Inventing Late Night: Steve Allen And the Original Tonight Show: Steve Allen and the Original Tonigh

Editorial Reviews. From Publishers Weekly. Lest anyone think that late-night TV's zany leondumoulin.nl: Inventing Late Night: Steve Allen And the Original Tonight Show eBook: Ben Alba, Jay Leno: Kindle Store.
Table of contents

Dec 27, John rated it liked it.

Inventing Late Night: Steve Allen and the Original Tonight Show

The subject deserved better writing. Apr 17, Corey Hall rated it liked it. A refreshing reminder that everything new is old again, if you squint hard enough. Decades before Dave, Jay, Stephen and all the Jimmys, Steve Allen was innovating all the bits, talk show tropes and stunts that Americans love to tuck themselves to bed with. Allen was so intimidatingly smart, talented and prolific, and his influence so pervasive that it's hard to even conceive how inventive and fun his Tonight, and all this later variety shows were.


  1. The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson - Wikipedia.
  2. Tralfaz: The Tonight Show That Died.
  3. !
  4. Taking Over: Insider Tips from a Third-Generation CEO.

Do you enjoy Jimmy Kimmel's "Mean Tweets"? Well A refreshing reminder that everything new is old again, if you squint hard enough. Well, Allen was reading angry letters to the editor in the mid '50s. In fact so much of Steverino's act was "borrowed" most infamously by Johnny Carson, that in later years the avuncular Allen sometimes seemed a little hammy and overly eager for credit in his later years, when he was ubiquitous on panel and chat shows.

Unsurprisingly, with that big brain and quick wit, Steve could also be a bit mercurial, leading him to earlier exits from shows and networks, which may have slightly dented his legacy. Since most of these original Tonight broadcasts were lost to time, its fun to read descriptions of them and even a just a dash of backstage drama, though author Alba often displays more enthusiasm than skill, and the writing tends to be clunkier than the ever charming Steve Allen deserved Aug 21, False rated it liked it Shelves: A history of the Tonight Show and it's creator Steve Allen.

Most of this material I was aware of.

Inventing Late Night: Steve Allen and the Original Tonight Show by Ben Alba

Still, it was good to go back to remember more about it's creator and the power the show carried during it's time. Many couldn't understand why Allen left when he did, at the peak of his success. Unfortunately, most of the footage from this show was destroyed when the network was cleaning out their warehouses--something Steve Allen never got over.

Apr 18, David rated it really liked it. Aug 18, Steven Spector rated it really liked it. Relive the early days of television and one who played a pivotal role in its development. What permeates the book other than stories of Steve the inventor and Steve the risk taker is Steve the really kind and helpful man. Wonderfully written and easily readable. Dec 11, Dottie marked it as books-to-check-out Shelves: Steve Allen is one of a few men who in my opinion would qualify for the label Renaissance Man in our modern age.

The man was funny, witty, highly intelligent, wrote music, books and on and on. Looking forward to this one. Jul 26, John rated it really liked it. A tribute to Steve Allen. If you remember him or want to, it's an interesting accolade. Mar 07, Ken rated it really liked it. Want to know why Leno is neither original nor funny? Zach Harris rated it really liked it Aug 12, Robert Bovenschulte rated it liked it Feb 02, Elizabeth Smith rated it it was amazing Mar 05, Stacy rated it it was amazing May 07, Iain rated it really liked it Apr 04, Steve rated it it was amazing Sep 07, Antenna TV began airing the show seven days a week beginning January 1, Currently, sixty-minute episodes from September May air Monday through Friday nights, and ninety-minute episodes from September 12, Saturday and Sunday nights.

Jack Paar had often asked Carson to guest-host Tonight in its earliest years and repeatedly claimed he had been responsible for NBC's selection of Carson in as his replacement. Steve Allen also utilized guest hosts, including Carson and Ernie Kovacs , particularly after he began hosting The Steve Allen Show in prime time in and needed to reduce his workload on Tonight.

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson had guest hosts for entire weeks during Carson's vacations and other nights he had off. Many guest hosts were already large names in their own right, among them Frank Sinatra , Burt Reynolds and Don Rickles. The following is a list of those who guest-hosted at least fifty times during the first 21 years of the show's run:.

Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. Carson's contract, that took effect in , reduced his work schedule to three nights a week, 37 weeks a year. Monday night shows and shows for most of the 15 weeks that Carson had off were hosted by guest hosts.

