Later this month, on May 22, it’ll be 20 years since Johnny Carson said farewell as the longest and greatest host of NBC’s
Tonight Show. As an early salute, Monday’s
American Masters on PBS presents a two-hour profile, and appreciation, of the Great Carsoni…
"The Great Carsoni" was the young Nebraskan’s stage name when he first began performing magic tricks as a youngster, channeling his urge to entertain through an on-stage persona that helped him overcome his shyness. In
Johnny Carson: King of Late Night (9 p.m. ET; check local listings), filmmaker Peter Jones approaches his subject like the biographer in
Citizen Kane, searching for the equivalent, and meaning, of Carson’s “Rosebud.”
It’s an interesting trick – and “trick” turns out to be the key, since Jones suggests, at the end, that Carson’s lifelong love of magic was what enabled him to be so accessible for decades on TV, as the perfect “Everyman” host, yet so mysterious and distant off camera. Just one more successful illusion from a master of misdirection.
That may be a little too pat, but one thing’s for sure. In
King of Late Night, Jones has assembled a long, impressively thorough roster of interviewees, who all take a shot at explaining Carson’s appeal, talents and personality, and/or revealing how important Carson was to them and their careers.
You have to supply your own context for some of these remarks, but it’s easy to do. When David Letterman talks about owing Carson everything, you believe it. When Conan O’Brien talks about admiring Carson’s fights with network management, you understand it. But when Joan Rivers and Jay Leno offer their perspectives, Carson’s eventual distance from them speaks loudest of all.
Insights and memorable moments, though, come often, and often from surprising interview subjects. Drew Carey, in recalling his first time on the
Tonight Show, is so moved by the memory he fights back tears. David Steinberg puts Carson’s clout and appeal in context by marveling that there were virtually no guests or topics that were unavailable to him: “He had the entire culture at his doorstep.”
Old show-biz pros such as Bob Newhart, Don Rickles, Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner weigh in, and so do younger entertainers, from Jerry Seinfeld and Steve Martin to Garry Shandling and Jimmy Fallon. Some ex-wives offer perspective, as do some Carson biographers – and long-time Carson producer and friend Peter Lassally, normally camera-shy, is here, too, offering some of the most credible and revealing remarks of all.
This program doesn’t mention it, but Lassally is the guy who, on Carson’s penultimate
Tonight Show appearance, instructed the director to place an additional camera on the set, to be able to catch a shot of Carson as he watched Bette Midler serenade him goodbye.
It’s one of the most powerful, poignant and indelible moments from Carson’s 30-year reign on
Tonight, and, appropriately, closes this fine study.
King of Late Night is more impressive as a biography – especially regarding his early years in radio and TV, prior to getting the
Tonight gig – than as a career overview. This isn’t a “Greatest Hits” compendium, by any means, but each clip selected is there for a reason – usually to explore another facet of Carson’s complex personal or professional life.
In the end, though, Carson remains somewhat mysterious. Like any really great magician, what he does can be seen from many different angles and perspectives – yet the central trick remains a secret.
Johnny Carson, the King of Late Night, is dead. Long live the King, because there never will be another like him.
Presto!
[UPDATE: Monday on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross,
I review this special, and conclude with a snippet of Midler's serenade of Carson. After about 5 p.m. Monday, you can see and hear the review HERE. - DB]