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Johnny Carson signed off as the host of NBC’s “The Tonight Show” on May 22, 1992 after being the King of Late Night for nearly three decades. But Carson has never left thanks to DVDs and repeats on such nostalgia channels as Antenna TV and streaming services like Peacock, as well as YouTube. And even with such late-night hosts as Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher, Trevor Noah, Jimmy Fallon, who is the current host of “The Tonight Show,” and Jimmy Kimmel, none of them hold a candle to Carson.

While I was working at the Los Angeles Times, I talked to experts, filmmakers and even his nephew about what made Carson so unique.

“The thing about Carson is that he had all the exemplary skills needed for a late-night host,” Ron Simon, curator of the Paley Center for Media in New York. “Everyone that has followed has skills, but they don’t have every skill.

The National Comedy Center will lead a preservation effort for comedian Johnny Carson’s archives.

On Friday, in celebration of what would have been the former “Tonight Show” host’s 95th birthday, both the National Comedy Center and the Elkhorn Valley Museum announced that they will jointly exhibit documents and pieces from the archived collection. The Elkhorn Valley Museum, located in Carson’s hometown of Norfolk, Neb., will unveil their expanded Johnny Carson gallery in 2021, while the National Comedy Center plans to set up a multi-media exhibit in 2022 titled “30 Years of Late Night Television, 30 Years Later.”

“For 30 years, Johnny kept the country laughing through good times and bad, while also introducing us to many of the greatest stand-up comedians ever to take the stage,” National Comedy Center executive director Journey Gunderson said. “The story of comedy in America simply cannot be told properly without presenting Johnny Carson’s enormous and...

Richard Zoglin is the author of Hope: Entertainer of the Century, published this week by Simon & Schuster and cited by reviewers as the definitive biography of the comedy legend. In its current issue, People singles it out as the book of the week. Here, an excerpt from the work.Viewers of The Tonight Show during the 1970s and '80s might have assumed that Bob Hope was one of Johnny Carson's favorite guests. No one appeared on the show more often than the comedy legend, and his guest appearances clung to a familiar, almost comical ritual. He would walk...

Heeere's Johnny!

Twenty-one years after the King of Late Night retired from NBC's The Tonight Show after a 30-year run, Johnny Carson is back on the small screen – this time on tablets and smartphones via iTunes starting Tuesday.

Carson, who was 79 when he died of emphysema in 2005, filmed 4,351 episodes of the late-night staple.

Now, users will have the chance to discover archived appearances of some of showbiz's most iconic stars, including a young Drew Barrymore, a soon-to-be president Bill Clinton, Bette Midler – who, as Carson's final guest, memorably delivered his favorite song, "One For My Baby (And One More for...

Heeere's Johnny! Twenty-one years after the King of Late Night retired from NBC's The Tonight Show after a 30-year run, Johnny Carson is back on the small screen - this time on tablets and smartphones via iTunes starting Tuesday. Carson, who was 79 when he died of emphysema in 2005, filmed 4,351 episodes of the late-night staple. Now, users will have the chance to discover archived appearances of some of showbiz's most iconic stars, including a young Drew Barrymore, a soon-to-be president Bill Clinton, Bette Midler - who, as Carson's final guest, memorably delivered his favorite song, "One For My Baby (And One...

Conan O’Brien has been tapped to host Carson On TCM, a showcase of Hollywood interviews from Johnny Carson’s three decades as host of The Tonight Show. The series is set to air Mondays at 8 Pm beginning July 1. O’Brien, host of Conan on TCM’s sister network TBS, will introduce five interviews each week on the series. Carson On TCM is a joint effort between Emmy and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Peter Jones (Johnny Carson: King Of Late Night, TCM’s Stardust: The Bette Davis Story) of Peter Jones Productions and Jeff Sotzing of Carson Entertainment Group, which controls the Carson archives. The July 1 show will open with Johnny Carson’s 1982 interview with then-7-year-old Drew Barrymore. It will also feature interviews with Kirk Douglas (taped in 1988), Mary Tyler Moore (1978), writer Neil Simon (1980) and George Burns (1989). The July schedule for Carson on TCM will also feature interviews with...

