It's all about Johnny tonight. Dave says he is of course saddened by the passing of the man, and admits to feeling as if he's been through this before, feeling nearly this sad when Johnny retired. He likens Johnny to a public utility, someone who was always there, someone you depended on, and someone you wanted to be there at the end of your day, lauding "it was a tremendous luxury to be tucked in every night by Johnny Carson."

Dave says one of the things he most loved about Johnny was when a monologue joke didn't do go well, and perhaps another one followed and failed. Dave says, "Johnny would give a look like he just bought a round of drinks and no one thanked him." He took great pride in making people laugh, every comedian does, and so when the jokes weren't working, Johnny would break into some soft-shoe shuffling on stage, cued by Doc. If you can't entertain them with jokes, there's always dancing.

And Dave recalls how he (Dave) would wait all day for Johnny on the Tonight Show, all day long, and then at 11:30 you would see there was a guest host. That would get Dave so mad, but not at Johnny. He would take his anger and disappointment out on the guest host.

Dave says how all talk shows today are sort of doing Johnny Carson's Tonight Show; the band, the chair, the desk, the announcer. He says it's because "we all want to be a little more like Johnny."

Dave came to California all those years ago because that was where comedians went. You went to California because you had to be near Johnny Carson. Three generations of comedians moved west for this reason. Dave's first time on Carson was in 1978 and says "I owe everything in my professional career to Johnny Carson."

Dave says how he loved Johnny's monologue and it came out recently that Johnny would send in monologue jokes to Dave right up to the end. And tonight's entire monologue was made up of jokes submitted by Mr. Carson.

Dave's pal Tom Dreesen came into the business at around the same time as Dave. Tom has a story he enjoys telling, "and when Tom Dressen has a story he enjoys to tell, he tells it a thousand times," that when he first came west and told people he was a comedian, people would eventually ask the same question; "Have you been on Johnny Carson?" It was that, being on Carson, which marked you as being funny. Until you were on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, you were not funny.

Dave says how his first appearance on the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson was November 24, 1978. And he was on many times since. One visit particularly stands out. It was April 18, 1986. Dave was a guest and unbeknownst to him, Johnny had Dave's old red pickup towed away during the day. Johnny first shows a photo of Dave's truck. Dave was very surprised that Johnny had a photo of his pickup. We see video of the condition of the rig; old, rusty, dented, the inside was torn to pieces. So what did Johnny do? As a citizen bent on improving the community, Johnny had Dave's red pickup towed away. We see the clip of the theft. Dave is in disbelief. And where was the red pickup towed? Open the curtain! It's right there on the stage of the Tonight Show. Dave and Johnny walk over to the truck and Dave becomes livid, "He scratched the damn truck!"
Dave remembers that with great fondness, pointing out that he brought nothing to the table for that. It was all Johnny.

We go to commercial with a Tonight Show artcard, "More to Come."

Johnny Carson has graced Dave a number of times by participating and being a part of Late Night and the Late Show. We put together a short montage of Mr. Carson's appearances on the show.
-Johnny as a guest on Late Night - May 16, 1985. Johnny doesn't feel comfortable in these situations and so brings out his own desk to sit behind while on the show.
-Dave phones Johnny - November 11, 1993. Dave: "How are things in California?" Johnny: "Fine. The mud slides are putting out the fires."
-Johnny faxes Dave a joke LIVE - May 2, 1990 - Johnny: "The joke is leaving here funny."
-During a remote when the Late Show was in California. Dave and Paul have a flat tire and are in need of some assistance. May 9, 1994 - Dave waves down a car passing by. It's Johnny Carson. Johnny looks and drives on.
- Johnny brings out the top ten blue card - May 13, 1994 - Huge standing ovation from the audience. Dave offers the host chair to Johnny. Johnny accepts and sits. Still a great moment to see. More huge applause. After a second or so in the chair, Johnny thinks better of it, realizing that although it feels great to be in that chair, retirement feels greater.

