Remarkable tales from the late-night reign of Johnny Carson
The King of Late Night, Johnny Carson, was known for his 30-year run as host of The Tonight Show. During his time, he was one of the most popular celebrities in American pop culture. He’d interview thousands of people each year, making his viewers laugh until their belly’s ached. But does anyone really know who Johnny Carson is?
In his memoir, Johnny Carson, Henry Bushkin reveals the good, the bad, and the worst events that happened during his time as Johnny Carson’s friend and lawyer. Needless to say, the late-night host who easily made people laugh had quite a withdrawn life.
Carson Delivered Money To A Blackmailer
In 1972, Richard Dziabacinski of North Hollywood tried to extort $250,000 from Johnny Carson. The crazy night started with workers finding a fake hand grenade, binoculars, and a note demanding money at the television host’s house. Carson even received a phone call from Dziabacinski, asking Carson to deliver the money to a phone booth near Universal Studios.
The FBI did not want Carson to deliver the money, but he finally convinced them to let him do it. After all, part of the note said that if he didn’t then harm would come to his family. Upon the delivery, cops swarmed and arrested Richard Dziabacinski and his wife.
Carson Subtly Showed He Preferred His Successor’s Competitor
Although Jay Leno and David Letterman had both appeared on The Tonight Show before Carson’s retirement, they were also in steep competition over the matter of who would get to succeed him after Carson announced his final show was on the horizon.
Leno won out and took the show’s reigns for 21 non-consecutive years, leading Letterman to start a rival show at CBS. Despite the fact that Leno was Carson’s permanent guest host on The Tonight Show for years by that point, however, Carson indicated that he favored Letterman for the position. After all, he appeared on Letterman’s show twice and reportedly sent him jokes for his monologues. Meanwhile, he didn’t appear on Leno’s show once.
Carson Was A Member Of An Exclusive Celebrity Poker Club
For whatever reason, poker has long been a popular and longstanding interest in Hollywood and that goes back to the entertainment industry’s golden age. One of the most well-known examples of this enthusiasm was the Gourmet Poker Club, where a selection of some of the industry’s most recognizable faces would gather once a month to dine and play.
According to Vanity Fair, the club’s membership consisted of Carson, fellow comedy legend Carl Reiner, Chevy Chase, playwright Neil Simon, billionaire mogul Barry Diller, former MGM executive Dan Melnick, and movie producer David Chasman.
It Took Bob Barker To Break Carson’s Television Record
By the time of Carson’s retirement in 1992, he held the record for the longest period hosting the same series at 29 years, seven months, and 21 days. While this would seem like a Herculean record to beat, the amazing truth is that it only took a decade.
Indeed, Bob Barker officially hosted The Price Is Right for longer than Carson hosted The Tonight Show by the end of 2002. Considering that Barker hosted the game show for another five years after that, his record will be even harder to top.
He Appeared To Change His Final Wishes
According to The Seattle Times, Carson was once asked by a reporter what he’d like his epitaph to state. At the time, he gave an answer befitting his reliable presence on television at the time: “I’ll be right back.”
However, in the decade since his retirement and particularly when he battled emphysema during his final years, it seems he had a change of heart. Instead, his remains were cremated and given to his widow, Alexis Maas. His family also requested that no public memorial service was held. Instead, the park across the street from NBC’s Burbank studio was renamed the Johnny Carson Park and this memorial installation was added to it. It’s worth noting that it doesn’t say “I’ll be right back” either.
Carson Gave Back To His Hometown In A Major Way
Most of Carson’s early life was spent in Norfolk, Nebraska, and it was clear his hometown meant a lot to him long after he entered show business, as he gave over $5 million to improving the city’s cultural infrastructure. Some of the most notable beneficiaries of his generosity were the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts (through which students could enroll in the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film and the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts) and Faith Regional Health Services (which received an endowment for the Carson Cancer Center).
Yet, while the latter endowment marked the largest donation the hospital had ever received, Carson’s affection for Norfolk wasn’t just expressed monetarily. According to The Orlando Sentinel, he made a surprise visit in 1996 to celebrate the 100th birthday of his favorite teacher, Fay Gordon.
Carson’s Second Wife Had An Affair
Johnny Carson and Joanne Copeland wed on August 17, 1963; she was his second wife. The two met while Copeland was a struggling model and Carson was starting his second year hosting The Tonight Show. They were happily married until 1970 when Copeland began her love affair with NFL star Frank Gifford.
