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Johnny Carson’s Memorable Moments
Since TCM airs some of Johnny Carson’s interviews every Monday night at 8pm in July, Wait! What’s a Dial? has compiled other memorable moments from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. None of these moments are rare. We’ve all seen them in every Johnny Carson special, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun to watch them again. In no particular order, here are four memorable moments from Johnny’s 30 years as host of The Tonight Show.
The Tomahawk Incident
Cool TV Video of the Day: Kimmel Mocks Leno To His Face
It’s no secret that Jimmy Kimmel hates Jay Leno. Kimmel takes every opportunity he gets to crack jokes about Leno, which surely will not change now that Kimmel will be in direct competition with the Tonight Show. Since Kimmel has been talking about Leno a lot lately, let’s take a look at Jimmy Kimmel on The Jay Leno Show segment “10 at 10”.
Jimmy Kimmel Will Air at 11:35pm
Starting in January, ABC will push Nightline back an hour, so that Jimmy Kimmel Live can be a direct competitor to the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Late Show with David Letterman. This does not make sense. ABC already wins the 11:35pm late night ratings race against Leno and Letterman with Nightline, which averages 3.8 million viewers. However, ABC loses the ratings race a half hour later because Kimmel averages 1.8 million viewers to Leno’s 3.71 million viewers and Letterman’s 3.22 million viewers. Kimmel also receives the fewest number of viewers among the 3 hosts in the coveted 19-49 demographic.
Cool TV Video of the Day: Dave Says “Don’t Blame Conan”
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Conan O’Brien hosted to The Tonight Show for a total of 7 months and was replaced by his predecessor, Jay Leno. Regardless of whose side you’re on, Conan’s last two weeks at NBC made for some great television. Not just on NBC, but on CBS as well. David Letterman took delight in tearing into Leno because he had found himself in a similar situation 18 years prior. In this clip, Dave warns that you can think whatever you want about NBC’s late night drama, but “don’t blame Conan.”
TV Shows You Should Know: The Tonight Show Starring Steve Allen
Before The Tonight Show debacle of 2009-2010 starring Conan O’Brien and Jay Leno, there were three other hosts of The Tonight Show: Steve Allen, Jack Paar, and Johnny Carson. If you’re over 30, you probably think of The Tonight Show as Johnny Carson’s show. However, Steve Allen was the first host of the show. He hosted it from 1954 to 1957.
As the first host of a national late night talk show, Steve Allen directly influenced David Letterman. Letterman has influenced Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, and Jimmy Fallon, so some of Allen’s attitude and antics can still be seen on current late night talk shows.
Jay Leno Celebrates 20 Years with NBC
Lately, NBC has been advertising Jay Leno celebrating 20 years at NBC, which is not entirely accurate. He has been with NBC for more than 20 years, the first few were spent as permanent guest host of The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. NBC should be saying Leno has been hosting The Tonight Show for 20 years. Wait, that’s not right either, even though NBC wants to be able to insist otherwise. In reality, Leno has been regularly hosting a nightly talk show for 20 years: 19 years as host of The Tonight Show, 5 months as host of The Jay Leno Show.
Let’s be honest. It is impressive that Leno has been on the air for 20 years, but there is a huge segment of the population that holds a grudge against him. They are the ones who will always remember that Conan O’Brien hosted The Tonight Show for 7 months, which NBC would rather forget. They are the very reason Team Coco exists and Conan is now happy on TBS.
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