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Avoca, Iowa
Avoca is a city in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,610 at the 2000 census.
http://wn.com/Avoca_Iowa -
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The estimated population in 2007 was 107,921.
http://wn.com/Burbank_California -
California
California (pronounced ) is the most populous state in the United States and the third-largest by land area, after Alaska and Texas. California is also the most populous sub-national entity in North America. It's on the U.S. West Coast, bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the west and by the states of Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, Baja California, Mexico, to the south. Its 5 largest cities are Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, and Long Beach, with Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Jose each having at least 1 million residents. Like many populous states, California's capital, Sacramento is smaller than the state's largest city, Los Angeles. The state is home to the nation's 2nd- and 6th-largest census statistical areas and 8 of the nation's 50 most populous cities. California has a varied climate and geography and a multi-cultural population.
http://wn.com/California -
Cayucos
http://wn.com/Cayucos -
Chile
http://wn.com/Chile -
Clarinda, Iowa
Clarinda is a city in and the county seat of Page County, Iowa, United States. The population was 5,690 at the 2000 census.
http://wn.com/Clarinda_Iowa -
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York (Columbia University) is a private research university in New York City and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution. It was founded in 1754 as King's College by royal charter of George II of Great Britain, and is one of only three United States universities to have been founded under such authority.
http://wn.com/Columbia_University -
Corning, Iowa
Corning is a city in Quincy Township, Adams County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,783 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Adams County.
http://wn.com/Corning_Iowa -
Denmark
http://wn.com/Denmark -
Henderson, Nevada
Henderson is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States within the Las Vegas metropolitan area. It is the second largest city in Nevada, after Las Vegas, according to an estimated population of 252,064 in the 2008 Census Bureau. It occupies the southeast end of the Las Vegas Valley at an elevation of approximately .
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Iowa
Iowa () is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland." It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New France. After the Louisiana Purchase, settlers laid the foundation for an agriculture-based economy in the heart of the Corn Belt. Iowa is often known as the "Food Capital of the World", however Iowa's economy, culture, and landscape are diverse. In the mid and late 20th century, Iowa's agricultural economy transitioned to a diversified economy of advanced manufacturing, processing, financial services, biotechnology, and green energy production. Iowa has been listed as one of the safest states in which to live. Des Moines is Iowa's capital and largest city.
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Komandorski Islands
http://wn.com/Komandorski_Islands -
KXSP
KXSP 590 AM is a radio station located in Omaha, Nebraska. It currently broadcasts as Big Sports 590AM, an all-sports talk station. The station is owned by Journal Broadcast Group.
http://wn.com/KXSP -
Las Vegas Valley
http://wn.com/Las_Vegas_Valley -
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and number of books. The head of the Library is the Librarian of Congress, currently James H. Billington.
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Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; , Spanish for "The Angels") is the second most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of California and the western United States, with a population of 3.83 million within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Los Angeles extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of over 14.8 million and it is the 14th largest urban area in the world, affording it megacity status. The metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is home to nearly 12.9 million residents while the broader Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside combined statistical area (CSA) contains nearly 17.8 million people. Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated and one of the most multicultural counties in the United States. The city's inhabitants are referred to as "Angelenos" ().
http://wn.com/Los_Angeles -
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state located on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha.
http://wn.com/Nebraska -
Norfolk, Nebraska
Norfolk is a city in Madison County, Nebraska, United States, 113 miles northwest of Omaha and 83 miles west of Sioux City at the intersection of U.S. Routes 81 and 275. The population was 22,940 at the 2000 census, making it the tenth-largest city in Nebraska. It is the principal city of the Norfolk Micropolitan Statistical Area. Norfolk is the eastern terminus of the Cowboy Trail.
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Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha () is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles (30 km) north of the mouth of the Platte River. Omaha is the anchor of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area, which includes Council Bluffs, Iowa, across the Missouri River from Omaha. It is located 190 miles north of Kansas City, Missouri.
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Red Oak, Iowa
Red Oak is a city in Montgomery County, Iowa, United States, along the East Nishnabotna River. The population was 6,197 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Montgomery County.
http://wn.com/Red_Oak_Iowa
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Adolph Green
http://wn.com/Adolph_Green -
Alan Alda
Alan Alda (born January 28, 1936) is an American actor, director and screenwriter. A five-time Emmy Award and six-time Golden Globe Award winner, he is best known for his role as Hawkeye Pierce in the TV series M*A*S*H. During the 1970s and 1980s, he was viewed as the archetypal sympathetic male, though in recent years, he has appeared in roles that counter that image.