Carson hired a private investigator, Joe Mullen, to ‘break-in’ to Gifford’s house for evidence. He said he found “various framed photos of his wife with football legend Frank Gifford.” The infidelity led to the couple divorcing in 1972, with Copeland receiving a settlement of $6,000 per month in alimony.
Carson Joined The Navy At The Luckiest Time
According to the United States Navy Memorial, Carson enlisted in the U.S. Navy on June 8, 1943. Although he had initially hoped to be a pilot, but instead underwent midshipman training at Columbia University. Indeed, it was clear that a lot had happened from the beginning of his training to deployment, as he had less to do than he anticipated when he was commissioned an ensign.
Although he was assigned to the USS Pennsylvania, the infamous atomic weapons Little Boy and Fat Man had already been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively by the time he was en route. Indeed, the day he reported for duty — August 14, 1945 — would turn out to be the last day of the war. However, that still left him with a grisly task. Since his ship had been torpedoed two days prior, he was assigned to supervise the removal of 20 deceased sailors.
His Passion For Magic Led Him To Ban Orson Welles From The Show
Although legendary actor and filmmaker Orson Welles appeared on The Tonight Show multiple times and even guest hosted, Carson was so incensed by the last episode Welles hosted that he prohibited him from ever appearing on the show again. To understand why, it helps to understand that Carson had been performing magic ever since he was training for the Navy.
As M Live reported on information obtained from the book Love Johnny Carson, Welles apparently botched a mentalist routine by using planted audience members. Carson considered it inexcusably poor form as a magician to mislead the rest of the audience that way.
Carson Ruled TV But The Movies Weren’t For Him
Although it’s easy to assume that a legendary figure like Johnny Carson could do whatever he wanted, he quickly learned that there were some ventures his audience wouldn’t follow him to. It is perhaps for that reason that while his TV resume is enviable, the same is not true for his flirtations with the movie business.
Indeed, the only credited film role Carson secured saw him play himself in the Connie Francis vehicle Looking For Love. The film was such a flop with audiences and critics that Carson later brought famed critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert onto The Tonight Show to make fun of it in 1987.
Carson Started An Industry Tradition During Writers’ Strikes
On May 11, 1988, the Writer’s Guild of America had been on strike for two months. By that point, Carson had been involved with the negotiations with the guild that would see his show return. That day saw the culmination of his frustrations at the stagnant progress in those negotiations and he returned to air without writers.
After two weeks, the guild signed off on the deal in question and his writers were back. However, one move Carson made while the strike was underway saw him pay his other staff out of his own pocket while his show was off the air. Other late night hosts (particularly David Letterman) have since carried on that tradition during similar strikes.
Carson Regretted His Smoking Habit As Early As 1979
It’s no secret that Carson’s lifelong smoking habit had fatal consequences for his health, as his passing was the result of complications from emphysema and he had to undergo a quadruple bypass in 1999. As his brother Dick eventually told People magazine, he was acutely aware of how his habit brought him to his fate.
In the surviving Carson’s words, “In our last conversation he kept saying, ‘Those damn cigarettes, those damn cigarettes. That was the recurrent theme. The damage had been done.” However, Today reported that he spoke of his regrets in a 60 Minutes interview with Mike Wallace from 1979, saying, “I feel guilty…it’s compulsive. I should go to one of those places where they shock you or do something or show you old reruns of Gilligan’s Island to make you give up smoking.”
There Was A Contracted Mob Hit Put Out On Carson
There is one thing no one wants in their life, and that is a contract put out for your death commissioned by the Mob. Well, Johnny Carson is one of the unlucky ones that supposedly had a contract put out on him after he flirted with the girlfriend of a Mob enforcer.
In his book, Johnny Carson, Henry Bushkin says, “An attractive brunette at the bar caught Carson’s eye… And when her boyfriend — a major figure in the underworld — arrived, he was not grateful to Johnny for entertaining his ‘goomar’ in his absence.” According to the book, Carson didn’t leave his “UN Plaza palace” for three days!
He Tore Up The Prenuptial Agreement Before His Third Marriage
The old saying is “third times a charm,” so maybe that’s why Johnny Carson thought it was a good idea to tear up the proposed prenuptial agreement hours before marrying his third wife, Joanna Holland. The stunt ultimately cost him $35 million in cash and some property, too. The settlement was 80 pages long.
Holland and Carson were secretly married on September 30, 1972, the afternoon before The Tonight Show’s 10th-anniversary party. The marriage was surprising to all of his friends and colleagues. Maybe Holland should have taken their reactions seriously because she ended up filing for divorce on March 8, 1983.
