Speaker A
Well, you look marvelous. You look great shape.
Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show featured eight ordinary guests who unexpectedly outshone professionals, including a 97-year-old who stole the show.
Key Takeaways
- Ordinary people can captivate audiences more than seasoned professionals through authenticity.
- Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show was a platform that occasionally broke its own rules to showcase real talent.
- Live television’s unpredictability can create memorable and iconic moments.
- Humor and entertainment do not always require a prepared act or professional background.
- The legacy of The Tonight Show includes celebrating everyday Americans and their unique stories.
What the video covers
- Johnny Carson occasionally invited ordinary Americans without professional acts onto The Tonight Show.
- These guests included a 4-year-old, a woman with an accordion, and a man who made jewelry from quail droppings.
- The last guest was a 97-year-old man who captivated the audience and overshadowed Betty White.
- One segment involved a piano player no-showing, leading Carson to ask the audience for a volunteer.
- Terri Stone, an unplanned guest, was chosen from the audience and participated in a musical challenge.
- Frank Hill, the 'manure man' from South Carolina, presented handmade quail dropping jewelry to Carson.
- These guests were not trying to be funny but still won over the audience and outperformed professionals.
- The show’s format was simple: one desk, one couch, one curtain, with millions tuning in nightly.
- Johnny Carson’s approach highlighted the charm and authenticity of everyday people on national television.
- The video emphasizes the unique and unpredictable magic of live television and Carson’s legacy.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction and Makeup Banter
- 01:08The Missing Piano Player and Audience Volunteer
- 02:43The Tonight Show Format and Booking Process
- 03:49Terri Stone’s Surprise Performance
- 04:44Audience Reaction and Fort Lauderdale Joke
- 07:19Frank Hill, the Manure Man of South Carolina
- 08:20Presentation of Quail Dropping Jewelry
- 09:17Closing Remarks and Legacy of Ordinary Guests
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
Thank you. Did you have to practice that to be able to say it to me?
Speaker A
Not a bit. You're doing, you're what they call spunky. All right? Well, you see your makeup man fixed me up.
Speaker A
Aw. I think you look great. But you didn't see me before the makeup man did.
Speaker A
That bad? You never, you never had a facelift or anything like that in your life, Edie? You wouldn't do anything like that, would you?
Speaker A
Well, I can't afford it. Facelift? Well, they do that out. It's all I can do is lift my feet up and down.
Speaker A
Johnny Carson put eight ordinary Americans on The Tonight Show. The last one took the whole show at 97.
Speaker A
The hand that went up. December 19th, 1985. A piano player who was booked on The Tonight Show does not show up.
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The tape is rolling. The segment is already printed on the rundown. There are about a hundred people working in that building, a band, a crew, a booth, a sponsor who has paid for every second of that hour, and not one of them
Speaker A
can fill the hole. David's here. David, David, obviously you know this is not set up.
Speaker A
Uh, because obviously David would not dress this way. [laughter] [applause] So, Johnny Carson walks off his own stage, out into his own audience, and asks if anybody out there can play.
Speaker A
A man in jeans and flip-flops is sitting there next to his brother. He does not raise his hand.
Speaker A
His brother raises it for him. For 30 years, Johnny Carson booked professional entertainers five nights a week. Men and women who had spent 15 years building 6 minutes, and over and over on purpose, he handed the show to
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people who had no act at all. A 4-year-old. A woman with an accordion. A man who made jewelry out of quail droppings, eight of them.
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And they kept winning. The last one was 97 years old. And he took the whole night away from Betty White.
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If you never watched this show, here is all you need. 30 years. Five nights a week, right after the 11:00 news.
Speaker A
One desk. One couch. One curtain. At its peak, tens of millions of Americans went to sleep on the same joke. And every name that came through that curtain went through a booking department.
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Real people. Real offices. Weeks in advance. Nobody walked onto that stage by accident. Which is what makes these eight nights strange. Because this is not a list of funny guests. This is a list of people who are not supposed to be funny and who
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beat the professionals who were paid to be. Watch what all eight of them have in common.