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American Masters
American Masters is a PBS television show which produces biographies on the artists, actors and writers of the United States that have left a profound impact on the nation's popular culture. It is produced by WNET in New York City. The show debuted on PBS in 1986.
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André Previn
http://wn.com/André_Previn -
Andy Richter
Paul Andrew "Andy" Richter (born October 28, 1966) is an American actor, writer, comedian, and late night talk show announcer. He is best known for his role as the sidekick of talk show host Conan O'Brien on NBC's Late Night between 1993 and 2000, and later The Tonight Show from 2009 to 2010, as well as on O'Brien's upcoming talk show, Conan on TBS. He is also known for his voice work in the Madagascar films and for starring in the sitcoms Quintuplets, Andy Richter Controls the Universe, and Andy Barker, P.I..
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Ann Druyan
Ann Druyan (born June 13, 1949) is an American author and producer specializing in productions about cosmology and popular science. She made substantial contributions to the PBS documentary series and is perhaps best known as the wife of late scientist and educator Carl Sagan.
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Annette Funicello
Annette Joanne Funicello (born October 22, 1942) is an American singer and actress. She was Walt Disney's most popular cast member of The Mickey Mouse Club, and went on to appear in a series of beach party films.
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Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin (born March 25, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter and pianist commonly referred to as The Queen of Soul. Although renowned for her soul recordings, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B; and gospel music. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Franklin No. 1 on its list of The Greatest Singers of All Time.
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Arthur Godfrey
Arthur Morton Godfrey (August 31, 1903 – March 16, 1983) was an American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who was sometimes introduced by his nickname, The Old Redhead. No television personality of the 1950s enjoyed more clout or fame than Godfrey until an on-camera incident undermined his folksy image and triggered a gradual decline; the then-ubiquitous Godfrey helmed two CBS-TV weekly series and a daily 90-minute television mid-morning show through most of the decade but by the early 1960s found himself reduced to hosting an occasional TV special.
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B.B. King
Riley B. King (born September 16, 1925), known by the stage name B.B. King, is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter acclaimed for his expressive singing and guitar playing.
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Benny Carter
Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. He was a major figure in jazz from the 1930s to the 1990s, and was recognized as such by other jazz musicians who called him King. In 1958, he performed with Billie Holiday at the legendary Monterey Jazz Festival.
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Betty Comden
Betty Comden (May 3, 1917 November 23, 2006) was one-half of the musical-comedy duo Comden and Green, who provided lyrics, libretti, and screenplays to some of the most beloved and successful Hollywood musicals and Broadway shows of the mid-20th century. Her writing partnership with Adolph Green lasted for six decades, during which time they collaborated with other leading entertainment figures such as the famed "Freed Unit" at MGM, Jule Styne and Leonard Bernstein.
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Bill Hicks
http://wn.com/Bill_Hicks -
Bill Maher
William "Bill" Maher, Jr. (; born January 20, 1956) is an American stand-up comedian, television host, social critic, political commentator, author, and actor. Before his current role as the host of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, Maher hosted a similar late-night talk show called Politically Incorrect originally on Comedy Central and later on ABC.
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Billy Crystal
William Edward "Billy" Crystal (born March 14, 1948) is an American actor, writer, producer, comedian and film director. He gained prominence in the 1970s for playing Jodie Dallas on the ABC sitcom Soap and became a Hollywood film star during the late 1980s and 1990s, appearing in the critical and box office successes When Harry Met Sally... and City Slickers. Additionally, he has hosted the Academy Awards eight times.
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Billy Graham
William Franklin "Billy" Graham, Jr. KBE (born November 7, 1918) is an American evangelical Christian evangelist. As of April 25, 2010, when he met with Barack Obama, he has been a spiritual adviser to twelve United States presidents going back to Harry S. Truman, and is number seven on Gallup's list of admired people for the 20th century. He is a Southern Baptist. He rose to celebrity status as his sermons were broadcast on radio and television.
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Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder (22 June 190627 March 2002) was an Austrian-born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age. Wilder is one of only five people who have won three Academy Awards for producing, directing and writing the same film (The Apartment).
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Bob Dylan
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Bob Newhart
George Robert Newhart (born September 5, 1929), known professionally as, Bob Newhart, is an American stand-up comedian and actor. Noted for his deadpan and slightly stammering delivery, Newhart is best known for playing psychologist Dr. Robert "Bob" Hartley on the 1970s sitcom The Bob Newhart Show and as innkeeper Dick Loudon on the 1980s sitcom Newhart.
