Johnny Carson’s nephew reveals what late host would think of ‘Tonight Show’ now — and why he refused to take a helicopter to work

NY Post ^ | 04/11/2025 | Alexandra Bellusci

[1Old Pro]

There was only one Johnny Carson.

As there was only one Rush Limbaugh. Both true innovators and master entertainers, irreplaceable.

[9YearLurker]

Interesting. Especially with his signature golf-swing on his show.

[al_c]

Oh BS. Johnny would hate late night nowadays. Too political

Exactly what I was thinking. These guys today should be required to watch Carson tapes. He was good at joking about politics without making it overly political. And he'd ridicule both sides equally.

[PfromHoGro]

Just like Larry Sanders...

[Georgia Girl 2]

He may well have played golf also but he was a tennis maniac.

[Srednik]

What would Jack Paar say?

Johnny Carson was NOT the original. Just the most flamboyant.

[Zhang Fei]

[My girlfriend used to visit them often and she said Johnny Carson was a tennis fanatic. He would show up all the time in his tennis outfit to play tennis with them on their court. He was vey introverted and hardly spoke. He would just sit and listen to everyone else. Totally different from his on screen persona.]

---

That squares with what I’ve read. I suspect the alcoholism related to self-medication to suppress his introverted tendencies so he could do the show day in and day out.

[9YearLurker]

My sense from afar is that they (and Jay Leno) were far superior to the present crop, but were they as politically string-pulled as we’ve got now? I don’t know, but I have a feeling that close examination would suggest something like that.

[skepsel]

Mayor Sam Yorty was always good for a joke, lol.

[skepsel]

what would Steve Allen say?

[plain talk]

“Joan Rivers said after the lights went out for commercial Carson would tap his pencils and say nothing”

Interesting. Of course Johnny was different than his public personna and perhaps he was just being a jerk. Another possibility is that maybe he needed to save his voice for the show. I know singers that won’t talk hardly at all before a show.

[Col Frank Slade]

The Carson / Rodney Dangerfield stuff was classic.

[Lazamataz]

Joan Rivers said after the lights went out for commercial Carson would tap his pencils and say nothing

Actually, makes perfect sense. Suppose something utterly amazing and hilarious happened while commercials were running?

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

Carson was the best. I was a regular viewer during his entire run. I watched Leno once and that was it. It wasn’t the same. I have never had an interest in any of the other late-night hosts, nor in the guests they are likely to have. I have more free time for reading.

[ansel12]

Johnny Carson’s show contributed to the feeling that America was a united people, more or less on the same page about most things with the voting booth being the voting booth and the public space was pretty wholesome and homogeneous, and late night TV was for mom and dad and the comedians could have a cocktail and loosen up.

[Vaduz]

Gutfeld holds the top rating in late night programs.

Non liberal makes it worth while.

[SomeCallMeTim]

I do REALLY miss Johnny. I felt like I was a grownup when I first started getting to each him.

[SomeCallMeTim]

Watch 🙄

[ealgeone]

A lot of folks like Carson, who are extroverts in a particular setting, are actually introverts.

I imagine the talk show was draining for him as he had to be "on" all the time.

[untenured]

I lived in LA decades ago. We discovered an extraordinary BBQ restaurant in the Sepulveda area, in a so-so (at best) neighborhood close to a 405 exit.

It was often packed, and a friend of mine who knew the owners said that Carson would occasionally go in there to pick up food to go, but if it wasn’t ready yet he just wait like everybody else, not insisting on special treatment.