The Johnny Carson Show

The Johnny Carson Show
Studio: Shout Factory
Rated: NOT RATED
Release Date: 2007-02-20
WorkNameSort: Johnny Carson Show, The
Before Carnac the Magnificent and Stump the Band defined Carson’s tenure on NBC’s Tonight Show Johnny Carson hosted a variety show on CBS. Called The Johnny Carson Show, it ran for a single season, 1955-56. Ten episodes of that show are available on this two-disc DVD set. In some ways, the show is typical corny early-TV fare. Still, there’s a certain cool, and even a bit of edge, to the program that points to the future. Carson is whippet-thin and much less spontaneous than he would become later, but he’s still our puckish funnyman. Among the extras included here are commercials that he did for Jell-O and an episode of Who Do You Trust?, the ABC quiz show he hosted before Tonight. It’s an amazing episode, too: A contestant becomes trapped in a soundproof booth!

This article appears in Feb 21-27, 2007.