TV SHOW OF THE DAY: "THE TONIGHT SHOW" (JANUARY 14, 1964)

While re-watching the original Saturday Night Live on Hulu last year, it struck me how little I laughed. I mean, it wasn't bad; it just wasn't all that funny. My generation's grand memories of the series are based on certain sketches or jokes, rather than entire episodes. (Drug use helped at the time, too.)

The same, I believe, goes for the Johnny Carson years of Tonight Show -- and I say that as someone who fully respects his place in television history. The viewers who wail that the series hasn't been funny after Johnny left are thinking only of the two-minute clips on the annual primetime anniversary specials. And even then, what made you laugh were guests like Steve Martin or zoo animals pissing on Johnny's suit. The thoughtless, wholesale destruction by NBC of Carson's first decade on Tonight helps his fans continue the King of Latenight myth. 

So, it's worth taking a look at an extraordinarily rare episode of Tonight less than a year and a half after Carson succeeded previous host Jack Paar. It's fascinating strictly from an historic point of view, of course. But if you weren't familiar with him, you would wonder what the fuss was all about. (By the way, the same will go for every SNL cast to future viewers.)

On the plus side, there's a definite energy going for it, seeing that Johny wasn't yet 40 and the show was still based in New York. It's easy to forget that Carson used to be the embodiment of the budding "swinging '60s" era; a remark involving his vacation in the Virgin Islands was typical of Johnny's "cute bad boy" personality at the time, when now it vibes more like a 12 year-old's idea of an alleged dirty joke. And his fake snowball fight with bandleader Skitch Henderson -- there had been a blizzard in New York the day before -- is probably what makes current network suits compare Jimmy Fallon to the young Johnny. That's not a compliment.

Following a commercial break, it's time for the "desk segment", where Johnny
takes a moment to share examples of the "wild and silly" craze sweeping the country: the "What's" jokes. Like "What's purple and puts out forest fires? Smokey the Grape." You remember telling these when you in third grade, right? The one that gets the biggest reaction: "What robs banks, shoots people, and wears lipstick? Billy the Sissy". Back in the day, Johnny was guaranteed yocks with insulting gay jokes; just mentioning Greenwich Village with a sly wink was all he needed to bring the house down. Edgy.

The best thing about the "Stump the Band" segment is seeing how the audience used to dress up for Tonight. This was an event, while today's talk shows are one step removed from dorm parties. (It helped that people attending these shows then skewed older.) At least the first appearance by jazz musician Jonah Jones (not to be confused with Joe Jonas) gives the show a jolt. Jonah and his band, as well as Skitch's orchestra for that matter, are first rate. 

The official first guest is comedy writer Jack Douglas, a favorite of talk show hosts for his ease with making funny conversation -- it's like a stand-up act while sitting down, with Carson barely opening his mouth the whole time. Douglas's lowkey delivery probably makes the jokes funnier than they would be today, like the one involving wife-swapping and Green Stamps. Again, edgy.

A couple of Douglas's jokes stand out, the first for the wrong reason: speaking of a recent vacation, he says, "I went to Puerto Rico as an exchange welfare case". This receives a huge laugh from the 1964 audience, while today the booing would rattle the rafters. Another one concerns his alleged side career in the wardrobe department at CBS: "I made a couple of dresses for Danny Kaye".  Johnny, perhaps aware of Kaye's sexuality and wanting to avoid a lawsuit, tries clarifying the punchline to make it seem like the dresses were for Kaye's TV show. Douglas double-downs, assuring him they were for between shows. The joke still goes right over the heads of the blissfully innocent audience. 

Douglas's young Japanese wife Reiko appears after the commercial. Reiko was the Asian version of Charo, only quieter and without the latter's in-your-face sexuality. I never quite understood Reiko when she and Douglas were on Merv Griffin's show in later years, and I don't here, either. She allegedly exaggerated the accent for humorous effect. Why don't Asians do that anymore?

The laughs continue, 1964-style, with Sam Levenson's well-worn, gently humorous stories of growing up poor but loved in Brooklyn. I never went for Levenson's shtick -- he always seemed a little too self-satisfied. Watching him now, I admire his ability to tell stories about his Jewish family and somehow make them relatable to everybody watching; it's no surprise that Bill Cosby named Levenson his biggest influence when starting out (as a comedian, not a rapist). For a 39 year-old wiseacre, Johnny sure gets a kick out of the lenient Levenson, who recites "Time Tested Beauty Tips", the corny, well-loved poem he wrote for his granddaughter. It's nothing like anything you'd hear on current late-night shows -- which you may or may not consider a good thing.

But wait, there's more! The now-forgotten, once-feared gossip columnist Hedda Hopper drops by to josh with Johnny. The 79 year-old harridan is treated graciously by Carson, who sidesteps any mention of Hopper's right-wing politics, destruction of actors she didn't like, and helping to create the Hollywood blacklist a decade earlier.  But hey, she promises to lend Johnny her new Rolls Royce the next time he's in L.A.!

Then Jonah Jones returns with one more number, and it's over.

So what are some takeaways? Well, The Tonight Show was longer and slower-paced, with wacky stuff being the exception rather than the rule. Like the previously-discussed Steve Allen Show from 1953, Johnny seems to know that people at home were likely watching this in bed -- he gets the snowball fight shenanigans out of the way early on -- and makes sure to have a relaxing experience. And, other than Jonah Jones, this show is quiet. 

In other words, it feels like what was likely a typical Tonight episode of its time: neither exceptionally good nor bad, it just is. Sure, there are differences than the later years. Ed's "Heere's Johnny" isn't so stretched out. The first guest used to sit at the desk with Johnny. No political jokes, perhaps due to JFK's assassination only weeks earlier. Johnny's only on his second marriage, so there are no multiple-divorce jokes to share with Ed. Now what?

As with Saturday Night Live, Tonight's Carson years were made up of moments, with a very occasional wall-to-wall great episode to colorize our memories. Just as a test, run early SNL episodes for people raised on the series in the last 20 years; see if they laugh. Then do the same with Johnny Carson. Decades from now, amateur TV historians will study Tonight's Leno and Fallon years and wonder, Were these guys really any worse than Carson? 

Maybe, maybe not. But they were certainly noisier.

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