It’s May 22. 29 years ago today NBC aired the final episode of “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson”.
Johnny’s “Tonight Show” was one of those rock-of-Gibraltar presences in American life. The radio equivalent would be Paul Harvey…you just couldn’t imagine a day without them. Until it happened.
So today, I watched Johnny’s last “Tonight Show.” I have the commercially released DVD of his finale but I prefer viewing it on YouTube for a couple of reasons. First, the DVD version completely removed a remarkable montage of the show’s musical guests over the years (due to music rights issues), along with some other weird edits for one inscrutable reason or another. Secondly, watching the episode recorded off TV, complete with 1992 commercials and promos, puts me back in the living room of stately Wentworth Manor as I waited to see how it would end.
The opening is completely different from a typical episode, as Johnny narrates a look back at his very first night at the helm, illustrated with still photos and audio from October 1, 1962. Then, a montage blazes through 30 years of curtain entrances until, finally, Johnny Carson walks through the particolored curtains one final time.
The opening monologue is personal enough to have been written by Carson himself, acknowledging friends and loved ones in the audience, the media frenzy over his departure and the discussions of how best to mark the end of his time as “Tonight Show” host. There are jokes but again, it seems as though this could have been written by Johnny. The fact that in his retirement years he wrote and submitted monologue jokes to Letterman (and was delighted when they got used on the show) makes me think this way. But it’s certainly possible the writers had a hand in it.
The next segment is a fast-paced montage of quick clips, funny exchanges between Johnny and his guests. Jane Fonda asks if Johnny ever made a lewd double entendre to Zsa Zsa Gabor while she had a cat in her lap and he replies, in a clip that must date from the Oliver North hearings, “I think I would recall that…” This fun barrage of clips ends with Johnny and Bob Hope singing “Thanks For The Memories.” It’s a marvelous button on the sequence but ironically it has come out in the ensuing years that Johnny was not fond of Hope’s appearances, which usually were plugs (“Bob, do you need to set up this clip?”) for his latest special. It’s also interesting, and telling, that Johnny always felt concerned about staying in the business too long. He had a close-up view of the perils of it, both with Hope and Jack Benny. On the most recent episode of CNN’s excellent late-night documentary series, they discuss the SNL “Carsenio” sketch and Johnny’s reaction: “When they start making fun of you, it’s time to go.”
Next is the musical montage, which tops 7 minutes (I can’t imagine such a thing going past 2 minutes today). From pop and rock icons to R & B, soul, jazz, big band, opera, classical…”remarkable” is the word I used earlier and that seems about right.
There is a segment at the desk with Ed McMahon and Doc Severinsen. Ed kiddingly offers Johnny a free slot on “Star Search”. Doc says, “The guys and I wanna thank you for giving us a place to play our music.” Doc and the NBC Orchestra were, indeed, the last great big band on network television. Many of the late night bands, particularly Conan’s Max Weinberg Seven, played in a similar style but without the size or splendor of Doc’s band.
And it’s the NBC Orchestra in the spotlight next as they play a perfectly melancholy song, “Memories Of You”, under a scrapbook montage highlighting the unique variety of guests in 30 years. Legendary actors, stars in their younger days, authors, comedians, unique talents like Jim Henson, Edgar Bergen, Andy Kaufman and more.
Next, a segment that goes behind the cameras and behind the scenes. It’s pretty fantastic, especially since I was just a few years too young (19 and a broke community college student) to be able to get to Hollywood and see a taping. (I’ve since been blessed to see Bob Barker host “Price Is Right” at legendary Television City, “Late Night With Conan O’ Brien” at also-legendary 30 Rockefeller Plaza, and “Late Show With David Letterman” at the super-legendary Ed Sullivan Theatre.) Anyway, the behind the scenes is fascinating. Watching Johnny take some deep breaths before heading out to be Art Fern is a reminder that he was 66 years old! He was certainly deserving of retirement. The fact that a planted news story by Jay Leno’s manager may have hastened his departure is one of those things that will always angry up the blood. One, because Johnny deserved better; and two, because Jay Leno was a terrible, terrible, terrible host. And we thought we were rid of him when Conan took over but no, he came back to be terrible a few more years. I mean, Jimmy Fallon is no great shakes but…he’s not Jay Leno. This is progress.
Also: I did not know that Johnny Carson parked right next to consumer advocate David Horowitz! But he did.
And then….finality. Johnny’s closing comments still hit you right between the eyes. His emotion, the carefully-chosen words. Doc Severinsen’s reaction, similar to that of millions watching at home, says it all:
And then, because nothing is above cross-promotion:
One final thought:
It is really hard to miss Johnny Carson. There are literally dozens of really well-done DVDs out there, a 24-hour Johnny Carson channel on Pluto TV, and enough YouTube material to fill more than a lost weekend.
What I think people miss is having their TV on NBC at 11:35pm, hearing that music, and having Johnny do the monologue.
I’ll say, and this is just me, I also miss the general tone of media from those days. In looking at the commercials that aired during Johnny’s last “Tonight Show” the only word that comes to mind is “genteel.” There are plenty of commercials with MTV-style imagery, but the message underneath is usually pretty darn earnest. No irony, no hipness, no laughably transparent attempt to cater to specific demographics. I mean, I don’t mind those things, but today it’s kind of like eating an all-Pixy Stix diet. Every commercial is post-modern. In 1992, Folgers does a commercial about a guy who tries to make breakfast in bed for his wife, including a nice pot of Folgers coffee. (Incidentally, is the coffee “brick” still a thing? That always fascinated me as a kid…hard as a rock until you snip the top off, then it’s just coffee.) And the ending of the commercial is: the wife sneaks out of bed to make sure he’s doing it right, but hops back into bed before he walks in. But whoops! Her feet stick out under the blanket and the hubby can see she’s wearing slippers. They exchange a smile.
Genteel!
The current Folger’s commercial is about a guy who’s not wearing pants at a Zoom meeting.
So…yeah. Just a little bit of that gentility would be refreshing. I’d even settle for those damn toilet paper bears to just keep their bathroom habits to themselves.