Carson Never Visited His Son In The Hospital
As made evident from his various marriages, Johnny Carson had many personal relationships that were a bit strained, including that of his middle son. Richard ‘Rick’ Carson suffered from mental illness, something that wasn’t openly talked about back in the 1970s. He eventually wound up in a mental hospital, Bellevue Hospital in New York, but Carson refused to visit.
The father and son had an estranged relationship up until June of 1991. While taking pictures, Rick’s car fell off a cliff near the town of Morro Bay, California. He did not survive the 125-foot fall. Carson did pay tribute to his son and his photography on The Tonight Show.
Carson Dated A Lot Of Leading Ladies
It’s not surprising that Johnny Carson was a bit of a womanizer in his hay day. Being friends with some guys from the Rat Pack will do that! It helped that Carson was a famous television star, but to say the ladies in his life weren’t famous in their own right would be a lie.
Carson was lucky enough to date Sally Field, Ali McGraw, and Angie Dickinson. These dates should have been a red flag for all of his ex-wives, especially his dates with Field. The Oscar-winning actress said that she faked a mental illness to get out of dating him any longer!
Wayne Newton Didn’t Like Being One Of Carson’s Jokes
Johnny Carson is known for joking about celebrities, and usually not in a great way. Well, Vegas singer, Wayne Newton, didn’t appreciate being made fun of on a popular television program. So, after being ignored by the host for months, Newton decided to confront Carson at his studio office.
Newton said, “I don’t know what child of yours I’ve hurt, I don’t know what food I’ve taken out of your mouth, but these jokes about me will stop and they’ll stop now or I will kick your a*s’.” The good news is that Carson took the hint, quickly stopping his barbs at the famous singer.
Carson Didn’t Attend his Parents’ Funeral
When Carson found out his mother Ruth had passed away he said, “The wicked witch is dead.” Not exactly a normal reaction, but, then, Carson did not like his mother at all, refusing to even attend her funeral. According to Carson, many of his negative personality traits and marriage failures are because of his mother.
According to Bushkin’s book, she never gave him the professional recognition he wanted, “It constantly got to him. Her, sort of lack of any sort of emotion towards him. And certainly, never giving him the great satisfaction of being the giant star he became.”
Carson Was Alone When He Passed Away
Johnny Carson passed away on January 24, 2005, at Los Angeles’ Cedar-Sinai Medical Center. He was 79 years old. He passed due to respiratory failure caused by emphysema, a disease that he had been suffering from since 2002. In his book, Bushkin says that Carson retired from the Tonight Show and became a sort of recluse, something that didn’t surprise him.
“He essentially died alone, which is terribly sad, somewhat reminiscent of Citizen Kane,” said Bushkin. Carson was alone in a hospital bed without any friends or family members by his side when his time came. Bushkin said that Carson only had an outer circle of fans but no inner circle.
He Stopped An Inebriated Dean Martin From Performing
Rat Pack star Dean Martin was scheduled to perform at the 1981 pre-inaugural gala, but he never made it on stage. Martin had been sipping on Grandpa’s old cough medicine and Johnny Carson, the hired emcee for the evening, decided he was too inebriated to perform on stage in front of the country’s soon-to-be Commander in Chief.
Carson ended up blaming his lawyer, Henry Bushkin, for everything that went wrong at the gala, “[Carson] got a call from the [Commander in Chief] right after the inauguration in 1981…and he called Carson to apologize for several screw-ups during that weekend, which I was blamed for.”
The “Worst” Guest
As a late night talk show host, Carson had many guests. He also had his favorites and least favorites. Can you guess which guest he thought was the worst to have on his show? From Carson’s point of view, Bob Hope was not a good guest.
Bob Hope, another American television icon, came armed with scripted jokes. Carson criticized the fact that Hope rarely would engage in any genuine conversation. Carson’s former co-head writer, Andrew Nicholls said, “There was nothing spontaneous about Hope. He was a guy who relied on his writers for every topic. Johnny was very quick on his feet. Very well read. He was a guy who learned Swahili, learned Russian, learned astronomy. He appreciated people who he felt engaged with the real world. There was nothing to talk to Bob about.”
No “Hope” For Johnny
As time passed and the years progressed, Bob Hope’s hearing and eyesight were failing. So Hope’s guest appearances on Carson’s became even more of a trial, annoying Carson. Hope often had trouble picking up Carson’s questions, testing his patience.
Carson had to stick precisely to the notes his staff gave him. For example, if he asked a question out of order, Hope might answer a different question. Regardless of this inconvenience and irritation, Hope kept coming on the show, his weaknesses on full display for the national TV audience. One of the writers recalls how angry Carson became after one of the shows featuring Hope. Carson said to his writer “If I ever end up like that, guys, I want you to shoot me.”
