Heeere's Johnny - "The Tonight Show" Quiz

Answer: 1962

Johnny Carson began his run as host of "The Tonight Show" on October 1, 1962. Carson was preceded by Steve Allen, the show's original host who appeared from 1954 through 1957, and Jack Paar, who hosted the show from 1957 until 1962.

Carson was originally offered the hosting job several months prior to Paar's planned departure from the show, but declined the offer. Carson, a shy person by nature, feared that he would not be able to interview celebrities for the 105 minutes of the show. NBC then offered the job to Bob Newhart, Jackie Gleason, Grocho Marx, and Joey Bishop, all of whom declined the offer. NBC then approached Carson again and convinced him to accept the offer. The rest as they say was history. Carson went on to host the show for the next 30 years.

Answer: Who Do You Trust

Johnny Carson was the original host of the game show "Who Do You Trust" when it premiered on September 30, 1957. Bill Nimmo served as Johnny's announcer on the show. One year later, Nimmo was replaced by Ed McMahon, who would remain with Carson for the next 34 years. When Carson moved to "The Tonight Show", he took Ed McMahon along with him.

Woody Woodbury took over as host of "Who Do You Trust" and Bill Nimmo returned as the show announcer, working as a team until the show ended on December 27, 1962.

Ed McMahon became known for the introduction he created to announce Carson at the beginning of each show. With his distinctive booming voice, McMahon would start each show with "and now, heeere's Johnny".

Answer: Branford Marsalis

Brandon Marsalis led The Tonight Show Band from 1992 until 1995. Marsalis' entire tenure as bandleader was post-Carson, on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno".

Skitch Henderson led the band from 1962 until 1966.

Veteran long time NBC musical director Milton DeLugg served as bandleader for a brief time in 1966.

Carl "Doc" Severinsen led the band from 1967 until Carson's last show in 1992.
Carson frequently included Severinsen in his nightly monologues, commenting on his flashy and flamboyant attire.

When Ed McMahon took an occasional night off, Severinsen would act as Johnny's substitute announcer, leaving the bandleader duties to long time band member Tommy Newsome.

Answer: Jon Q. Public

John Q. Public was not one of Carson's characters.

Aunt Blabby was a gray-haired, bespectacled senior citizen who appeared and discussed issues of the day with Ed Mahon. Aunt Blabby had her own unique views on subjects. When asked what she felt about the state of economic depression in the country, she replied, "It's just like me, sagging, slumping, and hard to get moving again". The audiences applauded with their approval. When asked by Ed, "Are we moving towards a great depression?", Aunt Blabby replied, "Yes, I got a sneak peak at the rest of the monologue".

Floyd R. Turbo was an average dim-witted country yokel type man on the street. He was usually attired in his checkered red coat and hunting cap. Floyd would offer his ultra conservative responses to local television station editorials. His views represented his own philosophies and experiences, and not necessarily those based on fact and science. Turbo usually spoke in a slow monotone voice as he stared directly into the TV cameras, appearing to be reading from cue cards.

Carnac the Magnificent was one of Carson's most popular skits. Carnac the Magnificent was a mystic soothsayer from the East, who appeared attired in a black cape, wearing a large bejeweled turban on his head. Carnac had the ability to touch his turban with a sealed envelope and give the answer to the question written on a card inside of the envelope. After giving the answer, Carnac would open the envelope and read the question. According to Ed McMahon who handed Carnac each envelope, the questions had been hermetically sealed and stored in a mayonnaise jar left on the front porch of "Funk and Wagnall's" (of dictionary and reference book fame). Carnac had no prior knowledge of the contents in the envelopes, but with his powers, would be able to ascertain the answers before reading the questions. After Carnac would announce the answer, which would be repeated by McMahon in his loud voice for the audience, Carnac would open the envelope and read the question. Some examples are as follows:

Answer: UCLA.
Question: What happens on a smog free day in Los Angeles?

Answer: Hurry up.
Question: What do you call a mixture of 7-Up and prune juice?

Answer: Kaleidoscope.
Question: What instrument does your doctor use to examine your Kaleido?

Answer: Defrost.
Question: On a cold morning, what forms on de-grass?

Answer: Bible belt.
Question: What does the Rev. Billy Graham use to hold up his trousers?

Answer: Until he gets caught.
Question: How long does a Congressman remain in office?

When the audience response fell short of what Carnac anticipated, Carnac would stare at the camera and admonish the audience with a Middle East curse. Examples:
"May a bloated Yak change the temperature of your Jacuzzi".
"May your son become a goalie on a nude hockey team".
"May you walk under a diseased Camel".

Answer: Broadcast of the last cigarette TV commercial in the United States

The Public Health Cigarette Act, passed on April 1, 1970, ended the advertising of cigarettes on both television and radio, effective January 2, 1971.