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The last one makes it obvious. The woman who bought a ticket. December 14th, 1979.
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Her name was Terri Stone and she was not on the guest list. She was not on any list.
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She had bought a ticket. Carson had a segment where he came down off the stage, walked into the rows, and picked somebody.
Speaker A
Okay, [applause] we, this is called Friday night, this is called taking a chance coming up here, folks.
Speaker A
You're going to good. We haven't done this for a long time and we like to come up and see where everybody's from, play something with the band. We have a lot of great prizes tonight. Anybody have a song? Okay.
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The rule was simple. You named a song. If the band could not play it, you won.
Speaker A
What's that? How come you look so much better in person? [laughter]
Speaker A
'Cause I am better in person.
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[cheering] [applause] Anyway, [applause] you can never get, you can never get the full impact from just a flickering picture.
Speaker A
What's the name of the song, Terry? Patty cake man. Patty cake man. Okay. Will you bake me a cake?
Speaker A
Come on. I think it Patty cake, patty cake, baker's man. Could she come to the band with us?
Speaker A
No, she can't. No, no, not tonight. Not on Friday night. Patty cake, patty cake, baker's man.
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Bake me a cake as quick as you can. No, no, that's that can't be that one, can it?
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Look at the room in that clip. Every person in those seats had paid to watch.
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Not one of them had been told they might end up on national television in the next 4 minutes. What are you doing out here, by the way?
Speaker A
Just looking at Los Angeles and wishing I was living out here permanently. Really? Fort Lauderdale won't like that. They hear that, you know.
Speaker A
Well, I like Fort Lauderdale, but the men in California... Okay, Terry, you want to simmer her down a little bit? We'll get the fire hose for Terry.
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That was the arrangement. And nobody had explained the arrangement to them. Then he stopped at her row.
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[applause] Hi, hi. Easy. Hi. Where's your Harley? [laughter] You are, your name is Terry Stone.
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Terry Stone. Where are you from, Terry? Fort Lauderdale. [cheering] That's all right, you can hang on there.
Speaker A
You're from where? Fort Lauderdale. We miss you. You haven't been there in a long time.
Speaker A
No, Ed and I used to go to Fort Lauderdale, but we have, we have a couple of outstanding warrants out there.
Speaker A
That's one. She came in through the ticket line. The next one brought something with him in a box.
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The man from South Carolina. May [snorts] 7th, 1982. Frank Hill introduced himself as the manure man of South Carolina.
Speaker A
Okay, now, let me tell you about Mr. Frank Hill, whom I have not met until this moment. We found out about him through a, I guess a newspaper item. He is from a Route 5, Union, South Carolina.
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And he modestly bills himself as the manure man of South Carolina. Mr. Hill is known for making original handmade artifacts from quail droppings.
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Let me repeat that. In case you just tuned in and thought maybe I had to go bonkers.
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He makes original handmade artifacts from quail droppings. And a man like that we wanted to meet. So, we had, we asked him to join us tonight. So, would you welcome from Route 5, Union, South Carolina, Frank O. Hill. Frank.
Speaker A
[applause] He had brought Johnny Carson a gift, a necklace. And the necklace was made from quail droppings sealed in clear plastic.
Speaker A
Rather fascinating and, uh, I'll just ask you about him and, uh, I don't really understand how this works. Is this... Now, this here, Mr. Carson, is one of the largest droppings of the quail ever laid.
Speaker A
And I'm sure a Guinness, a Guinness dropping, huh? Yeah. And her name was Sarah Bell, and she died soon after that.
Speaker A
Now, this, this is the actual, uh, [laughter] this is the actual thing that came out of her feathered colon right here?
Speaker A
Faded a little bit, I mean, you know. Uh-huh. But, and you put it inside of a... Yes, sir.
