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There’s a story behind the Carson Rivers relationship.

She was a regular stand-in for him. She did it few a period of years. At some point she either stood in for someone else, or performed in some manner that he saw as a betrayal, or damaging to his brand. He thought she had been disloyal.

He determined never to put her on his show again.

I always thought of her as a big-mouth obnoxious person. When she guest hosted, I wouldn’t tune in. She grated me something fierce.

The network didn’t have to over-rule Carson on this.

As for Leno, I think Carson was comfortable with it. I know he didn’t seem to come on the show and support Leno to the degree some folks might have hoped he would, but Carson was actually a strident introvert. He wasn’t a big social setting type of guy, even as popular in the night-time entertainment time slot.

I think his ability to handle guests, do decent interesting interviews, and draw them out were second to none. His ability to take an insult and turn it right back on the guest was proven to be instinctive and natural. The right thing to say just popped into his head in an instant. Guests knew better than to push their luck.

If Carson had never existed, maybe Leno would have seemed decent. To me he was always a very stiff guy. He seemed to be formulaic, because it just didn’t seem natural.

With Carson, it always was.

When Carson had his one and a half hour show, he would have big names on, and they would stay for the entire show. By the end of those shows, he would have three to five incredibly big names on, and the give and take was amazing. These people fed off each other and the dynamic was unmatched by anything going on today.

Someone mentioned Jimmy Fallon on the thread. He has some of the best comedic instincts of them all these days. While I am not impressed with his politics, he can be truly funny. Some of his skits rival the old Carson skits.