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Branford Marsalis
Branford Marsalis (born August 26, 1960) is an American saxophonist, composer and bandleader. While primarily known for his work in jazz as the leader of the Branford Marsalis Quartet, he also performs frequently as a soloist with classical ensembles and has led the group Buckshot LeFonque.
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Buddy Rich
Bernard "Buddy" Rich (September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Rich was billed as "the world's greatest drummer" and was known for his virtuosic technique, power, groove, and speed.
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Calvert DeForest
http://wn.com/Calvert_DeForest -
Carl Sagan
http://wn.com/Carl_Sagan -
Carol Burnett
Carol Creighton Burnett (born April 26, 1933) is an American actress, comedienne, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she debuted on television. After successful appearances on The Garry Moore Show, Carol moved to Los Angeles and began an eleven-year run on The Carol Burnett Show which was aired on CBS television from 1967 to 1978. With roots in vaudeville, The Carol Burnett Show was a variety show combining comedy sketches, song, and dance. The comedy sketches ranged from film parodies to character pieces which featured the many talents of Burnett herself who created and played several well-known and distinctive characters.
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Carol Wayne
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Charlie Chaplin
actor
http://wn.com/Charlie_Chaplin -
Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston (October 4, 1923 – April 5, 2008) was an American actor of film, theatre and television.
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Chevy Chase
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Conan O'Brien
'''Conan Christopher O'Brien''' (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, and producer. He was born in Brookline, Massachusetts and raised in an Irish Catholic family. O'Brien landed his first comedy job as a writer for the sketch comedy series, Not Necessarily the News, after first serving as president of the Harvard Lampoon while attending Harvard University. After graduating, he moved to Los Angeles, where he wrote for several comedy shows, and later moved to New York City to work on the writing staff of Saturday Night Live and later for The Simpsons. O'Brien went on to host ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien from 1993 to 2009 before going on to host the short-lived The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien'' for seven months.
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Craig Ferguson
Craig Ferguson (born 17 May 1962) is a Scottish-American television host, stand-up comedian, writer, producer, director and actor. He is the host of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, an Emmy Award-nominated, Peabody Award-winning late-night talk show that airs on CBS. In addition to hosting that program and performing stand-up comedy, Ferguson has written two books: Between the Bridge and the River, a novel, and American on Purpose, an autobiography.
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David Letterman
David Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host and comedian. He hosts the late night television talk show, Late Show with David Letterman broadcast on CBS. Letterman has been a fixture on late night television since the 1982 debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC. Only Letterman's friend and mentor Johnny Carson has had a longer late-night hosting career.
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David Niven
James David Graham Niven (1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983), known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom," in The Pink Panther. He was awarded the 1958 Academy Award for Best Actor in Separate Tables.
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Diana Ross
Diana Ernestine Earle Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. During the 1960s, she helped shape the Motown sound as lead singer of The Supremes, before leaving the group for a solo career on January 14, 1970. Since the beginning of her career with The Supremes and as a solo artist, Ross has sold more than 150 million records.
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Dick Cavett
Richard Alva "Dick" Cavett (born November 19, 1936) is a former American television talk show host known for his conversational style and in-depth discussion of issues. Cavett appeared regularly on nationally broadcast television in the United States in five consecutive decades, the 1960s through the 2000s.
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Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer.
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Doc Severinsen
Carl Hilding "Doc" Severinsen (born July 7, 1927) is an American pop and jazz trumpeter. He is best known for leading the NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
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Don Rickles
Donald Jay "Don" Rickles (born May 8, 1926) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. A frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Rickles has acted in comedic and dramatic roles, but is best known as an insult comic. However, unlike many insult comics who only find short-lived success, Rickles has enjoyed a sustained career, thanks to a distinct sense of humor, a very sharp wit and impeccable timing.
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Drew Carey
Drew Allison Carey (born May 23, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, photographer, and game show host. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and making a name for himself in stand-up comedy, Carey eventually gained popularity starring on his own sitcom, The Drew Carey Show, and serving as host on the U.S. version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, both of which aired on ABC.
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Dudley Moore
Dudley Stuart John Moore, CBE (19 April 1935 – 27 March 2002) was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.
