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Johnny Carson Became a Star Despite Overwhelming Shyness

By the 1970s, Johnny Carson had become the “King of Late Night Television,” an undisputed ratings winner in the “Tonight Show” time slot, and a frequent guest on Bob Hope specials.  Hope appeared regularly as Johnny’s guest, usually to promote an upcoming special.

In 1980, Johnny was signed to appear on our two-hour special entitled “Hope For President,” playing a campaign PR-man delivering Hope’s life story to the media. He would read Hope’s biography while displaying photographs (mostly comic scenes from his early movies) displayed on a large easel.

Since I had written the jokes that matched the pictures, I was sent over to Johnny’s office to rehearse the segment with him. While I had never spoken to him, he had to have seen me around since we often stood in the wings with his writers to watch his monologue. And here I was, a fellow-jokesmith working for a comedy icon, someone in the same business — someone around whom you’d imagine he’d be able to relax.

Instead, he was — I clearly remember thinking at the time — as taught as a violin string. He was stiff, erect — the exact antithesis of his idol, Jack Benny. And it wasn’t because I was from another show;  I was told he was that way around his own writers — and a bundle of nerves in any social situation including the annual “Tonight Show” Christmas party where he’d appear briefly, exchange a few nervous comments with the staff, and go home.

Johnny often admitted to interviewers that, unlike the fear most people have of speaking in public, he was just the opposite — the only time he felt comfortable was onstage, in total control, delivering jokes.  Those who worked with him daily, including Ed McMahon, Doc Severinson, producer Freddie DeKordova, Peter Lasally, booker Jim McCauley, all confirmed that Johnny was a “loner” and the opposite of the socially warm host he played nightly on television.

While Johnny Carson was a great talent and deserving of the great admiration he had earned, somehow, I always felt sorry for him.

Excerpted from THE LAUGH MAKERS: A Behind-the-Scenes Tribute to Bob Hope’s Incredible Gag Writers (c) 2009 by Robert L. Mills and published by Bear Manor Media.  To order:  http://bobhopeslaughmakers.weebly.com

Kindle e-book $2.99: www.amazon.com/dp/B0041D9EPO

About the Author

A native of San Francisco, Bob Mills served in the Navy after high school, graduating from San Francisco State University in 1962 and the University of California Hastings Law in 1965.  He practiced in Palo Alto, CA for ten years before moving to Hollywood to write for television.  He worked on the Dinah Shore Show, the Steve Allen Show and the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts before joining Bob Hope as a staff writer  in 1977. He traveled the world with Hope for the next seventeen years. In 2009, his book The Laugh Makers: A Behind-the-Scenes Tribute to Bob Hope’s Incredible Gag Writers was published by Bear Manor Media and was named one of Leonard Maltin’s “Top 20 Year-End Picks.”  To order:  http://bobhopeslaughmakers.weebly.com

Kindle e-book $2.99: www.amazon.com/dp/B0041D9EPO

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