The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962)
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a 1962 talk series created by Steve Allen and Sylvester Weaver. It stars Johnny Carson, Ed McMahon and Doc Severinsen.
For thirty years Johnny Carson owned American late night. From 1962 to 1992 he opened each broadcast with a monologue, then settled behind a desk to trade jokes with sidekick Ed McMahon and welcome the era's biggest stars to the couch. The show moved from New York to Burbank in 1972 and became a nightly ritual for millions, the place careers were launched and the day's news gently skewered. Carson's characters, among them the turbaned soothsayer Carnac the Magnificent, seeped into the culture. TV Guide later ranked it among the greatest programs ever made, and every host since works in its shadow.
Quick answers
What is The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson about?
For thirty years Johnny Carson owned American late night. From 1962 to 1992 he opened each broadcast with a monologue, then settled behind a desk to trade jokes with sidekick Ed McMahon and welcome the era's biggest stars to the couch. The show moved from New York to Burbank in 1972 and became a nightly ritual for millions, the place careers were launched and the day's news gently skewered. Carson's characters, among them the turbaned soothsayer Carnac the Magnificent, seeped into the culture. TV Guide later ranked it among the greatest programs ever made, and every host since works in its shadow.
When was The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson released?
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was released on 1 October 1962.
How many episodes does The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson have?
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson has 3756 episodes across 31 seasons.
Who made The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson?
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was created by Steve Allen, Sylvester Weaver and Pat McCormick.
Where can I watch The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson?
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is available on Peacock Premium, fuboTV, Peacock, Pluto TV, Shout! Factory TV and The Roku Channel.
Where to watch The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Stream: Peacock Premium, fuboTV
Watch free: Peacock, Pluto TV, Shout! Factory TV, The Roku Channel, Tubi TV
Rent: Google Play
Buy: Google Play
Official site
Cast
- Johnny Carson as Self - Host
- Ed McMahon as Self - Announcer
- Doc Severinsen as Self - Bandleader
- Skitch Henderson as Self - Bandleader
- Bob Hope as Self
- Bob Newhart as Self - Guest Host
- Della Reese as Self
- Orson Bean as Self
- Tommy Newsom as Self - Bandleader
- Jay Leno as Self - Guest Host
- Shelley Winters as Self - Guest
- Burt Reynolds as Self
Similar series
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A few thoughts on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson's influence stretches over everything that followed. Bill Carter's book The Late Shift chronicles the boardroom succession war his retirement set off, a drama as gripping as any monologue. For the man himself, the documentary Johnny Carson: King of Late Night assembles the clips and the contradictions into a full portrait of the most private figure ever to command a nightly audience.
The late-night shows carrying on Carson's format
Johnny Carson spent thirty years perfecting the monologue-then-desk-then-couch rhythm that defined American late night, and these shows still run his playbook. Letterman took the format to CBS after being passed over for Carson's chair, Fallon now sits behind the actual Tonight Show desk, Conan and Seth Meyers carry NBC's 12:35 lineage forward, and Ferguson gave the CBS slot its own restless spin.
Talk shows reinvented in other languages and cultures
Carson proved the format could anchor a whole country's nightly ritual, and it has since traveled everywhere. Kim Je-dong's Talk to You reworks the celebrity-guest chat for Korean television, 8 Out of 10 Cats turns it into a British comedy-panel sport, Animal nocturno runs the late slot as its own institution in Spanish, and Journalism Talk Show J keeps the desk-and-guest format alive on Japanese airwaves.