It was nice to see Johnny again. Dave says, "All of us combined (who do talk shows today) collectively aren't that good." He says, "People watched Johnny's show. You get the feeling here that people simply put up with this show."

PETER LASSALLY: Peter was a producer and the executive producer at the Tonight Show with Johnny for over 20 years. When Johnny retired, Peter came over to Late Night as the Executive Producer and then followed Dave to the Late Show with the same title. He stayed on board at the Late Show for 3 years before heading back west. In this often jaded and dirty business, it has been written often that there is no classier fellow than Mr. Lassally.
Peter offers some peeks of Johnny when the camera was not on, a bit more than what's been seen and heard this past week. Dave asks Peter why Johnny retired when he did. Lassally says Johnny was very afraid he would stay "too long at the fair" and keep doing the show past his worth. He asked Peter to keep an eye out for that, and once he did retire, to remind him not to come back. Johnny felt performers such as Bob Hope and Jack Benny hung around too long. Bob Hope wasn't Bob Hope in his later years and Johnny did not want that to happen to him. Johnny wanted to leave on top and wanted everyone to remember him that way.
Dave reveals that Peter did not become good friends with Johnny until after Johnny retired. He says Johnny, a very shy person, was much more relaxed afterwards, more open, and a much warmer person. Did he miss doing the show? Peter says what Johnny really missed was doing the monologues. After he retired, Johnny would leaf through the newspaper and write down jokes about the day's events. Unfortunately, he had no outlet for his observations, so he would phone Peter . . . and read him his jokes. Peter said the phone calls were hysterical and suggested he send them on to Dave. Johnny was afraid Dave would feel compelled to use them and so did not send them on. After much cajoling from Peter, Johnny relented and sent them to New York. Dave describes this like being a little kid on Christmas morning. Imagine waking up one morning and finding jokes from Johnny Carson waiting for you! Peter says Johnny took great delight in hearing his jokes being told on the Late Show.
Did Johnny ever become upset on the show? Upset over something that happened? Peter says that Johnny was not a screamer but really did not like it when technical problems occurred. Dave gives a big understanding smile. Dave too simply hates, hates, hates the technical problems. Peter says the director at the time, Bobby Quinn, would explain the rare technical problems this way: "Somebody must have kicked out the plug." It always seemed to satisfy Johnny.

Dave says Johnny was bigger than NBC, bigger than TV. Did Peter sense that? Peter says it was great working for Johnny. When Johnny wanted something, Peter would simply tell the network, "Well, Johnny wants it that way," and that was it. It made life easy when dealing with the execs. Dave says nobody compares to Johnny Carson, but the only person who comes close today it Regis Philbin. Both do what they do so well and effortlessly. The big difference is you can push Regis around. No one could push Johnny around. Plus, it's a lot of fun pushing Regis around.

Did Johnny ever become angry with a guest? Mr. Lassally, hating to be mean but able to think of no other way to say it, says one former Charlie's Angels gal, not one of the originals, was really . . . . "dumb." The Angel babbled on and on, saying nothing but taking several minutes to say it. When her mouth stopped moving, Johnny leaned over and asked, "Have you ever read any books?"

Did Johnny ever go out to eat with guests after the show? Peter flatly says, "no." Dave with a big grin says nothing, letting that sink in to anybody watching at home who thinks they might one day go out to eat with Dave after the show.

How was Johnny after a bad show? Did he take it out on the staff? Peter says Johnny was very good that way. His pat response was, "It's OK. It'll play better on the air." And it usually did.

