Johnny Carson Profile Part 1.wmv

two years ago we began a profile of Johnny three days after we started he backed out last spring he agreed to let us try again and we did why are you doing this now doing what this you walked out on us once before didn't wall out on us I understood that you're paying Lee a large amount of money for this you're wrong you why are you doing this now I'm not running a boiler room operation I have no phony real estate scam I'm not taking any kickbacks I did steal a ring from Woolworths once when I was 12 years old and I think that's why you're here we're doing this because you're a national treasure oh that's what they tell me you're a national treasure and you know what the dollar is worth nowadays Carson lives like his peers among the entertainment elite in Bel Air California though his two acres spread could almost be described as modest compared to the more lavish establishments that dot the neighborhood that's nonetheless isn't it over the head a little bit of a Nebraska boy I don't know well look it's a yard so this is not a big yard that's right cuz not a big yard it's comfortable it's nice I like that the fact is that he and his wife Joanna are among the more low-key unaffected residents out there with none of the flamboyance that Hollywood can sometimes spawned johnny spends most of his time at home alone in his office working reading newspapers writing with his awards and the meadows scattered about his beloved drums close by and tape jazz always in the background it was here that we sat down to find out what is Johnny Carson really like there's a stereotype of Carson you know there what is it what is it it is ice water in his veins I had that taken out years ago because I went to Denmark and had that done it's all over now shai defensive I can remember when I was in high school if I pulled out my old high school annual book and read some of the things uh people might say oh he's conceited he's aloof actually that was more shy see when I'm in front of an audience is it's a different thing what why I'm in control that's a key to Carson control professionally he insists upon it socially he can't demand it so he retreats he's uncomfortable he says no the fact is that he is shy there's Carson the performer there's Carson a private individual and I can separate the two a day in the professional life of Johnny Carson the morning is given to reading half a dozen newspapers and magazines looking for grist for the mill of that evenings monologue he is a man of habit and at one o'clock the family cook nizette gives him lunch in a brown paper bag then into the garage and his Mercedes sports car for the 40-minute drive to beautiful downtown Burbank and the NBC Factory no chauffeurs no entourage someday your prince will come five minutes after he arrives he sits down with Fred to Cordova's the tonight show's producer and his good friend to talk about that evenings guests she is going to talk to a turtle assured what a dog and a cat this is our normal opening normal opening gets and that's she talked to she thinks they actually talk to her well you can't say mind reader but she's an animal analyst team gets in the mind well she's on the right show each Saturday that's Adam was right after she finishes with a turtle you ever go talk to the staff dangerous wild animal at about ten past five his sidekick Ed McMahon shows up dangerous wild out ever like that's for the show tonight we have a ladies going to analyze these guys ever meet the guest room for the kill I know it's a mistake she wondered that surely she meets your perks well look okay did Emily these people from sixty minutes they want to know about the finances on your house and you once said some nights he doesn't have it something may have gone wrong in his life I try to pull him out of it yes explain well he's had a couple of marital problems along the way as we all have and when he brett carries those with him into the studio you can feel it um one night were on the air and I know he's particularly upset about a personal problem really upset and he didn't want to do the show he didn't have it he was like kind of fighting with himself but he knew he had to go down and perform so I left him knew he was in that mood he got down and he started he did the monologue was all acceptable he got to the desk and now he had a chance to relax and not really get started and you may have seen nights when it he looks like he's playing around with things he does want to bring the first guest out he when I do something else so I looked at him and I said oh your eyes are really dancing tonight Anissa but I said your eyes they're really the curse they weren't dancing but I got to start I said don't there Dan sees what do you mean there desi I look at things well your eyes are dead when that was the whole thing we did seven minutes on our eyes are dancing but that changed his mood and the show was fun do you get sensitive about the fact people say he'll never take a serious controversy well I have an answer to that I said no tell me the last time the Jack Benny red skelton uh Benny comedian used his show to do serious issues that's not what I'm there for can't they see that but you're neither they think that just because you have it tonight show that you must deal in serious issues that's a danger it's a real danger once you start that you start to get that self-important feeling that's what you say has great import and you know strangely enough you could use that show as a form you could sway people and I don't think you should isn't entertainer he studies tapes of old shows at home for Carson is a perfections and the very competitive man the other hazards in that of course they're good qualities about their bad qualities yeah I mean being too competitive I think sometimes is a bad thing I don't think it's being competitive in your work you're so bad I think if you get too competitive and other things outside of your work that can be a hazard because then you might doesn't enjoy them as much as you should it's like going out and play tennis I found that most celebrities especially the public I have a far greater opinion of their game than their actual talent they like to think they play better than they do the man speaks the truth nice return he's only played the game for four years and it shows but he is earnest about it what are you waiting for your pacemaker to start I think he's got a kick in just about when you serve he says he uses tennis which he loves as a kind of therapy to help get rid of his aggressions and that goes double for his drums a gift from Buddy Rich some people say that it helps you to work out your hostility sure it's true yeah it's like meeting something all it is you're gonna take this up thank you get up still it I'd rather beat on you if there is one almost universal comment from the guests who have appeared on The Tonight Show it is that Johnny is a gentle man a kind man and by and large that is true as well with the way he treats people in his nightly monologues are you reluctant in putting together your monologue to go hard on a guy only when I sense the mood is which you can't do from an audience and I'll give you perfect illustration when Wilbur Mills had his problem with the famous Danny Fox and the tidal basin and so forth it was amusing to most people then you could do jokes about it I stopped doing jokes immediately as soon as that people found out that he was an alcoholic and had emotional problems and in fact was dependent on alcohol then I think that would be a cheap shot to take and to still do jokes about it so I immediately ceased doing jokes about that because it was really unfair of course it takes one to know one uh-huh true you're cruel there was a time well I'm not there was a time when I used to have a little pop I sure did that's right I don't handle it well you and McMahon really you don't I don't handle alcohol well at all no really don't oh and I've had some wonderful times in the past no one had told us what did that tell you you told us that's from time to time you were gonna take on the whole Russian army and he and you didn't have the bazookas to do it that's right no that's one reason I found it was probably best for me to not really untangle with it I just found out that I did not drink well and when I did drink rather than a lot of people who become fun-loving and gregarious and love everybody uh I would go the opposite and it would happen just like that

Channel: billylovesjazz

Views: 528,167

Keywords: Johnny Carson, Tonight Show, Mike Wallace, Ed McMahon, Fred de Cordova, Hasty Pudding

Id: XrWkhTJGrsA

Length: 9min 34sec (574 seconds)

Published: Sun May 30 2010