Speaker A
Of a some kind of stone? Right. It's plastic. And I thought it was great that, uh, you know, a fellow like you would let old Southern country boy be on the show. Well,
Speaker A
and sell such cheese manure when... No, that's all right, teacher. You get such a high price, I brought you the biggest one.
Speaker A
Well, that's very nice. Star, and I'm, I'm going to break the mold. That's a first limited edition.
Speaker A
And it's just for you. A limited edition? To break the mold when I get back to South Carolina. It's a, it's a, it's a big dropping.
Speaker A
Yeah. For a big star. Oh, that's very nice. Watch how he presents it. There was no wink.
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There was no setup, and there was no punchline. Because as far as Frank Hill is concerned, there is no joke. He made a thing.
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He is proud of the thing. I don't think I've, I've ever been so moved, Frank Hill.
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Excuse the, uh, expression there. Don't cry, but I'm sincere. You're kind of the Cartier of caca, aren't you?
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Really nice. I'm outstanding in my field. You sure are. Now, this is a little lapel pin, that I suppose one could give a loved one or... Yes, yes, sir.
Speaker A
Uh-huh. Yes, sir. How, how... And this is Miss Joanna. See, I thought a star and wife should have a star, too.
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Isn't that nice? She'll, she'll treasure this. I bet she will. And I have, you know, I got some rings here. This is an engagement ring.
Speaker A
Oh. This is the wedding band. This, this is an actual wedding, you could use it for a wedding ring.
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And he has carried it to the biggest stage in the country to show it to a man he has been watching on television for years.
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That is the entire bit. And it plays. That man's a slicker. That's right. Woo! Wasn't he wonderful?
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You would not have played poker that night. Oh, I wouldn't. Yes. I would not want to bluff him in a poker game. But a leg
Speaker A
Tonight we have very clever guy, good actor, FUNNY MAN, DANNY DEVITO. [applause and cheering] VERY AMUSING WRITER WHO WRITES a lot of articles for the New Yorker magazine, Calvin Trillin is here tonight.
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[applause and cheering] A young man, and when I say young man, I mean young. He is 4 years old.
Speaker A
I believe he is from Texas. And his name is Rohan Varavadekar, and he is a genius at spelling. In fact, they would not let him They would not let him in the spelling contest, I guess, because he was in kindergarten.
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And so was a 4-year-old named Rohan Varavadekar, who had won five spelling bees and was not allowed to go any further because he was still in preschool.
Speaker A
[applause] Now, tell me about this spelling bee. You were You were You tried to get get into spelling bee, and I understand they wouldn't let you be in it.
Speaker A
I went through five rounds, and I won Mhm. And they said I have to go, but when I went there, I couldn't go because I was too young.
Speaker A
You were too young. Yeah, but you went through five different rounds. Yeah. Now, what age were What What What grade were the other people in?
Speaker A
Um Somebody said they were like the fifth grade students or something like that. One through five.
Speaker A
One through five. And you're just still in kindergarten or Pre-kindergarten. Pre-kindergarten. Watch the first 30 seconds of that segment. Carson asks him a question, then the boy asks Carson for a magic trick.
Speaker A
Somebody Now, somebody told me, Rohan, that when you were going to be on our show, Yes.
Speaker A
and you you you read something about me. You didn't You didn't know me very well, right? Because you probably don't stay up this late to watch the show, do you?
Speaker A
Yes. Uh I did. Oh, you did? The on Monday, yes. Oh, you did? Yes.
Speaker A
Yeah. How did you like it? Did you the show? Yeah. You know what? I'm a huh Um you know, when I read the book about you, and when you were 13 years old, you used to do magic tricks.
Speaker A
You did read I did magic when I was 13. That's right. Can you show me some?
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[applause] And Carson does it. A coin disappears. I'll tell you what I do. I haven't done a lot for this, but do you like coins?
Speaker A
Yes. Okay, I'll show you how to make a coin disappear. All right? Okay. All right, now we got Do you see this?
