"Johnny's Guest Host Tonight Is..."

[Corky Marlowe]

With NBC's late night lineup in a state of transition right now, this is as good a time as any for this topic. Anyone else miss the use of fill-in hosts on late night talk shows? Johnny Carson was, of course, the primary adherent to this practice. By the early 80's, Johnny had settled on more or less permanent guest hosts (first Joan Rivers, then Garry Shandling, and eventually, Jay.) Before that, though, he used a pretty large group of subs, like Joey Bishop, Bill Cosby, Flip Wilson, Jimmy Dean, Jerry Lewis, David Letterman, and probably a whole bunch I don't remember. There were a few memorable guest host moments, too...Don Rickles breaking Johnny's cigarette case (which led to Johnny invading the set of Rickles' sitcom "CPO Sharkey"), Cosby getting annoyed with Gary Coleman and carrying him backstage, and a couple that I've only heard about. One involved McLean Stevenson royally pissing off Euell Gibbons (the Grape-Nuts natural food guru) by saying things like, "I've tried that stuff, and it's terrible!", and another was with Joe Garagiola hosting the night the Beatles made their only Tonight Show appearance, leading John Lennon to ask, "Where's Johnny?" So who were your fave Carson subs?

 

[RicoGregg]

RE: The Beatles' "Tonight Show" appearance:

Only John & Paul appeared. They did not perform any musical numbers. The main purpose was to plug the opening of Apple.

At times they had some strange choices for guest hosts, including a very boring, stuffy, elitist, and look-down-her-nose Barbara Walters, who put people to sleep, and was never asked back; Harry Belafonte, who commented on the commercials every time they came back from a break; and director Peter Bogdanovich(!), who of course, much like his movies, had as his #1 guest his squeeze toy, Cybil Shepherd.

I loved the way that Johnny Carson would let people who were his vanquished competition guest host the show after their shows died, like Joey Bishop and Dick Cavett.

 

[ricksegers]

Let's not forget about Senators Goldwater and Humphrey and Kermit the Frog.

 

[WMC2006]

Cosby getting annoyed with Gary Coleman and carrying him backstage,

He actually did that??? I want to do that anytime I see Gary Coleman on television!

 

[wbhist]

I seem to remember reading that the first female guest host of the Carson era was singer/actress Phyllis Newman.

I also noticed that, up to the 1980's, Ed McMahon was on even when Johnny was off; after that, it was Doc Severinsen (and sometimes Tommy Newsom) who did the opening announcements whenever the permanent guest host was on.

But weren't there some times in the past, when Johnny occasionally did the show sans Ed? (I was thinking the famous moment in the 1970's when Doc was sitting where Ed usually did, and he and Johnny were conversing about each other's Thanksgiving dinner plans.)

 

[WMC2006]

From The Tonight Show archives, Johnny and Doc talking about Thanksgiving plans. Hilarious.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbikKb_t0i0

 

[BoscoGoldBear]

I don't think that Anson "Potsie" Williams ever ACTUALLY guest hosted "The Tonight Show" during the Carson era, but Williams was depicted as a guest host the night that Arthur "Big Guy" Carlson (Gordon Jump) got his wife pregnant in an episode of "WKRP In Cincinnati." Mama Carlson advised Big Guy to tell his wife to get an abortion this same episode. (Big Guy asked his mother if she would've considered one when she was pregnant with him; Mama didn't say a word.)

 

[retrothoughts]

There have been a few episodes where Doc sat in for Ed alongside Johnny. One of the "Carnac" sketches that reran on the syndicated Carson's Comedy Classics had Doc doing the bit instead of Ed.

Back in the 1960's and '70s, Johnny's guest hosts, in addition to those mentioned so far, were a wide and varied lot, from Jerry Lewis and Richard Dawson to Roy Clark and John Davidson.

 

[WMC2006]

Didn't Joan Rivers not go with a sidekick during her reign as guest host? Here's a clip of Doc introducing her although it doesn't go beyond the monologue:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m6uAQOXmxk


And here's a clip of Joan hosting her very first Late Show with Joan Rivers on Fox back in Oct 1986:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkzXBGdAOdA

Interestingly enough, she mentions that the show is banned in Boston. I live in Massachusetts but don't recall the show being banned. Anyone know why it was banned? She had a good lineup of guests for her first show.

 

[Charles1]

Didn't Joan Rivers not go with a sidekick during her reign as guest host? Here's a clip of Doc introducing her although it doesn't go beyond the monologue:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m6uAQOXmxk


And here's a clip of Joan hosting her very first Late Show with Joan Rivers on Fox back in Oct 1986:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkzXBGdAOdA

Interestingly enough, she mentions that the show is banned in Boston. I live in Massachusetts but don't recall the show being banned. Anyone know why it was banned? She had a good lineup of guests for her first show.

Actually, it wasn't so much banned as there wasn't a Fox affiliate it Boston yet. Fox purchased Channel 25 from CBN (Pat Robertson and crew) with the intent of making it a Fox affiliate. The transfer of ownership was not complete in time for the launch of "The Late Show", so for the first few weeks, Bostonians wanting to sample "The Late Show" had to catch it on an FM station in Boston...not sure which one.

 

[Tim L]

I read somewhere that Game Show host Bill Cullen hosted the Tonight Show a couple times in place of Johnny.. Though it seems he would be quite good at it, He said later on that he didnt really enjoy it all that much..

