The day after he graduated
high school, he hitchhiked from Norfolk to Los Angeles on
a dare. When he got there, he was arrested and
fined fifty dollars for impersonating a midshipman, serious business when
your country is fighting World War Two. So he enlisted
was assigned to the USS Pennsylvania, a naval battleship en
(02:34):
route to a combat zone when the war ended. But
aboard that ship he was no pleab assigned an important
task of decoding encrypted messages, a skill revealing just how
naturally intelligent Johnny Carson was, and a great boxer nobody's
fool on board. Carson was fifteen and oh in the ring,
but the highlight of his military career was also cathartic.
(02:57):
One day, he performed a magic trick and old a
joke in front of the humorless US Secretary of the Navy,
a crusty old sailor named James Forrestall, who cracked a
rare smile, threw his head back in laughter, slapped Ends
and Carson on the back. It was then Johnny k
new I'm a performer. But he wasn't done having fun.
(03:18):
At Nebraska, he was a male cheerleader and a fraternity guy.
Like most Vets, he partied pretty hard but graduated in
just three years with a dual major in radio and
speech and a minor in physics. His first TV gig
was on Channel six. He did a fifteen minute daily
variety show in the afternoons and a wildly popular radio
show doing silly stuff like interviewing the pigeons loitering around
(03:42):
City Hall, who confessed in a carson voice they could
overhear the evil plans of the corrupt politicians inside the building.
And then he'd MC church and service club dinners at night,
lampooning the big cigars all over again. One of them,
whose wife had some interest in a law Los Angeles
TV station, ordered her to get him a job there
(04:04):
and leave us alone. He wrote comedy for popular entertainers,
which kept him in show business. Desperate to perform, though,
he moved to New York City to host a daytime
TV show to tell the Truth, and then the tonight
show slot opened. He was not the first choice, not
even close. Bob Newhart, Jackie Glease, and Joey Bishop, they
all got the offer, all said no. NBC took a
(04:25):
big chance, and it worked out at its peak fifteen
million viewers a night at ten thirty long Live. The
King might still be His successors have blown it. Only
a fraction watches anymore. They're not funny they're not smart,
they're political. They alienate half the audience forgetting every lesson
(04:46):
that Johnny Carson taught. They aren't here for a lecture
but a laugh.
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