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Ed McMahon
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Edd Hall
Edd Hall (born December 7, 1958; Boston, Massachusetts) is an American celebrity, television personality, and announcer. Most famous for his work on television as Jay Leno's announcer on The Tonight Show from 1992 to 2004, Hall replaced famed Tonight Show announcer Ed McMahon after Johnny Carson's retirement. Hall famously introduced himself by saying "...And me, I'm Edd Hall." In 2004, Hall was replaced on The Tonight Show by John Melendez.
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Edward Albee
http://wn.com/Edward_Albee -
Edward Villella
Edward Villella (born October 1, 1936, Bayside, New York) is an American ballet dancer and choreographer, frequently cited as America's most celebrated male dancer.
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Ellen Burstyn
Ellen Burstyn (born December 7, 1932) is an American actress, who has worked in film, stage and television.
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Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen DeGeneres (; born January 26, 1958) is an American stand-up comedian, television host and actress. She hosts the syndicated talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and was also a judge on American Idol for one year, having joined the show in its ninth season.
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Ellen Degeneres
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Ernie Kovacs
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Eva Gabor
http://wn.com/Eva_Gabor -
Fayard Nicholas
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Frank Sinatra
http://wn.com/Frank_Sinatra -
Fred Allen
http://wn.com/Fred_Allen -
Fred Ebb
http://wn.com/Fred_Ebb -
Frederick de Cordova
Frederick "Fred" Timmins de Cordova (October 27, 1910 - September 15, 2001) was an American motion picture and television director and producer. He is best known for his work on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
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Gene Kelly
Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer. A major exponent of 20th century filmed dance, Kelly was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks and the likeable characters that he played on screen.
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Gene Rayburn
Gene Rayburn (December 22, 1917 – November 29, 1999) was an American radio and television personality. Born Eugene Rubessa () in Christopher, Illinois, he was an only child of Croatian immigrants and graduated from Lindblom Technical High School and later from Knox College. While a student at Lindblom, he was Senior Class President and acted in the plays, "Robert of Sicily," and, "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch." On the eleventh episode of, "Match Game '75," the host lambasted the director, a college graduate, for botching a word. Rayburn declared that he knew it and was, "not a high school graduate."
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Gene Wilder
Gene Wilder (born Jerome Silberman; June 11, 1933) is an American stage and screen actor, director, screenwriter, and author.
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George Axelrod
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George Burns
George Burns (January 20, 1896 – March 9, 1996), born Nathan Birnbaum, was an American comedian, actor, and writer.
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George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (; born July 6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut) was the 43rd President of the United States, serving from 2001 to 2009, and the 46th Governor of Texas, serving from 1995 to 2000.
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Ginger Rogers
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Goldie Hawn
Goldie Jeanne Hawn (born November 21, 1945) is an American actress, film director, producer, and occasional singer. Hawn is known for her roles in ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Private Benjamin, Foul Play, Wildcats, Overboard, Bird on a Wire, Death Becomes Her, The First Wives Club, The Banger Sisters, and Cactus Flower'', for which she won the 1969 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She is also the mother of actors Oliver Hudson and Kate Hudson. Hawn has maintained a relationship with actor Kurt Russell since 1983.
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Gore Vidal
Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (; born October 3, 1925) is an American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist. Early in his career he wrote The City and the Pillar (1948), which outraged mainstream critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality. He subsequently emerged as one of America's most important literary figures due to the enormous quantity and quality of work produced over the course of his career, including novels, essays, plays, and short stories covering a wide variety of topics and eras. He also ran for political office twice and served as a longtime political critic.
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Gregory Peck
Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor.
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Groucho Marx
actor
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Harold Nicholas
http://wn.com/Harold_Nicholas -
Harold Prince
Harold Smith Prince (born January 30, 1928) is an American theatrical producer and director associated with many of the best-known Broadway musical productions of the past half-century. He has garnered twenty-one Tony Awards, more than any other individual, including eight for directing, eight for producing the year's Best Musical, two as Best Producer of a Musical, and three special awards. His shows are known for their political context, new approach to romance, and characters who sing and dance with thematic import.
http://wn.com/Harold_Prince -
Hugh Downs
Hugh Malcolm Downs (born February 14, 1921
http://wn.com/Hugh_Downs -
Irish people
http://wn.com/Irish_people -
Jack Benny
http://wn.com/Jack_Benny -
Jack Lemmon
John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was an American actor. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts (for which he won the 1955 Best Supporting Actor Academy Award), Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger (for which he won the 1973 Best Actor Academy Award), The Out-of-Towners, The China Syndrome, Missing, Glengarry Glen Ross, Grumpy Old Men and Grumpier Old Men.
