MovieChat Forums > The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) Discussion > Carson. messed up dude

Carson. messed up dude

posted 8 years ago by TMC-4 (20494)
6 replies | jump to latest

https://www.datalounge.com/thread/19496270-carson.-messed-up-dude

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/08/books/review/johnny-carson-by-henry-bushkin.html?mcubz=3

My uncle, Soupy Sales, who was a C list comic at best, was a regular on The Tonight Show in the 70s and 80s. He depended on those appearances to help with his bookings in Vegas and on the comedy club circuit. But Johnny, in his drinking days, was always cruel to him off camera. And it was hard for Soup to swallow his pride and continue to take it, but without those appearances he would have been even more of a has been/nobody...so he took it.

he said that in all his years in show biz, Johnny was the meanest person he ever encountered.

—Anonymous

reply 1 8 hours ago

Johnny Carson was a bitter, miserable alcoholic who was not funny at all in real life.

—Anonymous

reply 3 8 hours ago

I've read his mother was a real nut job and that had a lot to do with his nastiness and personality problems.

—Anonymous

reply 6 8 hours ago

Doesn't matter how fucked up your parents were, no excusing being an abusive asshole.

—Anonymous

reply 7 8 hours ago

Wayne Newton threatened to kick Carson's ass to his face because Carson wouldn't stop making fun of Newton. And they were supposed to be friends. Carson was a mean drunk, and a petty, hateful man.

—Anonymous

reply 14 7 hours ago

I've come to the conclusion that most entertainers have deep seated psychological issues, thus their intense need to get up on stage and be worshiped.

—Anonymous

reply 18 7 hours ago

Carson basically just stood there and read scripted jokes.

But in the sit-down conversations with guests on his show, he showed some wit and spontanaety now and then. He did have good skills at that. But it ultimately became about him.

He did give a spotlight to up-and-coming comedians that he liked.

—Anonymous

reply 19 7 hours ago

"Wayne Newton threatened to kick Carson's ass to his face because Carson wouldn't stop making fun of Newton. "

That's because Carson's jokes were about Newton's "feminine qualities," aka queer.

Johnny was always a nasty fuck - everybody knew it when he was on the Tonight Show. I'll say Jerry Lewis was nastier.

—Anonymous

reply 21 7 hours ago

I worked in beverly hills financial brokerage. Alexis Maas worked with us. she was 38yrs old and very hot. always flying on the private planes with the guys. not sure who came up with that story about her just walking on the beach below johnnys house is how she met him, but that has to be bullshit. she was just waiting for someone rich enough and now she has all the millions$$. She keeps a very low profile. just like the hair burner that married michael landon and then got all his millions$$. now those are gold diggers with golden nuggets who i can admire!!

—Anonymous

reply 24 6 hours ago

I was going to say something snarky about Wayne Newton and his plastic face but after watching the Larry King interview and the story about Carson I got nothing. Carson was a jerk and Wayne seems ok.

—Anonymous

reply 25 6 hours ago

I could never stand him and never thought he was funny at all.

Don't get me started about the way he treated Joan Rivers.

—Anonymous

reply 31 2 hours ago

He was only mean to those who were disloyal to him. We Scorpios take loyalty very seriously. If you are loyal to us, we will do anything in the world for you, but if you are two-faced, we will lash out in spiteful ways.

—Anonymous

reply 40 an hour ago

I saw the PBS documentary on Carson that was made a few years ago, and his mother was a really nasty piece of work, just a total bitch. He obviously took after her.

—Anonymous

reply 41 an hour ago

"Wayne Newton threatened to kick Carson's ass to his face because Carson wouldn't stop making fun of Newton. "

Wayne Newton is quite a nutjob himself. Every interview he does he brings up Johnny Carson, and how he stormed into his office, threatening him with bodily violence if he didn't stop making jokes about his lack of masculinity. One interviewer, hearing the tale said "that was thirty years ago!" But Newton still obsessed over it. He's a crazy man, as bad as Carson ever was.

—Anonymous

reply 42 33 minutes ago

I got the impression that Carson demanded loyalty but didn't return it.