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It's a quarter, right? Yes. Now if I take it and hold it, and I give it to you, would you hold it for me?
Speaker A
Yes. Okay, here's what I'm going to do. Now watch very carefully. Okay? Here it is.
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And you hold it. Huh? You like that? Yes. [applause and cheering] Want to see it again?
Speaker A
Oh, yeah. Okay, now I'll take it over here. Now you hold that one. Don't let it go.
Speaker A
Yeah. [laughter] Right over here. Your ear. You like that? [cheering] And then the most controlled host in American television gives a 4-year-old a completely straight-faced explanation of how it was done.
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Watch who is running that segment. It is not the host. That's three. Now here is the one that should not have happened at all, because on this night, the person who was supposed to be standing on that stage never arrived.
Speaker A
Now let me explain something here. We are in somewhat of a dilemma tonight. We had booked This is no joke. The famed pianist, classical pianist, Horacio Gutiérrez, who's been with us three or four times on the show.
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And Fred got a call about what time today? 1:30 to About 1:30 this afternoon, saying that he had had an accident. He was closing the car door, and apparently nipped his fingers or something, and was in a lot of pain. Apparently
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it's not broken, or it's not going to affect his career or anything, but We're stuck.
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We're stuck. The piano player who was never booked. Go back to December 19th, 1985.
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Understand what a hole in the rundown actually meant in that era. That hour was sold. A company had paid for it.
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There was a director in a booth counting seconds, a producer with a stopwatch, and a hard commercial break that was not moving.
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When a booked act does not walk through the door, somebody has to put something in that space live in front of the country.
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Johnny Carson did not go to a backup act. He did not stretch the monologue.
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He did not throw it to the band. He asked the room. Um These people came here to hear piano music right?
Speaker A
Right. They have a right to hear it. How many of you in the audience play the piano?
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Just applaud. Come on. Don't be embarrassed now. All right, let me let me ask Let me ask a couple of questions.
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Is there anyone in the audience who said who studied for five say five years who played piano for five years?
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Gentleman in the back, lady over there. Now Now where I want Now make sure folks There's a guy pointing to himself there.
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[applause] The fellow up there. Now Are you guys kidding now if you're waving? The gentleman who got the Nike thing on front? You play the piano? Come on down.
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His name was David Talley. He was sitting in the audience next to his brother in jeans and flip-flops, and he had come to watch a television show.
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He did not put his hand up. His brother put it up for him. Now look at what happens on that walk down to the stage. Look at the faces in the rows he passes.
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Nobody in that building knows whether this is about to be a disaster. The director does not know. The band does not know.
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Johnny Carson does not know. And then he sits down, and he plays. David Talley. [applause] David David obviously you know this is not set up because obviously David would not dress this way if he knew he was going to be on a big
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television show in front of a national audience. What are you going to do for us David?
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Memory from Cats. Oh that's great memories okay it's all yours DAVID HALL. [applause] HERE IS THE PART THAT SAYS EVERYTHING.
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Carson did not thank him and go to commercial. He booked him. That man walked into the building holding a ticket and he walked out of it with a place on the guest list and he came back and played again.
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That's four. The next one brought her own instrument and it was bigger than she was.
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There you have it folks. I'm telling YOU THIS IS SHOW BUSINESS. OKAY COME ON OVER VLASTA.
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Okay that's Vlasta folks. Unplug the amplifier there. Okay a little getting disengaged. [cheering] HOW ARE YOU?
Speaker A
[applause] HOW ARE YOU? [applause] OKAY. Ed will help you remove your accordion. [laughter] Is our official accordion remover here?
Speaker A
Well how are you? Oh Johnny you're so great. The accordion that was bigger than she was December 10th 1985 nine days earlier in the same room Vlasta Krsek was 63 years old.
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She was from Chicago and she played the accordion not a small one. She had also written the song she had written it herself about Johnny Carson and she brought it with her and she sang it to him at his own desk.
