This is a LIKE NEW "Tonight" - 4 Decades of The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson 15 DVD Box Set that was watched once!

Here's Johnny in a massive, mixed-blessings of a boxed set that in the immortal words of Stephen Sondheim offers something for everyone (but mostly comedy Tonight). Unlike previous DVD collections of certified classic Tonight Show clips, this set offers a more representative retrospective of Johnny's 30-year reign as the King of Late Night, a bygone era when there were only three networks and Jerry Seinfeld opened for Andy Williams in Bloomington, Minnesota. These episodes are truncated, yes, but you get the good stuff: Ed McMahon's iconic "And now, here's Johnny" intro; the topical monologue; a comedy bit (Carnac the Magnificent, the Mighty Carson Art Players, Stump the Band); and a diverse array of stars, who seemed to shine a little brighter when doing panel with Johnny. Even on an average night, there was the feeling that anything could happen, and these episodes offer a plethora of great water-cooler moments: Robert Blake showing up as Baretta during a Columbo sketch; an unannounced Don Rickles interrupting a Frank Sinatra appearance (with Frank himself telling Rickles's signature "Hey, Frank, can't you see I'm eating" story); Michael Landon tearing into a TV Guide reporter; Johnny shanghaiing David Letterman's beat-up truck from his Malibu home; Steve Martin ordering dinner during his panel set; and a great barroom-brawl stuntman demonstration (featuring future Smoky and the Bandit director Hal Needham). For comedians, Johnny was a career-making kingmaker, and this set features some great standup sets by Seinfeld, Letterman, Garry Shandling, David Brenner, and Jay Leno. But as good as Johnny was with celebrities, he was even better at interviewing who Sarah Palin calls "the nice folks," ordinary citizens with some extraordinary talents, such as champion hog callers, and a senior citizen adept at martial arts. The Tonight Show also spotlighted weird, wild acts, like the guy who blows cigarette smoke bubbles. Chapter stops would have been nice. There are also some technical issues (a couple of clips featured in a new interview with Loni Anderson--one of several Most Favored Guests who share reminiscences of appearing on The Tonight Show-- have no sound). But these are minor quibbles. You do get some bonus unearthed vintage '60s-'70s clips such as Johnny's interview with Jay "Tonto" Silverheels, a stirring appearance by the crew of Apollo 13, and a nice bit with Charlton Heston in which he and Johnny take turns reading limericks. Let's hope there's "More to Come." --Donald Liebenson
About the Actor
Born on October 23, 1925, Johnny Carson grew up in Norfolk, Nebraska. Perhaps Johnny was destined to be the King of Late Night. At 14 he had a magic act called The Great Carsoni. At 20, as an Ensign serving aboard the USS Pennsylvania, Johnny entertained enlisted men during shows on the ship. While a student at the University of Nebraska, he also worked at a local radio station, KFAB and later at WOW in Omaha, where he wrote comedy and announced commercials. Deciding that his entertainment future was in California, he landed a job in 1950 as staff announcer for KNXT in Los Angeles, where he soon hosted, Carson's Cellar. He suspended his on-camera work to write material for Red Skelton's TV program. One night, Skelton ran into a breakaway door and suffered a concussion during rehearsal. Johnny went on in Red Skelton's place, opening with a monologue he had put together while driving to the studio. Jack Benny's said after You better watch that Carson kid. The kid is great... At 29, Carson became host of his own network show, Earn Your Vacation, while also appearing as a substitute host for another up and coming TV personality, Jack Paar, on CBS's The Morning Show. In 1957, Johnny moved to ABC as host of a new daytime game show, Who Do You Trust where he was teamed with his future Tonight Show announcer, Ed McMahon. In 1958 he was again asked to fill in for Paar, this time on NBC's The Tonight Show! On October 1, 1962, Groucho Marx introduced Carson to the nation's late-night television audience as the new host of The Tonight Show and the rest, as the say, is history!
Product Description
2010 fifteen DVD set, an all-new Johnny Carson/Tonight Show collection containing never-before-released shows on DVD. All 56 shows, from four decades as the late-night leader in television, have been carefully hand-selected by an original Tonight Show producer to represent the very best of the shows that made Johnny Carson one of the most popular figures on television during the 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's. Special bonus features include 60 minutes of extremely rare, rescued footage from the 1960's (most all shows from the 60's were lost) as well as all-new interviews with some of the favorite regulars on The Tonight Show.