Here`s Johnny!

Often known as the King of the Night, Johnny Carson dominated late-night television for over three decades from the early 1960s to the early `90s. Carson hadn`t yet retired from the Tonight Show when author and longtime fan Stephen Cox began his book, and such was the star`s power and influence that few of the people who knew him well were originally prepared to talk about him either on or off the record. Therefore, HERE`S JOHNNY is more of a Carson homage than a biography, light on explorations of the star`s personal life and heavy on good-natured showbiz camaraderie. There are recollections from Carson`s sidekick, Ed McMahon, on sketches gone awry, snapshots from a bygone era when Shelley Winters and Jerry Lewis were regular guests, and, perhaps best of all, Cox`s own reminiscences, both as a regular viewer and later as a journalist who managed to interview the great man. Carson emerges as a guarded yet affable figure, who in the recollections of a few of his guests could also be somewhat mercurial and slow to forget a perceived insult. A good-natured stroll through late-night television`s wonder years, HERE`S JOHNNY is an agreeable tribute to one of its foremost personalities. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.