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I'm honored and flattered. [laughter] Is this the number you're going to do for us the next one?
Speaker A
So I would like to say Johnny, I wrote this song especially for you and I want to say thank you for Doc Severinsen to help me out make a great Not anybody going to work with Doc.
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And I He's the top number one. And his band [applause] And And Johnny, this is my honor to be on your show and I want to tell thank you Chicago put for putting me on Johnny Carson show.
Speaker A
Thank [applause] you. You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. [applause] Right. Johnny Yes. This song is especially the polka and do you think you can come here because it's especially for you that I can show you little bit steps to polka?
Speaker A
I don't really know how to polka. I'll teach you. It's very easy. LET'S JUST DO IT.
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[cheering] MAYBE WE CAN DO IT NEXT TIME. YEAH. [applause] WE BETTER DO IT ANOTHER If If we do all this, we're not going to have time for for Allen. So maybe we can just play it this time and we'll dance
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at a time to be announced in your local paper. [laughter] Listen underneath her for a second.
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Because this is the detail people miss. That is Doc Severinsen and 17 professional musicians trying to find her.
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They have had almost no rehearsal with this woman. 17 men who could read anything you put in front of them chasing one accordion player from Chicago around a stage.
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GET THAT THING COOKING. [laughter] [music] COME ON FOLKS AND HEAR ME OUT TO WHAT I have to say. It's all about [music] your host Johnny Carson is his name.
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He's on each evening entertaining you. Yes, our tonight show he made a polka do.
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Johnny, Johnny, come on [music] and let's with me. I'll teach you to polka. It's lots of fun, you'll see.
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Johnny, oh Johnny, [music] it's just 1 2 3. You'll feel great all over if you do the polka [music] with me.
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Yeah! [music] [music] Johnny, Johnny, come on and let's with me. [music] I'll teach you to polka.
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It's lots of fun, you'll see. Johnny, oh Johnny, it's just 1 2 3. You'll feel great [music] all over if you do the polka with me.
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YEAH! OH, THAT'S WHAT'S UP? [music] THANK YOU, LOTS. WE'LL BE BACK IN A MOMENT.
Speaker A
AND BY THE END of it, Carson is not hosting anything. He is a man behind a desk with his hand over his eyes. Then, the instrument turns out to be too heavy for her to lift off by herself, and Ed
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McMahon has to walk over and take it off her shoulders on national television. That's five.
Speaker A
Well, you look marvelous. You look in great shape. Thank you. Did you have to practice that to be able to say it to me?
Speaker A
Not a bit. You do. You're what they call spunky. All right? Well, you see, your makeup man fixed me up.
Speaker A
Oh. I think you look great. But you didn't see me before the makeup man did.
Speaker A
I didn't. You never You never had a facelift or anything like that in your life, have you? You wouldn't do anything like that, would you?
Speaker A
Well, I I a facelift. do that, Alice. That's the big thing. All I can do is lift my feet up and down.
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The 93-year-old on the 7-day shift, September 27th, 1989. Florence Hodges was 93 years old, and she came from Dothan, Alabama.
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She was not there because of something she had built, or invented, or collected. She was there because of how she spent her days.
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She volunteered at a hospital near her home, and she did it every day of the week.
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Think about the arithmetic in that room. Now, tell me about working at the hospital. You uh you work an 8-hour shift?
Speaker A
I work 8 hours, but I I go in at 6:00 in the morning, and I work until 2:00, which is 8 hours, and and never do I get out of that 2:00. It's It's always later than 2:00, but I just count myself as
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2:00. At 2:00, I just count it 8 hours, but I have been there one night to 7:00, and I've been there several night several times late a lot later than That is incredible. Now, you do the 7 days a week?
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7 days a week. Why don't you don't you Why don't you take a day off?
Speaker A
Because they'll let somebody work in my place, and I'll miss something. [applause] I never thought of that.
