Long ago here, I wrote about the late comedian Rod Hull and his friend Emu. If you click that link, you can read the whole article, most of which is about the first time Rod and Emu were on with Johnny Carson. It was in conjunction with a TV series Rod was doing here in "the states" called The Half-Hour Comedy Hour.
The Half-Hour Comedy Hour was a "summer replacement" show that was basically a rip-off of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, executive produced by Dick Clark and really produced by Chris Bearde, who had been one of the main writers of the original Laugh-In. The cast included Thom Sharp, Arsenio Hall, Jan Hooks, Victoria Jackson, John Moschitta, Barry Diamond, Peter Isacksen, Diane Stilwell, Vic Dunlop, John Paragon…and Rod Hull and his rubber bird. I was one of the writers and I also wrote some of the songs and worked with Sergio Aragonés on some animated bridges.
ABC ordered five half-hours of the show and we produced five half-hours which aired to tepid ratings…and that was the end of it. But though the show was on ABC, it was taped at NBC on Stage 3, which was right across the hall from Stage 1, which is where Mr. Carson did his show. (When Jay Leno took over The Tonight Show, he started on Stage 1 and then when they decided he needed a new set which put him closer to the audience, they built it on Stage 3. Stage 3 is where a lot of the original Laugh-In had been taped. I used to poach there and watch that show taped or sometimes a Bob Hope special…so it was weird to be actually working there.)
One day while we were taping, Rod Hull and I went over to Stage 1 and studied Johnny's set so Rod could figure out how to work Emu in that environment. A few hours later, the following was taped there with me just off-camera.
It is important for you to know that Johnny never rehearsed in any way with Rod. He understood what Rod was going to do, though not how physical it would get. And as you'll probably be able to tell, Johnny was delighted with the segment, much to the relief of his staff. I do not think too many people who've ever hosted talk shows would have been willing to do this spot without rehearsals and prepared "ad-libs." As you will see, Rod was a very brave man and so was Johnny Carson.
I've linked to excerpts from this before but here's the entire segment…