{"title":"The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson","dateDebut":"1962","dateEnd":"1992","description":"The long-time NBC late-night talk show starring Johnny Carson, not the guy who invented this type of show, but the guy who popularized it. Carson's show established the modern format of a late-night talk show: A monologue sprinkled with a rapid-fire series of sixteen to twenty-two one-liners\u2014Carson had a rule of no more than two on the same subject\u2014regular use of sketch comedy, and guest interviews. While his early guests included politicians such as John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Hubert Humphrey, Carson mainly had as guests people that had a book, movie, television show, or stage performance to promote. Other regulars were selected for their entertainment or information value, in contrast to those who offered more cerebral conversation; it was Carson's preference for access to Hollywood stars that prompted the show's move to the West Coast in 1972. (When asked about intellectual conversation on Tonight, Carson and his staff invariably cited \"Carl Sagan, Paul Ehrlich, Margaret Mead, Gore Vidal, Shana Alexander, Madalyn Murray O'Hair\" as guests; however, as one television critic once put it, \"he always presented them as if they were spinach for your diet when he did (feature such names).\" Psychologist Joyce Brothers was also one of Carson's most frequent guests.)","leadImageMedUrl":"http:\/\/distro-1.retrojunk.com\/secure\/7ae9a30db482b97b0b9b69e59f63357f2d302c2470973486bc2fd17bd97e2574f06f00\/image\/3ub79u6l1dkya25Bz6sz3_md.jpg"}