—Anonymous

reply 48 9 minutes ago

[–] BullSchmidt (3189) 6 years ago

Add to the list, Carson was a chronic wife beater. Married four times. Did he slap wife #1 around? Yep. Wife #2? No question. Wife #3? Evidence is mixed; maybe, maybe not. Wife #4? Probably not. Well, he slowed down as he got older, I guess.

[–] Cuthbert (732) 6 years ago

I’ve known lots of comedians, each one mean AF.

[–] TMC-4 (20494) 6 years ago

https://www.quora.com/What-actors-and-actresses-who-usually-play-nice-characters-are-the-complete-opposite-in-real-life/answer/Angela-Stockton

Johnny Carson: the “character” he played was the one who hosted The Tonight Show for so many years.

Off camera, he was a real jerk. He played around himself but divorced his second wife because she had an affair. At a Friars Club roast, he urinated in an ice bucket chilling a bottle of champagne.

One of his sons, Rick, died in an auto accident. On the first show after Rick's death, Johnny was paying an emotional tribute to Rick when off-camera his producer, Fred deCordova, began signaling to him that it was time to go to a commercial. That's one of the duties of a producer and, after all, it was the advertisers who paid the bills. But Johnny was so furious, he ever after banned deCordova from the stage during the show.

I could tell a lot more stories about his jerkiness, but it's been too many years since I read the tell-all book written by his former personal lawyer, Henry Bushkin. Although Johnny joked about “Bombastic" Bushkin in his monologues, he and Bushkin also had a falling-out, instigated by Johnny.

For all his grief over Rick' s death, Johnny didn't seem to be a great father. When he died, he died alone. His wife, his two surviving sons, even Ed McMahon — not one of them was with him at the end.

[–] BullSchmidt (3189) 6 years ago

I read both of Bushkin's books, "Johnny Carson," and "Mommy Dearest: The Explosive Epilogue to the Bestselling, 'Johnny Carson.'" He strikes me as pretty bitter, although he probably made about twenty times as much money over his career by being associated with Carson as he would have otherwise. From what I recall, the falling out wasn't entirely Carson's fault, although it's been a while since I've read it and don't remember the specifics.

With that said, the first book is interesting enough. The second ("Mommy Dearest") is inane psychobabble.

Doesn't surprise me about Ed McMahon. He had to tread a thin line for decades. If he wasn't funny enough he could be fired for, well, not being funny enough; if he was too funny he could be fired for upstaging his boss.

[–] TMC-4 (20494) 3 years ago

What a Creep: Johnny Carson (Talk Show Creep Hey Yooooooo!)

https://www.stitcher.com/show/what-a-creep/episode/what-a-creep-johnny-carson-talk-show-creep-hey-yooooooo-82164327

What a Creep: Johnny Carson “King of Late Night Creep” Season 10, Episode 2 Johnny Carson was known as the King of Late Night with NBC’s The Tonight Show which he hosted between 1962-1992. He was so popular that the phrase “going to bed with Johnny Carson” was part of the vernacular. In his lifetime, he won 6 Emmy Awards, the Peabody Award in 1985, The Presidential Freedom Award in 1992, and the Kennedy Center Honor in 1993. When Johnny retired from show business on May 22, 1992, it was such a big media news story that some outlets refused to run new episodes so that he could have as large of an audience as possible. The Tonight Show was considered key in the careers of comedians like Joan Rivers, David Letterman, Jay Leno, Roseanne Barr, Ellen DeGeneres, and Jay Leno. Having a set on the Tonight Show was considered quite the coup—but it was even better when Johnny invited you to the couch afterward. People like Drew Carey, Tim Allen, and Ray Romano had television deals after appearing on the Tonight Show. He had power! He was flirtatious with women (a habit David Letterman picked up from him) and a famous story from the 1960s had actress Ava Gabor as a guest who brought her Persian cat sitting on her lap. She supposedly asked Johnny “Would you like to pet my pussy?” Johnny said, “Sure if you move that damn cat out of the way!” Turns out, that is not true. But what is true is that Johnny challenged her to a game of Twister in 1966, and the popularity of the game skyrocketed. Johnny was famous for being suave, handsome, married a few times, liking a drink in the evenings, and having feuds with random people.

[–] HelpMeRhonda (1158) 6 years ago

News flash, a lot of Hollywood folks are ugly people who do ugly things.