Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show

NBC 's Tonight was the late-night counterpart to its early-morning show Today. Originating in 1954 with host Steve Allen, Tonight was somewhat experimental at the time, as the only previous network late-night program was NBC's Broadway Open House (1950-51), which starred Jerry Lester and Dagmar. Tonight was successful. Allen moved to primetime comedy-variety shows in 1957 when Jack Paar became host of Tonight. Paar left the show in 1962.

Carson's success on Who Do You Trust? led NBC to invite him to take over Tonight a few months before Paar's departure. Carson declined the offer because he feared the difficulty of interviewing celebrities for 105 minutes each day. Bob Newhart, Jackie Gleason, Groucho Marx and Joey Bishop also declined. NBC finally convinced Carson to sign by early February 1962. He can be seen discussing his upcoming job for the first time on the February 11, 1962, episode of What's My Line?. Due to Carson having six months left on his ABC contract, NBC used multiple guest hosts until he could take over. Guest hosts included Bishop, Marx, Merv Griffin, Art Linkletter, Arlene Francis, Bob Cummings, Jerry Lewis, Donald O'Connor and others.

Although he continued to have doubts about his new job, Carson became the host of Tonight (later called The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson) on October 1, 1962. After a difficult first year, he overcame his fears. While Tonight under its previous hosts had been successful, especially under Paar, Carson's version eventually did very well in the ratings. Billy Wilder said of Carson:

By the simple law of survival, Carson is the best. He enchants the invalids and the insomniacs as well as the people who have to get up at dawn. He is the Valium and the Nembutal of a nation. No matter what kind of dead-asses are on the show, he has to make them funny and exciting. He has to be their nurse and their surgeon. He has no conceit. He does his work and he comes prepared. If he's talking to an author, he has read the book. Even his rehearsed routines sound improvised. He's the cream of middle-class elegance, yet he's not a mannequin. He has captivated the American bourgeoisie without ever offending the highbrows, and he has never said anything that wasn't liberal or progressive. Every night, in front of millions of people, he has to do the salto mortale. What's more, he does it without a net. No rewrites. No retakes. The jokes must work tonight.

McMahon followed Carson from Who Do You Trust? as his announcer and sidekick, and Skitch Henderson was installed as the maestro of the NBC Orchestra. McMahon's famous introduction, "Heeeeere's Johnny!!!" was followed by a brief monologue by Carson. This was often followed by comedy sketches, interviews and live music. Carson's trademark was a phantom golf swing at the end of his monologues, aimed stage left toward the orchestra. (Guest hosts sometimes parodied that gesture. Newhart rolled an imaginary bowling ball toward the audience.)

Paul Anka wrote The Tonight Show ' s theme song, (" Johnny's Theme "), a reworking of his "Toot Sweet"; given lyrics, it was renamed "It's Really Love" and recorded by Annette Funicello in 1959. Before taking over The Tonight Show, Carson wrote lyrics for the song, and so claimed fifty percent of the song's performance royalties (though the lyrics were never used). The theme is heard being played on sound recordings of Carson's first Tonight Show, and it was used without interruption through to his last broadcast on May 22, 1992.

The Tonight Show was originally produced at NBC's headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, with occasional stints in California. The program began videotaping in advance during the Jack Paar days, although during the 1970s NBC fed the live taping from Burbank to New York via satellite for editing (see below). Carson had a talent for quick quips to deal with problems. If the opening monologue fared poorly, the band would start playing " Tea for Two " and Carson danced a softshoe to laughs from the studio audience. Alternatively, Carson might pull the boom microphone close to his face and announce, "Attention K-Mart shoppers, clean up in aisle four!"
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