Carson Gets Around
Like many men in show business, Carson was a relentless womanizer. While he was embroiled in harsh divorce proceedings with his second wife, Joanne, he was entertaining company with a Playboy model named Angel Tompkins. He was warned that he was jeopardizing any settlement if his wife’s lawyer found out, and Carson replied, “[expletive] him. A stiff [expletive] has no conscience.”
During his third marriage, his wife Joanna knew of his infidelity. She constantly received exorbitant gifts from him: from an apartment at The Pierre, to a Rolls-Royce Corniche, to diamonds, all as compensation for his many indiscretions. Obviously, it took a toll on their marriage.
An Insensitive Jokester
Fat jokes are not a new thing now — and it is hard to say when or who started the fat jokes. Well, Johnny Carson was no stranger to fat jokes. He didn’t mind putting someone’s weight on display in front on millions on national television. Imagine if you were that someone and how you would react.
Veteran NBC actor Raymond Burr was the source of many of Carson’s fat jokes. He finally became incredibly angry over Carson’s continuing fat jokes and he refused to appear on The Tonight Show. He did appear at least twice, in 1968 and in 1976.
Losing The Deal
Johnny Carson backed out of a huge deal in 1980; he was going to acquire the Aladdin Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Then, a competing group (led by Wayne Newton) successfully bought the property. While this is solely a personal, financial decision and shouldn’t necessarily be in the spotlight, Carson became annoyed when he was portrayed by the media as having “lost” the deal.
Carson reacted by telling jokes on his show about Newton, the new owner. Newton had spent a great deal of effort building a masculine image and back then, sexuality and masculinity were sacred. This created a high-profile feud between Carson and Newton.
Snide Comments About Snyder
Carson hated Tom Snyder. He was the Tomorrow Show host whose show followed Carson’s show on NBC. Carson thought of him as a no-talent bore. Snyder gained national fame as the host of Tomorrow with Tom Snyder (more commonly known as The Tomorrow Show) until it ended. He was later offered a new show: The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder.
One night, while he was out for drinks in the late ’70s at the popular LA eatery Chasen’s, Carson became irate and violent after two glasses of wine. He went on a tirade about how much he hated Snyder. Obviously, a public, alcohol-induced tirade is not professional at all.
Dealing With Joan And John
When former Tonight Show guest hosts John Davidson and Joan Rivers got their own talk shows, Carson was furious. He reportedly loathed what he perceived as their disloyalty to him because their shows were in direct competition with his show.
Rivers’ show was on Fox Network. Her time slot directly competed with Carson during the 1986–1987 season. But regardless of this competition, her show was later canceled. In 2009, Rivers praised McMahon on Larry King Live. But she made a comment about her relationship with Carson; she said that after she got her own show, Carson never spoke to her again.
Johnny And Joan: A Secret Past
While it’s known that Joan Rivers and Johnny Carson had a longstanding feud after Johnny allegedly felt slighted by her after she left for her own show, this was not the only scandal revealed between the two. Joan Rivers alleged in her book that the two had an affair at some point in time. The affair allegedly took place during Joan’s marriage to Edgar Rosenberg.
Joan and Edgar were married for twenty-two years and apparently, the comedienne was not always faithful during their marriage. It’s interesting to consider whether Johnny’s banning of Joan from his show had more to do with their sexual liaison than her loyalty to his show. Edgar ultimately committed suicide which was devastating to Joan and their daughter Melissa.
Toilet Paper Drama
What if the world ran out of toilet paper? That is difficult to imagine, isn’t it? Well, in December 1973, that idea sparked panic when Carson joked on Tonight about an alleged shortage of toilet paper. Think about a number of viewers he had; so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to hear that panic buying and hoarding ensued across the United States.
The result? Consumers emptied stores, causing a real shortage that lasted for weeks. Stores and toilet paper manufacturers had to ration supplies and wait it out until the panic ended. Carson later apologized in January 1974 for the incident. The New York Times called this incident a “classic study” of how rumors spread.
Johnny’s Pretty Blonde
Carol Wayne was an actress and model who was best known for her work on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson where she played the “Matinee Lady”. Carol had a trademark persona of the ditzy blonde bombshell which many claimed no one acted better than her. She also had appearances on The Red Skelton Show in a similar character.
However, it was due to her work on The Tonight Show that Carol ultimately experienced her downfall and subsequently her mysterious death. The Tonight Show was performing very well and Johnny later wanted the shows run time to be shortened from ninety minutes to sixty minutes, which he received.
