Johnny Carson: King of Late Night (2012) Reviews

• I was surprised I liked this film so much.

  runamokprods2015-01-08

  While I grew up enjoying Johnny Carson, he wasn't somebody I felt driven to know more about. But this almost 2 hour documentary does a terrific job of dovetailing both the public and private sides of the man to give a portrait of a tremendous talent who could handle anything on his show with amazing spontaneous grace and humor, but had a much harder time dealing with people, love and family out in the real world. A complete extrovert on-stage, he was a true introvert away from the lights, struggling with drinking, anger and extra-martial affairs. Yet while the film doesn't flinch in looking at his sad and dark sides, it does so with compassion and never feels like a hit job. It balances these darker, sometimes very moving sections with great clips from "The Tonight Show" that remind one just how damn funny the guy could be, in spite of his troubled personal life. For a film I wasn't sure I even wanted to see, it did an excellent job of hooking me in and riveting me in telling the story of a great entertainer who was far more complicated than I imagined.

• King of Late Night Forever

  DKosty1232012-05-22

  This show nails the essential complex host/man/loner Johnny Carson was. It has all the major talkers Carson competed with, plus a lot of his classic clips and stories about a major television figure who tried to keep his private life private. What is interesting to me is that the special mentions the love affairs that Carson had that broke up his marriages. Other than scandal sheet articles, I have seen very little tell all books from women Carson had affairs with. I guess not all women kiss and tell. The special does bring up Angie Dickinson's claim that she wanted romance with Carson but things never worked out. There was always a lot of sexual innuendo used on Carson's Tonight show. This Carson special is available through a link on You Tube for anyone interested. It covers the Joan Rivers Feud, and many other topics. Most interesting thing - very little reference to Mclean Stevenson who was the guy who guest hosted Tonight the most while Carson was there. The Carson family issues which were never seen when Carson was on and alive are brought to the surface here in a very direct way. This show is "spot on." http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes

• Maybe it's just me, but this episode made me feel rather sad.

  MartinHafer2012-05-20

  This episode of "American Masters" was well made--I have no complaints about this in any way. In fact, it was EXCEPTIONALLY well made and because of this it depressed me. This is because with a 'warts and all' biography, you get more than just effusive praise--you get the good AND the bad. So, while you learn about all of Johnny Carson's many on-screen successes and accolades, you also hear about what an absolutely screwed up guy he was as well. Because of this, instead of focusing on his triumphs (and this made up most of the show), I kept getting bogged down with his failings. He had a difficult mother--one who had a very hard time praising Johnny or connecting with him. In turn, he had a horrible time connecting with his own children--and seemed to be very distant. He also struggled with alcoholism (or at least a serious drinking problem) and his very public divorces. And, while there was lots of praise for him as a performer, it was sad that no one interviewed for the show ever felt close to him. It's an odd contradiction--with such a public figure having such an incredibly private life--and often, he was alone. If you want to feel happy, don't watch this. However, if you hate biographies that gloss over problems and only paint a rosy picture (a very common problem), then this is for you. You learn a lot about the man and I can really respect the job the "American Masters" folks did with this one. Very good and the definitive biography on the man.

• Johnny Carson gets quite a tribute in this "American Masters" episode

  tavm2012-07-03

  After a couple of months of sitting on my DVR, I finally watched "American Masters: Johnny Carson: King of Late Night. It seems to cover everything of his life and career choice-his discovery of magic tricks at 13 or 14, his first TV appearance on a station in Omaha, Nebraska, his initial Los Angeles local TV exposure, his big break on national TV as substitute on Red Skelton's show before his own same-named show on CBS, and then his pinnacle-30 years of "The Tonight Show". We also get glimpses of his four wives and his affairs in between. And then there's the way he wanted his private life really private. Along the way, there's plenty of interviews of people who he helped to either mentor or just expose to a mass audience-David Letterman, Jay Leno, Garry Shandling, Jerry Seinfeld, Joan Rivers. The last one is discussed further because of her abrupt departure as "The Tonight Show"s permanent guest host as well as treasured guest after Johnny discovered her Fox deal in 1986 that Ms. Rivers never told him about beforehand. Arsenio Hall also chimes in about Johnny and how his show managed to be real competition for Carson when he simply went with his own thing and went after the late night king's audience's kids. Many of the show's highlights are here: that tomahawk incident with Ed Ames with Johnny saying "I didn't know you were Jewish!", a caged tiger from Joan Embry scaring him to go to Ed McMahon's shoulders, etc. One surprising scene for me, however, was seeing Johnny singing "Here's That Rainy Day" from an early show so lovingly while playing guitar. It was a pleasantly unexpected scene to watch. I could probably say more, but I'll just now say if you were or still are a fan of his, I highly recommend this "Johnny Carson: King of Late Night" ep of "American Masters." Personal note: Mom often told me that when I first talked, it was during one of Johnny's shows when Ed said "Heeeere's Johnny!" and my first words were the toddler version of it.

• Great Look at the Late Night King

  Michael_Elliott2012-05-17

  American Masters: Johnny Carson: King of Late Night (2012) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Very good entry in the long-running series takes a look at the life and career of Johnny Carson. The two-hour documentary covers a wide range of topics including Caron's early work in magic, his Omaha, NE days, his moves to Los Angeles, a couple failed television shows, his game show and finally his thirty-year run as host of The Tonight Show. Through interviews and archival footage we're told the ups and downs of Carson's career. It's said that Carson was one of the most loved figures in television history and that certainly appears to be the case simply by how many people turned up to be interviewed for this. Jay Leno, David Letterman, Arsenio Hall, Conan O'Brien, Drew Carey, Jerry Seinfield, Angie Dickinson, Joan Rivers, Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Steve Martin and Dick Cavett are just a few of the familiar faces who show up to talk about what Carson meant to them. It's really amazing that it took so long for American Masters to do a documentary on the legend but they really haven't let you down as the film is certainly well produced and director Peter Jones did a fantastic job at putting it together. What I really enjoyed is how we'd get the biography of Carson's life and then while we're told the stories we'd get a cut to a Tonight Show clip where he's joking about it. As someone who didn't grow up with Carson I found the clips to be incredibly funny and I think the film really got across what made him so special with so many people.