Due to the frequent need for substitutes, starting in permanent guest hosts were hired in order to give the program more stability. The permanent guest hosts were Joan Rivers —86 , [36] then, after about a year where a wide range of guest hosts were used, Garry Shandling alternating with Jay Leno —88 and finally Leno alone —92 after Shandling left to focus on his Showtime series It's Garry Shandling's Show. In September , Joan Rivers was designated Carson's permanent guest host, a role she had been essentially filling for the previous year.

In , she left the program for her own show on the then-new Fox Network. According to Carson, Rivers never personally informed him of the existence of her show. Rivers, on the other hand, disagreed. After Carson's death in , Rivers told CNN that Carson never forgave her for leaving, and never spoke to her again, even after she wrote him a note following the accidental death of Carson's son Ricky in June Rivers appeared for a full-length interview segment on March 27, According to Skeptical activist James Randi Carson invited psychic Uri Geller, who claimed paranormal powers onto the Tonight Show specifically to disprove the Israeli performers claims.

Randi later wrote, "that Johnny had been a magician himself", so prior to the date of taping, Randi was asked "to help prevent any trickery. Geller said "This scares me. The result was a legendary immolation, in which Geller offered up flustered excuses to his host as his abilities failed him again and again. I was about to pack up the next day and go back to Tel Aviv. I thought, That's it — I'm destroyed. However, this appearance on The Tonight Show , which Carson and Randi had orchestrated to debunk Geller's claimed abilities, backfired.

He was on his way to becoming a paranormal superstar. To an enthusiastically trusting public, his failure only made his gifts seem more real: If he were performing magic tricks, they would surely work every time. As his retirement approached, Carson tried to avoid sentimentality but would periodically show clips of some of his favorite moments and again invited some of his favorite guests. He told his crew, "Everything comes to an end; nothing lasts forever.

Thirty years is enough. It's time to get out while you're still working on top of your game, while you're still working well. Carson hosted his penultimate show, featuring guests Robin Williams and Bette Midler , on May 21, She began singing the song, and after the first line, Carson joined in and turned it into an impromptu duet. Midler finished her appearance from center stage, where she slowly sang the pop standard " One for My Baby and One More for the Road ".

Carson became unexpectedly tearful, and a shot of the two of them was captured by a camera angle from across the set that has never been broadcast. Carson had no guests on his final episode of The Tonight Show on May 22, , which was instead a retrospective show taped before an invitation-only studio audience of family, friends, and crew.

See a Problem?

He said these final words in conclusion:. And so it has come to this: I want to thank the people who've shared this stage with me for thirty years. Doc Severinsen, and you people watching. I can only tell you that it has been an honor and a privilege to come into your homes all these years and entertain you.

And I hope when I find something that I want to do and I think you would like and come back, that you'll be as gracious in inviting me into your home as you have been. I bid you a very heartfelt good night. A few weeks after the final show aired, it was announced that NBC and Carson had struck a deal to develop a new series. Ultimately, however, Carson chose not to return to television. He gave only two major interviews after his retirement: Carson hinted in his interview that he did not think he could top what he had already accomplished.

He rarely appeared elsewhere after retiring, providing only a guest voice on an episode of The Simpsons , which included him performing feats of strength and featured Bette Midler as well, and a cameo on the May 13, , Late Show with David Letterman where he delivered a Top 10 List and sat in Dave's chair for a minute. In , after Carson's death, it was revealed that he had made a habit of sending jokes to Dave Letterman via fax machine which Letterman would then sometimes incorporate into his monologues. The January 31, , episode of the Late Show with David Letterman , which featured a tribute to Carson, began with a monologue by Letterman composed entirely of jokes written by Carson himself after his retirement.

Navigation menu

In , the last Carson Tonight show was ranked No. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Steve Allen William O. Harbach Dwight Hemion Sylvester L. Fred de Cordova Peter Lassally. Playground of the Stars by Jack Drury. The New York Times. Retrieved March 20, Archived from the original on Retrieved April 30, Thursday, 7 December, For Laughing Out Loud: My Life and Good Times. Archived from the original on November 4, Retrieved November 4, The First 25 Years.

Archived from the original on February 1, Retrieved September 4, Letterman, Leno, and the Network Battle for the Night. Retrieved July 9, Retrieved April 19, Retrieved August 21, Retrieved January 22, He was an amazing man and an amazing mentor. And then when I left the show to do my own show on Fox, he never forgave me, and that made me terribly sad. We never spoke again. Happy 50th Birthday, Kermit! Event occurs at 1: Kermit hosted The Tonight Show.


  • Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page..
  • Bone Dust and Beginnings (Alexas Travels Book 1);
  • Blogs to See!
  • Whatever Happened to the Human Race?.
  • ?