Blonde Bombshell Downfall
After the Tonight Show was shortened it made way for David Letterman’s own show Late Night With David Letterman. However, due to the shortening of the show blonde bombshell Carol Wayne’s character was all but discarded from the new format.
Carol began to fall on hard times financially and allegedly turned to drugs and alcohol to cope. She allegedly also turned to escorting to pay the bills. Carol had multiple relationships with questionable men including used car salesman Edward Durston. At one point the two were vacationing in Mexico when they allegedly had an argument and Ed left Carol on the beach.
A Mysterious Death
Several days after Ed Durston left Carol Wayne on the beach, her body was found floating in shallow water in a Mexican bay. The water was only four feet deep and she was found fully clothed. She also tested negative for drugs and alcohol so her death was extremely mysterious. It was unclear how she possibly drowned in such shallow water.
Carol had to be identified by hotel workers at the place she and Ed were staying. Ed had already skipped town and even left Carol’s luggage at the airport. Many believe that Ed Durston was directly involved with the death of the Johnny Carson sidekick.
A Mysterious Connection
TV personality and fellow funnyman Art Linkletter also had a strange connection to the death of the Tonight Show star Carol Wayne. In 1969, Art’s daughter Diane Linkletter allegedly jumped or fell off of a six-floor apartment building. Art publicly claimed that Diane’s death was because she was having a flashback due to her use of LSD. He subsequently ended his TV career in order to speak out against the use of drugs.
Before she died, Art had even recorded an album discussing the use of drugs in modern society and Diane recorded a rebuttal album which actually went on to win a Grammy. In a very strange turn of events, Diane Linkletter happened to be with Edward Durston the night she died, just like Johnny Carson’s colleague Carol Wayne. Edward was never charged with any crime but it certainly suspicious he was with the two women the night of their deaths.
An Open Door For Johnny
After Jack Paar literally walked off set, he also decided to leave the country. He was later persuaded to return but only continued hosting for two more years before leaving for good. While he continued on for several years, it is thought that his original outburst over censorship was still a thorn in his side and a major deciding factor in his departure.
Although he publicly stated that it was simply because the schedule was too much to keep up with. It was Jack’s departure that left an open door for Johnny Carson to begin his legendary tenure on the show.
Carson Can’t Relate
Back in the 1990s moody singer Morrissey was at the height of his fame. Unfortunately for Bill Cosby, tons of Morrissey fans turned out for their episode of the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. The young crowd was not really interested in either Bill Cosby or Johnny Carson, but rather, reached Beatles-level hysteria for the forlorn singer.
Johnny’s monologue totally sunk and he was clearly struggling as he threw annoyed glances at Ed McMahon. Bill tried to change his stand-up to fit the crowd, however, that didn’t go so well either. Both men were clearly annoyed by the “youth” of the time. Little did we know that Bill would be embroiled in his own major scandal years later.
Here’s Johnny!
There were rumors for years that Johnny Carson was a perpetrator of many acts of sexual harassment both to women that worked on the show and guests of his long-running stint on the Tonight Show. No lawsuits ever came to fruition but this is partially attributed to the time period that the show ran and also because Johnny had some great lawyers.
Since Johnny has passed away it’s unlikely that will see any kind of retribution or lawsuits but some of his former guests have even taken to speaking publicly about their encounters with Johnny. Perhaps we will see more as the stars get older and more and more release their own life memoirs.
The Octopus And The Guppy
Recently, actress Sally Field appeared on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen and spoke about her own experiences with Johnny Carson. Her relationship with the late night legend would be considered weird, to say the least.
Andy Cohen asked Sally how she would describe her relationship with Johnny and she said, “The octopus and the reluctant little guppy.” Andy Cohen replied to her, “He was all hands with you.” This is obviously what she meant by “octopus”. While Sally did allegedly date Johnny, she also stated that she was never actually interested in him but didn’t know how to turn him down.
If It Wasn’t Going To Be Johnny
Bob Crane was a hilarious radio and television personality who had actually been tapped to take over for Jack Paar after his departure from The Tonight Show. Luckily for Johnny, Bob didn’t take the offer as he wanted to pursue an acting career and he later went on to act on Hogan’s Heroes which is what he is probably most well known for.
In 1978, Bob was found murdered in his hotel room under mysterious circumstances. The weapon was never found. Bob Crane’s son long suspected an ex-friend to be responsible for his father’s death, however, in 2016 DNA was tested and pointed to an unknown suspect.