Peter Lassally then tells a story about Dave taking his entire Late Show staff to the Emmy Awards. The night before the Emmy's, Dave and the staff, numbering around 75, went to one of the finer restaurants in Los Angeles. The show took over a good portion of the restaurant, covering many tables and much of the outside patio. Johnny Carson just so happened to be at the restaurant at the same time. Peter invited Johnny to come over and greet Dave. After his meal, Johnny came over and said hello to Dave and those at his table. It was very nice and then Johnny soon left. After the fete, Dave and Peter went to settle the bill for the evening and was told by the maitre'd that Mr. Carson took care of the tab. The next morning, Peter phoned Johnny and thanked him for his great generosity. It certainly was greatly appreciated. Johnny then laughed and laughed. Says Johnny, "You know, I didn't know all those people were part of the party." Johnny thought Dave's staff consisted of those just sitting at his table. The bill came to well over $10,000.

ACT 5: A "More to Come" art card from Johnny's Tonight Show.

DOC SEVERINSEN: Along with Tommy Newsome and Ed Shaughnessy, and strings consisting of 20, Doc performed one of Johnny's favorites, "Here's That Rainy Day."

To close out the show, Doc sits and chats a bit with Dave. Doc says he's been through a lot this week, not sure whether to laugh, cry, or both. It probably explains why he forgot the name of "Here's That Rainy Day" when explaining why he played the song. It was very funny. Watching it again last night, you could almost see the point where Doc realizes he can't think of the name of the song, and starts searching his brain while continuing with the story.

Doc says playing for Johnny and the Tonight Show Orchestra every night made him feel like the luckiest musician in the world. What was it like? What did it mean to Doc? Doc says without hesitation, "Lots of money." Dave laughs, and when asked again, Doc repeats, "Lots of money." Very funny.

And that was our show for Monday, January 31, 2005. Wahoo EXTRA!

Now THAT was a nice show. Top notch, top to bottom. It's an odd way to describe a program but I found it very . . . . comfortable. Nice, warm, comfortable.

Putting together a quick informational blue card about Johnny Carson, I found two dates often mentioned as Johnny's first night as host of the Tonight Show: October 1, 1962 and October 2, 1962. It was nearly equal. Which was right? I saw on a transcript of Johnny's final show that he said how all this started way back on October 2, 1962. Hmmm. So I put down "October 2, 1962." But why did so many articles have October 1? So I did a bit more checking. I looked up a 1962 calendar. Dang, I love computers! I found October 1 was a Monday; October 2 a Tuesday. So I changed it to October 1, 1962. I don't know if Dave said it last night but in my world, Johnny's first show as host of the Tonight Show was October 1, 1962. It was a Monday.

My Johnny memories:
I loved his monologues. I would play along, trying to come up with the punch line before he said it.
And I always loved Rodney Dangerfield's appearances and Stan Kann's. You know of Rodney. I remember one time where Rodney reeled off his set of jokes, prompted by Johnny's scripted questions, such as "So, how's your health?" Rodney would then go off for three minutes about his health. After covering 5 or 6 subjects, an exhausted Rodney simply said to Johnny, "I'm done." Big laughs all around.
Stan Kann was a guy who demonstrated some of the new gadgets on the market. He would always clumsily attempt to do his best to show the gadget in the best possible light but would end up fumbling and bumbling his way through. Lots of "gee whiz" and "oh, darn." I often see a little of Mr. Kann in Dave when he's put in the same position. One night during my freshman year in college (autumn 1976) I was wakened by pounding on my door. Dorm mates, familiar with my love of Stan Kann, were yelling, "Hey 'T', Stan Kann is on! Stan Kann is on!" (why I was called 'T' is a story for another day) I'm not sure why I was in bed at that hour but I do remember it being a very low point in my college life. Leaping from my bed, I ran across the hall to watch Johnny and Stan on a little black and white portable. My laughter was like a sorely-needed dose of medicine. I've often credit THAT moment for helping me get through the rest of the semester, the rest of the year, and so, the rest of college life.

And four years later, Dave's morning show got me through that first gloomy and scary summer of post-college.

I was surfing the net, I think that's what the kids call it, and came upon a transcript of Dave's last appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Quite funny.
http://users.abac.com/ksitterley/carson1.htm

And that's that. Hope you enjoyed the show.