The last cigarette commercial to be aired in the United States was a 30 second spot advertising the Virginia Slims brand cigarettes, at 11:59pm on January 1, 1971, during a station break for "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson".

Answer: drums

Johnny Cason was a great lover of jazz music and was acknowledged as a talented amateur drummer.

Carson was a drum enthusiast throughout both his childhood and professional career. He truly admired the great drummers of the time, such as Buddy Rich, Louie Bellson and Ed Shaughnessy, whom he frequently featured on the show.

One of Carson's prize possessions was a new set of drums presented to him by legendary drummer Buddy Rich.

Carson was noted by many drummers for his great manual dexterity in using the drum sticks. Carson attributed this skill to doing card tricks as a 14 year old magician, performing his act at parties and local social events, as "The Great Carsoni".

Answer: Bob Hope

Bob Hope, without question one of America's most beloved celebrities, led the field with 108 appearances between 1963 and 1992.

Other frequent visitors to Johnny's couch were comedians Bill Cosby with 45 appearances between 1964 and 1992, Steve Martin with 45 appearances between 1972 and 1992, and Don Rickles (who Johnny referred to as Mr. Warmth) on over 100 shows as either a guest or substitute host, between 1968 and 1992.

Answer: Joan Rivers

Her move to the Fox Television Network in 1986 resulted in Joan Rivers being permanently banned from appearing on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson".

Johnny Carson was a long time friend of comedienne Joan Rivers. Under his tutelage, Rivers was guided through much of her early career in comedy. Carson hired Rivers in the early years of "The Tonight Show" as a writer. Rivers often jokingly referred to herself as Johnny Carson's daughter.

Rivers was one of a number of show business talents selected by Carson to act as guest host of "The Tonight Show" on Mondays when he traditionally took the night off, and during Carson's annual vacations.

In September of 1983, Joan Rivers was designated as Carson's permanent guest host for the show. In late 1985, Rivers entered into secret negotiations with the Fox Television Network for the development of her own late night talk show, which would compete against "The Tonight Show".

In 1986, Fox released a press notice announcing the start of "The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers". Rivers left "The Tonight Show" to star on her own show.
Johnny Carson was deeply hurt and offended, not so much because Rivers left, but because his notification of her show came from the press release and not from Joan Rivers personally.

From that point, Johnny Carson never again spoke to Joan Rivers, and instituted a permanent ban on her from appearing on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson". Respecting Carson's ban, Jay Leno, who succeeded Carson as the shows host, continued the ban following Johnny Carson's retirement, and Joan Rivers never appeared on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno".

Joan Rivers' new show suffered low ratings competing against "The Tonight Show" and that, along with some creative differences between Rivers and Fox, resulted in her being fired from the show after one year.

Answer: 1972

"The Tonight Show" took permanent residence in the newer state-of-the-art television broadcast facility in Burbank, California. Carson felt that the available pool of celebrity talent residing and working in the greater Los Angeles area would serve as a nearly endless supply of talent and guest for the show.

The Burbank studio was located only a few miles from Hollywood and Beverly Hills where many of the industries top performers resided. Burbank was also the home of the Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros. Entertainment, and Columbia Pictures. Many of the other major motion studios were headquartered and filmed in and around Los Angeles County. Malibu, California was a prime residential area for many entertainment figure and featured luxurious beachfront properties. Carson himself selected a beautiful home on the beach in Malibu for his personal residence. Ed McMahon resided in a large mansion in Beverly Hills, just a short distance from NBC Television Studios in Burbank.

Reversing his previous tradition, Carson then took the show twice yearly to New York City, broadcasting two to three weeks from his former studios.

Answer: There were no guests

There were no guest for Carson's final show. Johnny sat alone on a stool located center stage and, through past taped film clips of the show, gave a retrospect of the show's rich history. The live studio audience was by invitation-only and consisted of friends, family, and crew members of the show. The final show drew a viewing audience of over 50 million.

As Johnny sat alone, center stage before his audience, he signed off for the last time with:

"And so it has come to this. I uh.. am one of the lucky people in the world. I found something I always wanted to do and I have enjoyed every single minute of it. I want to thank the people who've shared this stage with me for thirty years. Mr. Ed McMahon, Mr. Doc Severinsen and you people watching. I can only tell you that it has been an honor and a privilege to come into your homes all these years and entertain you. And I hope when I find something that I want to do and I think you would like and come back, that you be as gracious in inviting me into your home as you have been. I bid you a very heartfelt good night".

With this broadcast, the 30 year run, 4,532 episodes of "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" came to an end.

A truly talented entertainer, John William "Johnny" Carson was born in Corning, Iowa on October 23, 1925. Carson passed away in West Hollywood, California on January 23, 2005.