 

[BoscoGoldBear]

Didn't Joan Rivers not go with a sidekick during her reign as guest host? Here's a clip of Doc introducing her although it doesn't go beyond the monologue:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m6uAQOXmxk


And here's a clip of Joan hosting her very first Late Show with Joan Rivers on Fox back in Oct 1986:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkzXBGdAOdA

Interestingly enough, she mentions that the show is banned in Boston. I live in Massachusetts but don't recall the show being banned. Anyone know why it was banned? She had a good lineup of guests for her first show.

Actually, it wasn't so much banned as there wasn't a Fox affiliate it Boston yet. Fox purchased Channel 25 from CBN (Pat Robertson and crew) with the intent of making it a Fox affiliate. The transfer of ownership was not complete in time for the launch of "The Late Show", so for the first few weeks, Bostonians wanting to sample "The Late Show" had to catch it on an FM station in Boston...not sure which one.

Actually, it was Boston AM station WMRE (now WWZN), which had a standards format then (it's currently sports and brokered programming). The only one who banned it was Robertson, who didn't want "filth" from Fox to pollute his airwaves while he still owned the station.

Let's not forget that Robertson was also the same one who forbade cartoons depicting any other ghosts besides the Holy Ghost on his CBN broadcast and cable facilities, which is why "The Funky Phantom" was never on WXNE while the rest of "Fun World Of Hanna-Barbera" aired on the religious station ("Phantom" subsequently aired on WLVI along with the rest of "Fun World"), plus WXNE had to "give" "Hanna-Barbera's World Of Super Adventure" back to WCVB (whom I suspect LMA'd the secular programming back in WXNE's early days - after all, why do the cheerleading bit on NewsCenter 5 of a competitor back in 1977?), and "Casper" had to wait for Robertson to clear out of 25 before airing in the spring of 1987.

 

[Ultimajock]

I also noticed that, up to the 1980's, Ed McMahon was on even when Johnny was off; after that, it was Doc Severinsen (and sometimes Tommy Newsom) who did the opening announcements whenever the permanent guest host was on.

...and I distinctly recall a couple of nights, circa '78, when Carson was on but McMahon, Severinsen and Newsom were all unavailable, so they had Bert Convy announce as a very-last-minute stopgap...

 

[azumanga]

...I distinctly recall a couple of nights, circa '78, when Carson was on but McMahon, Severinsen and Newsom were all unavailable, so they had Bert Convy announce as a very-last-minute stopgap...

Who led the band those nights?

 

[wbhist]

...I distinctly recall a couple of nights, circa '78, when Carson was on but McMahon, Severinsen and Newsom were all unavailable, so they had Bert Convy announce as a very-last-minute stopgap...

Who led the band those nights?

Shelly Clark, if memory serves me right . . .

 

[WMC2006]

Shelly Clark, if memory serves me right . . .

I believe that's Shelly Cohen, and he was the musical coordinator and was usually found on the piano.

But I'd have to look it up to be 99% sure. Maybe I'll do that now. ;D

 

[WMC2006]

Wikipedia has no one named Shelly Cohen as part of the Carson era Tonight Show Band:

Former band members
Trumpet: Conte Candoli (1968-1992), Clark Terry, Snooky Young (1967-1992), Maurey Harris
Trumpet/Flugelhorn/Bandleader: Doc Severinsen
Trumpet/Flugelhorn: John Audino, Allen Vizzutti
Trombone: Gilbert Falco, Bruce Paulson
Bass Trombone: Ernie Tack
Alto Sax/Clarinet/Flute: John Bambridge
Alto Sax/Arranger/Assistant Bandleader: Tommy Newsom (1962-1992)
Tenor Sax/Flute/Clarinet: Pete Christlieb, Bill Perkins, Ernie Watts
Tenor Sax/Bandleader: Branford Marsalis
Baritone Sax/Bass Sax/Flute/Euphonium: Don Ashworth
Guitar: Bob Bain, Peter Woodford, Tony Mottola
Piano: Ross Tompkins
Bass: Joel DiBartolo
Drums: Jack Sperling (1962), Shelly Manne (1963), Ed Shaughnessy, Louie Bellson
Additional former members of the New York Tonight Show Band from 1962 on (not including those already mentioned) included:

Trumpets: Bob McCoy, John Frosk, Dick Perry, Jimmy Maxwell, Joe Ferrante, Yank Lawson, Mel Davis, Bernie Glo, Carl Poole
Trombones: Sy Berger, Will Bradley, Buddy Morrow, Bob Alexander, Sonny Russo, Willie Dennis, Herb Wise, Paul Faulise, Dick Lieb
Saxophones: Walt Levinsky, Don Raffell, Hymie Schertzer, Sid Cooper, Paul Ricci, Dean Kincaid, Arnie Lawrence, Harold Feldman, Al Klink, Al Howard, Wally Kane, Bobby Tricarico, Lew Tabackin
Piano: Derek Smith
Guitar: Bucky Pizzarelli, Gene Bertoncini
Bass: Eddy Safranski, Bob Haggart, Julie Ruggiero, Bill Takis
Drums: Grady Tate
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonight_Show_Band"

 

[ricksegers]

When was Skitch Henderson in the band? I thought he was there with Johnny early on but left after a year or 2.

 

[therealjm12]

I remember Harry Von Zell guest announcing for Johnny a few times.
Also, I worked at a radio station owned by Skitch Henderson in the early 70's. He was long gone from the Tonight Show by that time.

 

[RicoGregg]

Weren't Milton DeLugg and Mitch Miller in there at some point? ???