Johnny Carson
John William Carson entered the world on the 23rd of October 1925, in Corning, Iowa. He grew up moving between small towns like Avoca and Clarinda before settling in Norfolk, Nebraska at age eight. A book found at a friend's house sparked his interest in magic when he was twelve years old. He bought a mail-order magician kit and practiced card tricks on family members. His mother sewed him a cape for his first public performance before the local Kiwanis Club. At fourteen, he billed himself as The Great Carsoni and earned three dollars per show. After high school, he hitchhiked to Hollywood where police arrested him for impersonating a midshipman. He paid a fifty-dollar fine for that incident.
NBC invited Carson to host Tonight after Jack Paar left in 1962. Carson initially declined because he feared interviewing celebrities daily would be too difficult. Bob Newhart, Jackie Gleason, and Groucho Marx also turned down the offer before NBC convinced him to sign in early February 1962. He officially took over the show on the 1st of October 1962, after months of guest hosts including Merv Griffin and Art Linkletter. The program moved from New York City to Burbank, California on the 1st of May 1972. This shift placed the studio closer to celebrity guests. By 1980, Carson reduced his workload to three nights per week while Monday became a rotating guest host slot. Joan Rivers served as permanent guest host from September 1983 until 1986. Jay Leno eventually became the exclusive guest host starting in fall 1987. The show generated seventeen percent of NBC's pre-tax profits during Carson's tenure. His compensation reached four million dollars annually by the mid-1970s.
Carson developed several recurring comedy characters that defined his sketch style. Art Fern hosted Tea Time Movie with a nasal voice and pencil mustache. Actress Carol Wayne appeared over one hundred times as his buxom assistant known as the Matinée Lady. She entered behind him while he shouted Ho-leeeee at her body. Another character named Carnac the Magnificent wore a turban and answered questions before seeing them. McMahon handed Carson envelopes sealed in a mayonnaise jar containing questions like What does an alligator get on welfare? Carnac would trip on the step up to Carson's desk as part of his entrance routine. Floyd R. Turbo American offered editorial responses wearing a plaid hunting coat. Aunt Blabby was a cantankerous old lady who warned people not to check out elders. Doctor Dilly dispensed rambling medical advice using a cracked voice. These sketches often included double entendres or failed mentalism tricks that ended with begging for bus fare from the audience.
On the 27th of February 1982, police arrested Carson for drunk driving near Beverly Hills. He pleaded no contest and received three years probation plus a six-hundred-three-dollar fine. His license restriction limited travel to work and alcohol education classes for ninety days. A year earlier, Carson launched an attack on The New York Times after they claimed he earned seventy-five thousand dollars weekly. He denied the figure and called the article unfair. In December 1973, a monologue joke about toilet paper shortages caused panic buying across the United States. Stores ran out of supplies for weeks until manufacturers rationed stock again. Carson apologized in January 1974 for the incident. Wayne Newton sued Carson over jokes regarding their feud about acquiring the Aladdin Hotel. Raymond Burr refused to appear on the show after Carson mocked his weight repeatedly. Joan Rivers stopped speaking to Carson entirely after launching her own competing talk show in 1986.
Carson invested five hundred thousand dollars in the DeLorean Motor Company in 1979. Red Skelton joked about the car's association with cocaine trafficking allegations during a broadcast appearance. He also purchased two television stations including KVVU-TV in Las Vegas and KNAT-TV in Albuquerque. Carson sold both stations by 1985 and 1986 respectively. He founded Carson Productions in 1980 which created Late Night with David Letterman from 1982 to 1993. The company produced films like The Big Chill released in 1983. Johnny Carson Apparel Inc became successful with turtlenecks as a fashion trend before failing restaurants closed down. His charitable foundation received one-hundred-fifty-six million dollars from a personal trust established years before his death. This made it the largest Hollywood charity at that time. A five-million-dollar gift supported theater arts at the University of Nebraska Foundation in November 2004.
Carson married Jody Wolcott in October 1949 but divorced her in May 1963 after infidelities on both sides. He wed Joanne Copeland later that year who received nearly five hundred thousand dollars upon their divorce in 1972. Joanna Holland joined him in California where he bought a Bel-Air mansion worth five hundred thousand dollars. They secretly married in Santa Monica on the 30th of September 1972. Their marriage ended in August 1985 with an eighty-page settlement giving Holland twenty million dollars combined assets. His middle son Ricky died in a car accident while shooting nature photographs in 1991. Carson delivered a tribute to his son on air before producer Fred de Cordova signaled him to wrap up due to overtime. Carson married Alexis Maas on the 20th of June 1987 and remained with her until his death. He avoided discussing politics or social controversies during interviews.
Carson suffered a severe heart attack on the 19th of March 1999 requiring quadruple-bypass surgery at Santa Monica Hospital. He had smoked four packs of Pall Mall cigarettes daily during early Tonight Show years. In September 2002, he revealed he had emphysema but denied being terminally ill. Carson died from respiratory failure arising from emphysema on the 23rd of January 2005 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. His body was cremated and ashes given to his wife without a public memorial service. David Letterman paid tribute by performing monologues made entirely of jokes sent to him by Carson months earlier. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno also honored Carson with guests like Ed McMahon and Bob Newhart. A park named after him sits across from former NBC Studios in Burbank. Brian Wilson wrote a song titled Johnny Carson released on the Beach Boys Love You album in 1977. Numerous comedians including Conan O'Brien and Jerry Seinfeld credited Carson as their primary influence.
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Common questions
When and where was Johnny Carson born?
John William Carson entered the world on the 23rd of October 1925, in Corning, Iowa.
What happened when Johnny Carson joined the United States Navy?
Carson joined the United States Navy on the 8th of June 1943 and arrived aboard the USS Pennsylvania on the 14th of August 1945. He supervised the removal of bodies from twenty servicemen who had died eighteen days earlier while assigned to damage control.
How much money did Johnny Carson earn annually by the mid-1970s?
His compensation reached four million dollars annually by the mid-1970s. The program generated seventeen percent of NBC's pre-tax profits during his tenure.
Why did police arrest Johnny Carson for drunk driving?
On the 27th of February 1982, police arrested Carson for drunk driving near Beverly Hills. He pleaded no contest and received three years probation plus a six-hundred-three-dollar fine.
Who inherited Johnny Carson's charitable foundation after his death?
His body was cremated and ashes given to his wife without a public memorial service. His charitable foundation received one-hundred-fifty-six million dollars from a personal trust established years before his death.