This episode is about Johnny Carson, the famed comedian and thirty-year host of 'The Tonight Show.
One in this series that explores the lives and achievements of America's most celebrated artists and performers. He made 4,531 appearances as star of NBCs 'The Tonight Show.' He welcomed 23,000 guests. AMERICAN MASTERS: JOHNNY CARSON: KING OF LATE NIGHT (TV) Summary. The whole thing with Joan broke Jobhnny’s heart, it really did.” Of Carson’s four wives, only second wife Joanne agreed to be interviewed on camera. Johnny Carson ruled as the king of late-night television for 30 years. She called him to discuss it with him and he hung up on her. (AP Photo/Douglas Pizac, file) In this file photo, talk show host Johnny Carson listens to entertainer Bette Midler sing him a farewell love song during the second-to-last taping of 'The Tonight Show' in Burbank, Calif.
“She admits that she probably shouldn’t have let Johnny find out about it second-hand. 'Johnny Carson: King of Late Night,' a two-hour 'American Masters' portrait premiers Monday at 9 p.m. “Joan really speaks about that for the first time with us,” Jones said. But surprisingly, one personality who did agree to be interviewed was Joan Rivers, whose joining Fox to host her own competing (short-lived) late-night talk show in the late 1980s spurred her complete estrangement from Carson. Only two celebs who were asked declined to participate: Woody Allen and Bill Cosby. Jones, joined on the TCA panel by regular Carson guest Angie Dickinson and comedian Drew Carey - who famously was invited to join Johnny on the couch following his first appearance on Tonight - found enthusiastic participation in the doc from Hollywood. … It was one reason why Johnny stipulated ownership of the show retroactively.” You only find them now in kinescopes that fans and collectors made. Kevin Spacey narrates this insightful profile of Johnny Carson (1925-2005). Consequently, the first 10 years of the show virtually do not exist. American Masters: Johnny Carson: King of Late Night - CARSON JOHNNY. There is nothing more.’ And that was that.” As for why there is rarely a clip to be found from Tonight‘s early years with Carson, Jones noted that NBC routinely recorded over the previous night’s edition of the show because “video was so expensive back then. … I’ve done everything I want to do and said everything I want to say. I know you want me to participate in this, but I won’t be doing anything about my life because you know what? I don’t give a shit. He said to me, ‘Peter, you write a very good letter. “Then one day in 2002 I got a call and heard, ‘Johnny Carson’s on Line 2,’ and I thought it was a joke. ''Johnny Carson: King of Late Night' goes behind throne: Review' Johnny Carson: American Masters Documentary (Reference 4 Marriages) TOC Previous Next.
The doc’s writer-producer-director Peter Jones confirmed that he had been pursuing Carson in letters from the time he famously retired from Tonight in 1992 to participate in a doc on his life, but he never received so much as a response. How come we never see any clips from Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show during that show’s first decade (1962-72)? Why was Carson essentially missing in action over the last 13 years of his life that ended on January 23, 2005? Some answers were provided this morning during a TCA panel promoting the PBS American Masters doc Johnny Carson: King of Late Night, scheduled to premiere May 14. American Masters Johnny Carson: King of Late Night premieres nationally Monday, May 14 at 9:00 pm on PBS (check local listings).Ray Richmond is contributing to Deadline’s coverage of TCA. 2012 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Carson’s taking over The Tonight Show, as well as the twentieth anniversary of his retirement. Original interviews with friends, colleagues, and performers who appeared on, began their careers on, or were influenced by The Tonight Show-including Conan O'Brien, Ray Romano, Don Rickles, Bob Newhart, Angie Dickinson, Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Dick Cavett, David Steinberg, Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen DeGeneres, Garry Shandling, Steve Martin, Arsenio Hall, Joan Rivers, and Jimmy Fallon-offer texture and context. Filmmaker Peter Jones deftly examines the complexities and contradictions of the man who defined late night television and influenced everyone who followed. In exploring the career and life of arguably the biggest star television ever produced, American Masters had the estate’s first-time cooperation and access to Johnny Carson’s greatest legacy: all existing episodes of The Tonight Show from 1962–1992. He was seen by more people than anyone else in American history-a fixture of our national life.