Carson Entertainment Group has signed with Wme for representation in all areas, the talent agency announced Wednesday. Ceg controls the licensing rights to The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, including a library of archival footage from Carson’s 30 years as a late night host. Jeff Sotzing, Ceg president and Carson’s nephew, began to digitize and catalog the entirety of Carson’s popular Tonight Show library three years ago. The Tonight Show aired from 1962 to 1992, accumulating over 3,300 hours of footage. Ceg and Wme have partnered to explore opportunities in the television, film, stage and digital spaces. Carson’s archival

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Johnny Carson has signed with Wme -- or at least his archive has. Wme has taken on the Carson Entertainment Group, which controls all licensing rights to "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson," the agency announced on Wednesday. Ceg has a library of all the archival footage from Carson's three decades as the late-night host, from his interviews with the Kennedys to his recurring Carnac the Magnificent shtick. Also Read: Obit: Longtime Johnny Carson sidekick Ed McMahon Carson set the standard for the modern late-night host. His nephew Jeff Sotzing, president of Ceg, decided to...

Chicago – There is arguably no icon on a higher pedestal in the history of television than Johnny Carson, the man who didn’t just host “The Tonight Show” for three decades but became a cultural fixture. We let Johnny into our homes and trusted him in ways that I believe just can’t happen again in a more cynical TV age. He was a nightly visitor for millions and the new PBS documentary about him, “American Masters Johnny Carson: King of Late Night,” is one of the best TV history documentaries yet produced.

TV Rating: 5.0/5.0

Why is “King of Late Night” so captivating? Not only did the filmmakers get unprecedented access to Johnny’s personal and professional archives, they knew how to use those clips to tell his story. With Carson and Ed McMahon gone, they can’t be interviewed, but Carson dropped many biographical nuggets over the course of the show.

Johnny Carson's three-decade tenure as host of NBC's Tonight Show has been digitalised on a new website honouring the late comedian. According to The AP, Carson's nephew Jeff Sotzing is spearheading the project to bring his uncle's lengthy career back to public awareness by founding a website where media professionals can licence clips from his classic Tonight Show episodes. The new site will feature a revolving collection of iconic clips and an online store where fans can purchase a new series of Tonight Show DVDs. ''But (more)...

Here's Johnny! Johnny Carson is the Tonight Show legend. This is the guy that set the standard for all other Late Night show hosts. I'm not sure how much you know or have seen of Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, I guess it all depends on your age. I remember watching him as a kid, and I've seen some great clips from the show over the years, but there is still a lot I have not seen that I would love to watch. Now it looks like you and I will have that opportunity!

From the Press Release:

The best of legendary "Tonight Show" host Johnny Carson is now available in an online archive and coming to DVD.

Carson Entertainment Group on Wednesday said it has opened its TV archive for the first time at www.johnnycarson.com, which allows fans to view select clips (including a 1977 Jay Leno appearance). For industry folks,...

New York - Welcome to the digital age, Johnny! The best of legendary "Tonight Show" host Johnny Carson is now available in an online archive and coming to DVD.

Carson Entertainment Group on Wednesday said it has opened its TV archive for the first time at www.johnnycarson.com, which allows fans to view select clips (including a 1977 Jay Leno appearance). For industry folks, the site provides a clip licensing service with 3,300 hours of searchable show content.

The Carson archive was stored in a salt mine in Kansas until 1999 and was transferred into digital form starting last year.

Fullerton, Calif.-based Carson Entertainment, which has managed the footage of the late TV host, also announced plans for a series of DVDs featuring the TV comedy icon.

"We have received so many inquiries and requests for this material over the years that we have taken steps to make the materials more accessible and instantly searchable,...

Late-night TV history will repeat itself Jan. 2 when, two months into the writers strike, NBC's The Tonight Show will return to the air without its scribes.

It was May 11, 1988. Two months after the beginning of the writers strike, The Tonight Show returned sans writers. It started off just like any other Tonight Show hosted by Johnny Carson, with "Heeeeeere's Johnny!" But then, in the midst of a louder and longer than usual standing ovation, an audience member shouted, Welcome back, Johnny.

"The public was glad he was back, the staff was glad, everybody was happy to get paychecks again," said Carson's nephew Jeff Sotzing, president of Carson Entertainment, who was an associate producer on Tonight Show in 1988. "Nobody wanted to cross the picket line, but when they finally did, it was a huge relief."

Carson, who owned the The Tonight Show, had been paying his nonwriting staff out of his pocket, something his successors, led by David Letterman, have replicated during the current strike.

Also taking a cue from his idol, Letterman, who owns CBS' Late Show and Late Late Show, has been trying to negotiate an interim deal with the WGA that would allow the two shows to return with writers Jan. 2.

