Monday, January 24, 2005

A Couple More Things...

I noticed one other change in tonight's Tonight Show as it aired. After her song, k.d. lang went over to the guest chair and said a line or two about how wonderful it always was to appear with Johnny. That was cut, presumably to make room for the clip they edited in of Carson and Rickles.

As I mentioned, I spent some time this morning chatting with Paul Harris on his fine radio show out of St. Louis. We talked about Carson, of course, and Paul has now posted an MP3 file of that conversation over on his website. Prowl around a bit and you'll find conversations with a lot of folks, many more interesting than me.

• Posted at 10:30 PM · LINK

Watching Tonight's Tonight Show...

And I see someone there had the sense to edit in a little of the clip of Carson going across the hall to interrupt Rickles during his C.P.O. Sharkey taping. They didn't run it when I saw the show taped earlier today.

By the way: This will only be of interest to about three of you but I was watching the night it originally occurred, and the entire segment was covered by the Tonight Show cameras, so you saw it as shot from the hallway. When Carson reran the incident on his anniversary shows, they always used the feed from the cameras in the C.P.O. Sharkey studio. In the clip they ran tonight on The Tonight Show, they were using the feed from the Tonight Show cameras again, meaning that someone went back to the original footage in the Carson archives. For some reason, I like that.

I wish someone would try marketing all that material in its original form. After retirement, Johnny reportedly became quite determined to find a way to keep his old shows before the public and to make money off them. Unfortunately, they kept trying to put out edited versions, emphasizing comedy sketches or stand-up spots and such, and they never attracted an audience. I don't think that material works well when it's taken out of its quasi-live context. What we'd really like to see is the old shows in their original form, especially with monologues intact. Maybe someday, someone will start The Talk Show Channel and run old Carson shows (and Merv and Dick and Mike, etc.) intact.

• Posted at 9:58 PM · LINK

Back from Burbank

Thanks to an invite from one of the Tonight Show writers (gracias, Marvin), I went out to watch the taping of this evening's episode, which is all about Mr. Carson. The guests were Ed McMahon, Don Rickles, Bob Newhart, Drew Carey and K.D. Lang — or as most folks type it, k.d. lang. I thought it was a pretty good show...way too short to do justice to Johnny but fine for what it was. Jay Leno came out beforehand and explained to the audience that they'd be seeing a slightly different kind of show — no monologue, no high-fives with the first row, etc. Much of the show consisted of clips we've seen over and over on the news since yesterday, but as a TV reporter just explained to me in an e-mail, Carson Productions has made one batch of material available and they're too swamped to honor special requests. (The Tonight Show did have a few I haven't seen in a while, plus one I've never seen, which I'll write about in a minute.)

Jay opened with a nice little speech about Johnny...though I thought a little of what Jay said before the taping was better. Ed spoke about his years with Johnny, then dashed off to (I assume) appear with Larry King. Newhart and Rickles came out together and talked about their experiences. Drew Carey discussed his first time on the show, and got a huge laugh when he came out and told Leno, "You know, when you die, they're not going to do all this for you." k.d. lang did a number and...well, it airs in a little while if you want to catch it. I thought it was a pretty tasteful hour. The montage of comedians' first appearances with Johnny even included a clip of Letterman, which I thought was a nice touch.

One thing I enjoyed was a clip that Johnny wasn't even in. You may remember a night — this is going way back, to around 1976. Don Rickles was starring in a sitcom called C.P.O. Sharkey, and one Monday night he was on with guest host Bob Newhart. During the proceedings, Rickles pounded on the desk and broke Johnny's cigarette box. If you tuned in the following night, you saw Carson notice the broken box and get a bit angry. He said he'd just seen Rickles in make-up, getting ready to tape his sitcom across the hall. Then he seemed to have a devilish idea and asked his producer (or someone) if there was any way he could get over there with a camera.

I probably need to choreograph this: Carson then taped in Studio 1. The Rickles show was in Studio 3, directly across the hall. The two studios share a common corridor between them which is lined with dressing rooms and a make-up room.

That night, you saw Carson grab a hand microphone and signal for one of his cameras to follow him across the hall. He burst into Stage 3 and as it "happened," Rickles and some of his cast members were on a set that was right next to the door via which Carson entered. Johnny confronted Rickles about the busted cigarette box, Rickles stammered a lot and it was very funny. It also seemed very spontaneous, which was a testament to Johnny's acting ability. It was only years later that I realized that, while Rickles himself might not have known about it in advance, obviously Carson's crew had planned it all out and arranged with the producers of C.P.O. Sharkey to have Don on that part of the set at that precise moment. But Johnny sure made it seem like he'd decided on the spot to burst in on Rickles's taping.

Jay had Rickles and Newhart tell the story about that moment...and they showed the clip of Rickles on with Newhart, breaking the cigarette box, which I hadn't seen when it originally occurred. I think they were about to then show the clip of Carson interrupting Rickles but Don told the story of what happened so well that I guess it didn't seem necessary. I wish they'd included it but I have it on tape here, and I was glad to finally see the first part of the story. It's one of the first times anyone has ever rebroadcast anything that occurred on a Guest Host night from the Carson era. (I'm guessing Joe Garagiola's interview with two of the Beatles has turned up somewhere.)

I think that's about all I have to report. If I let this run longer, the show will already have aired, so I think I'll post it and go have some dinner.

• Posted at 7:20 PM · LINK

Tonight on Leno

They've cancelled their planned guest line-up (Paris Hilton, et al) and they're having on Ed McMahon and some veteran comics — Rickles, Newhart and others who appeared often with Carson — who'll sit around and talk about Johnny. If I can get through with an appointment in time, I'm going to run out and go to the taping.

• Posted at 10:43 AM · LINK

ME on the Radio

Paul Harris is devoting much of his popular radio program this afternoon to talk of J. Carson. I will be among those talking on KMOX, the voice of St. Louis, heard at 1120 on your dial...that is, if your dial is located in or around St. Louis. Alas, KMOX does not yet stream to the web so if you're outta range, you'll have to be content with a download at Paul's website in a day or so. I wish they did stream because what I've heard of Paul's show has been terrific and I'd sure listen in. Even when I'm not the guest.

• Posted at 10:12 AM · LINK

Carson Links (Cont.)

Cartoonist Daryl Cagle gets the drop on all others who are composing Carson obit drawings.

• Posted at 8:10 AM · LINK

Carson Links (Cont.)

James Randi is an expert magician who specializes in debunking those who use magic techniques to claim psychic or otherwise unworldly powers. He appeared several times on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, exposing frauds of that nature, and Johnny was a big supporter or his work. He shares his thoughts on Carson's passing.

• Posted at 8:05 AM · LINK

More and More...

I keep finding good articles about Johnny on the web. Here's Paul Brownstein with a largely on-target piece about The Tonight Show serving as a showcase for new comedians. [Los Angeles Times, they make you register]

• Posted at 12:20 AM · LINK