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Everybody in that building was there because they were paid to be there. The band, the crew, the writers, the man behind the desk, all of them on a payroll.
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And the funniest person in the room that night was a 93-year-old woman who had not taken a dollar for a day's work in years.
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He said, "I'd like to speak to Mrs. Florence Hodges." I said, "Speaking." She said, "Well, hold on, the President of the United States wants to talk to you." I said, "Okay, I'll hold." And I reached around and got the portable
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phone, and I ran to the bathroom. And when the President came on, that nice, soft, kind voice, I knew what it was. And I Oh, here I am doing what comes naturally, talking to the President. death.
Speaker A
Keep one question in your head from here on. Was he lifting these people up?
Speaker A
Or was the joke on them? I'm going to ask you at the end. That's six two years before her, somebody 12 years older had already done something nobody in that building forgot.
Speaker A
Somebody told me you you wanted to ask me some questions. Is there Well, I hear you've had what? Three, four wives.
Speaker A
Well, I That's great. Really? Good for you. Oh, thank you. Thank you. That's [applause] Thank you, Mildred. I appreciate that because I I I don't know. I guess maybe I've just been unlucky in marriage or something.
Speaker A
I know. And I just keep trying. I know when you were in New York. I know when he was in New York. I know when you left New York. Yeah. So, my mind is still working a little bit.
Speaker A
Oh, yeah. Your mind is working fine. The night before Buddy Hackett, August 26th, 1987, Mildred Holt was 105 years old.
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She was born before the automobile existed. She had never been on television in her life.
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And she was not nervous. That is the thing you notice first. That clip sits on Carson's own channel today.
Speaker A
What's What's the first thing you remember as a child? How far back do you really remember?
Speaker A
Well, I remember our first automobile was 1914. And the first plane, I don't remember when the first plane came out. Must have been uh Oh, I don't know.
Speaker A
Early 1900s, yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah. Did you ever fly in an airplane? Oh, yes. All the time. Every time I get a chance.
Speaker A
Yeah. I I to Birmingham, Alabama, where my daughter lives and eight grandchildren. How old is your daughter now?
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That one is 46. 46. What's your My youngest one, I have a son that's 80.
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[laughter] AND HIS OWN PEOPLE WROTE THE TITLE ON IT. THEY CALLED it 105-year-old Mildred Holt busts Johnny up.
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That is the show admitting it. In writing. About their own host. Now, write that date down.
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August 26th, 1987. Because the very next night, same chair, same desk, same band, 24 hours later, Buddy Hackett sat down on that couch and told the duck joke.
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Buddy Hackett had been working rooms since he was a young man. 15 years to build 7 minutes. A comedian who could steer a story one sentence at a time toward a place the network could not air.
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And who never once broke a rule doing it. He followed a woman who had never held a microphone.
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Both of those nights are still here. 39 years later. Hers came first. Uh, someone said you like to play cards.
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I love to play cards and I always play to win. You do. What kind of What do you play? Bridge, poker?
Speaker A
I play bridge, pitch, and some penny ante. Yeah. But mostly bridge. I belong to a duplicate club and they're all listening tonight.
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Are they really? Yeah. Well, good for them. Good for them. [applause] I think I'm shocking you.
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Do you watch television at all? All the time. Yeah. I watch 60 Minutes. That's good. [snorts] As the world turns, but I get provoked with them.
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provoked? Too much kissing. Too much kissing. [applause] Do you think there's too much sexual type of things on television?
Speaker A
Yeah. I'm too old to like that. What What do you think about nudity in movies? They have motion pictures now.
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like it. You don't care for it. No. Yeah. That's seven. Which leaves one. And he was not an entertainer.
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He was a farmer. Yeah, about 5:00. Yeah. About 5:00. You would you you prepare your machine. Three, get ready to go to the field.
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And you do your work out there. And you still go out and Yeah, I I run the tractor hauling in the grain, unloading the grain.