Carson had been pursuing such a contract in May 1988. According to news reports from that time, frustrated by the slow progress in the negotiations, he decided to return May 11 without writers. A couple of weeks later, his scribes followed after the WGA signed off on a deal.

Now, things are not moving fast on a contract between Letterman's Worldwide Pants and the WGA either, prompting a public appeal by the company last week to the guild that helped to start talks.

Additionally, today's WGA also is taking a page from its old playbook. Back in May 1988, while in a stalemate with the major studios, the guild pursued deals with about 80 independent producers. That also has been the WGA's recent tactic launched this month.

There were two guests on Carson's first night back, a copy of which is available at the Paley Center for Media: San Diego Wild Animal Park's curator of birds William Toone, who talked about the birth of the first baby condor in captivity, and actor-comedian Joe Piscopo, there to promote his movie Dead Heat. The Tonight Show band also saluted composer Irving Berlin for his 100th birthday with a medley of his tunes.

Talent booking for the late shows is getting a lot of attention these days, with speculation that many actors won't cross a picket line, making non-Hollywood types like Jack Hanna and medical experts preferred guests.

So far, no main guests for NBC's The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and Late Night With Conan O'Brien and ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live, which are resuming production without writers Jan. 2, have been firmed up. Donald Trump had been booked to appear on CBS' Late Show With David Letterman on Jan.

Johnny Carson, a TV icon whose easy Midwestern charm and quick wit made him the king of late night during his 30-year reign as host of NBC's The Tonight Show, died Sunday at his Malibu home. He was 79. "He was surrounded by his family, whose loss will be immeasurable," Carson's nephew Jeff Sotzing told the Associated Press. NBC News reported the cause of death as complications from emphysema. Carson's down-home personality and always-tasteful humor set the standard by which all TV hosts who followed him have been judged. During his 1962-92 run on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, the program was a cherished bedtime ritual for millions of Americans and one of the most profitable programs in television history. The audience for his final Tonight telecast on May 22, 1992, was estimated at more 50 million viewers as he, along with longtime sidekick Ed McMahon and bandleader Doc Severinsen, replayed highlights from past shows. Carson's command of the post inspired such followers as David Letterman, who considered Carson his mentor, and Jay Leno, who succeeded him as host of Tonight Show. "All of us who came after him are pretenders," Letterman said. "We will not see the likes of him again."...

Johnny Carson, a TV icon whose easy Midwestern charm and quick wit made him the king of late night during his 30-year reign as host of NBC's The Tonight Show, died Sunday at his Malibu home. He was 79. "He was surrounded by his family, whose loss will be immeasurable," Carson's nephew Jeff Sotzing told the Associated Press. NBC News reported the cause of death as complications from emphysema. Carson's down-home personality and always-tasteful humor set the standard by which all TV hosts who followed him have been judged. During his 1962-92 run on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, the program was a cherished bedtime ritual for millions of Americans and one of the most profitable programs in television history. The audience for his final Tonight telecast on May 22, 1992, was estimated at more 50 million viewers as he, along with longtime sidekick Ed McMahon and bandleader Doc Severinsen, replayed highlights from past shows. Carson's command of the post inspired such followers as David Letterman, who considered Carson his mentor, and Jay Leno, who succeeded him as host of Tonight Show. "All of us who came after him are pretenders," Letterman said. "We will not see the likes of him again."...

Legendary TV host Johnny Carson died Sunday morning in his Malibu home after a three-year battle with respiratory disease emphysema. He was 79. Carson shot to fame in 1962 when he replaced Jack Paar as the host of NBC's Tonight Show, which he left in May 1992 after three decades as one of America's best-loved presenters and four consecutive Emmy Awards. The Nebraska native made his first TV appearance when he was just 14-years-old, as a magician on The Great Carsoni, and returned to the small screen with comedy show Carson's Cellar after Navy service in World War II. He went on to host numerous TV quizzes and variety shows, most notably The Johnny Carson Show, before hosting daytime game show Who Do You Trust, where he was joined by Ed McMahon, who became his Tonight Show sidekick. Carson's nephew, Jeff Sotzing says, "Mr. Carson passed away peacefully early Sunday morning. He was surrounded by his family, whose loss will be immeasurable. There will be no memorial service." Carson leaves behind his fourth wife Alexis Mass and two sons. Read IMDb.com's obituary for Johnny Carson...