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My goodness. Yes. Are you still the boss of the farm? Well, I I let my son do the bossing. I do what he says.
Speaker A
Really? Yeah. How old is your son? Oh, he's 78. [cheering] [applause] Your son is 78?
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[laughter] The farmer who started in 1913 February 3rd, 1988, Merritt Heaton was 97 years old. He was from Toulon, Illinois.
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He started farming in 1913 when he was 23. Which means that by the night he sat down next to Johnny Carson, he had put in 75 harvests.
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The year before, the Illinois State Fair had honored him as the oldest working farmer in the state.
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Listen to what he actually says because he does not tell a single joke. What's been the biggest change since you were a young man on the farm?
Speaker A
Oh, well, I'd say electricity. AH. THOUGHT MAYBE YOU WERE GOING TO SAY THE WHEEL, BUT UH That was That was before my time.
Speaker A
Yeah, I I know I know I know that. Well, people forget electricity. I mean, I remember going to my grandparents home where they didn't know they had the kerosene lamps sitting around all the time.
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Maybe had a few candles around. Absolutely. Yes. So, you used to go out there with a a team of horses.
Speaker A
Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Yeah. They didn't have soybeans when I started farming. They didn't exist. And then when I started to farm, you did everything with your back, shovel and spade. Now it's just hydraulic.
Speaker A
That is a man describing 75 years of his own labor in two sentences, and the room comes apart.
Speaker A
Now look at who else was booked that night. Betty White, who had been on American television since the 1950s. Ray Stevens, who had sold millions of records.
Speaker A
[laughter] [gasps] A farmer from Toulon, Illinois took the show. Go back through all eight. The ticket holder, the quail droppings, the 4-year-old, the man in flip-flops, the accordion, the volunteer, the 105-year-old, the farmer.
Speaker A
Not one of them was trying to be funny. Every single one of them beat somebody who was That does not happen eight times by accident.
Speaker A
The highest-paid man in American television was not trying to be the funniest person in that room.
Speaker A
He was working as the straight man for a farmer five nights a week for 30 years.
Speaker A
That was the job. There's a lot of possibilities there. Well, I think that's marvelous.
Speaker A
Yes, uh-huh. Well, you're a very very nice man, and it's a pleasure to meet you, and I thank you for changing your mind and coming on the show. Did you Did you enjoy it?
Speaker A
Oh, gee, yes. I want to thank you, gentlemen, and all of these people. Thank you greatly.
Speaker A
Well, we thank you, and we hope you have a safe trip back home and many more years of A HAPPY LIFE.
Speaker A
[music] [music and applause] THAT'S MY KIND OF GUY, HUH? THAT'S THAT'S AN INSPIRATION. MAN, 97 and sharp as you can be.
Speaker A
[laughter] His lady friend 75, you said. She's only 75. He was not losing those nights.
Speaker A
He was building them. Merritt Heaton died in April of 1989. 14 months after he sat in that chair.
Speaker A
The tape is what is left. 11:00 Here is what never went into the ratings book.
Speaker A
Somewhere in Toulon, Illinois that night, there were people sitting in a living room watching a man they knew.
Speaker A
Somewhere on the north side of Chicago, a hall full of accordion players had the television on.
Speaker A
Somewhere in Dothan, Alabama, a hospital shift went quiet at 11:00. Those were not celebrities to those rooms.
Speaker A
Those were their people. And for one night each, the biggest show in the country belonged to them.
Speaker A
So, which was it? Was Johnny Carson lifting these people up, handing a farmer in a factory town the biggest stage in America, or was the joke always at least partly on them, and they never quite knew it?
Speaker A
Lifting or laughing? Put one word in the comments. And if you were up at that hour, tell me which of these eight you actually remember watching live, and who else was in the room with you.
Speaker A
I read them.
Topics:Johnny CarsonThe Tonight Showordinary guestslive televisionfunny momentsunplanned guestsFrank HillTerri StoneBetty WhiteAmerican entertainment