http://wn.com/Jack_Lemmon -
Jack Paar
http://wn.com/Jack_Paar -
Jackie Gleason
http://wn.com/Jackie_Gleason -
Jacques d'Amboise
'''Jacques d'Amboise''' (born July 28, 1934) is a well-known American ballet dancer, choreographer, and film actor.
http://wn.com/Jacques_d'Amboise -
James V. Forrestal
http://wn.com/James_V_Forrestal -
James Wolcott
James Wolcott (born 10 December 1952 in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American journalist, known for his critique of contemporary media. Wolcott is the cultural critic for Vanity Fair and contributes to The New Yorker. He also writes a blog.
http://wn.com/James_Wolcott -
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other awards and nominations. After 15 years of retirement, she returned to film in 2005 with Monster in Law followed by Georgia Rule two years later. She also produced and starred in several exercise videos released between 1982 and 1995.
http://wn.com/Jane_Fonda -
Jason Robards
Jason Nelson Robards, Jr. (July 26, 1922 – December 26, 2000) was an American actor on stage and in film and television and a winner of the Tony Award (theatre), two Academy Awards (film) and the Emmy Award (television). He was also a United States Navy combat veteran of World War II.
http://wn.com/Jason_Robards -
Jay Leno
James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno (; born April 28, 1950) is an American stand-up comedian and television host.
http://wn.com/Jay_Leno -
Jeff Foxworthy
http://wn.com/Jeff_Foxworthy -
Jerry Seinfeld
http://wn.com/Jerry_Seinfeld -
Jessye Norman
http://wn.com/Jessye_Norman -
Joan Rivers
Joan Alexandra Molinsky Sanger Rosenberg aka Joan Rivers (born June 8, 1933) is an American comedian, television personality and actress. She is known for her brash manner, her loud, raspy voice with a heavy New York accent, as well as her numerous cosmetic surgeries. Rivers's comic style relies heavily on poking fun at herself and other celebrities, mostly about their fashion sense. A documentary film about Rivers, , premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival at the Castro Theatre on May 6, 2010.
http://wn.com/Joan_Rivers -
Joanne Woodward
Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward (born February 27, 1930) is an Academy Award-winning American actress, television and theatrical producer, and widow of Paul Newman.
http://wn.com/Joanne_Woodward -
John Huston
John Huston (August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered "classics": The Maltese Falcon (1941), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), Key Largo (1948), The Asphalt Jungle (1950), The African Queen (1951), Moulin Rouge (1952), The Misfits (1960), and The Man Who Would Be King (1975). During his 46-year career, Huston received 15 Oscar nominations, winning twice, and directed both his father, Walter Huston, and daughter, Anjelica Huston to Oscar wins in different films.
http://wn.com/John_Huston -
John Kander
John Harold Kander (born March 18, 1927) is the American composer of a number of musicals as part of the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb.
http://wn.com/John_Kander -
John McEnroe
http://wn.com/John_McEnroe -
John Melendez
John Edward Melendez (born October 4, 1965), commonly known as "Stuttering John," is an American television writer and radio personality. Prior to his work on television as a writer and announcer, Melendez was a regular on-air personality on The Howard Stern Show. He became known for asking impertinent questions of celebrities on the red carpet and at press conferences with his stuttering.
http://wn.com/John_Melendez -
Johnny Carson
http://wn.com/Johnny_Carson -
Johnny Cash
http://wn.com/Johnny_Cash -
Jonathan Winters
Jonathan Harshman Winters III (born November 11, 1925) is an American comedian and actor.
http://wn.com/Jonathan_Winters -
Judith Jamison
Judith Anna Jamison (born May 10, 1943, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American dancer and choreographer, best known as the Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
http://wn.com/Judith_Jamison -
Jule Styne
Jule Styne (December 31, 1905 – September 20, 1994) was a British-born American songwriter especially famous for a series of Broadway musicals, which included several very well known and frequently revived shows.
http://wn.com/Jule_Styne -
K.d. lang
Kathryn Dawn Lang, OC (born November 2, 1961), known by her stage name k.d. lang, is a Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter and occasional actress. She gives her name in lowercase letters, with the given names contracted to initials and no space between these initials.
http://wn.com/Kd_lang -
Katharine Hepburn
http://wn.com/Katharine_Hepburn -
Kenneth Tynan
Kenneth Peacock Tynan (2 April 1927 – 26 July 1980) was an influential and often controversial English theatre critic and writer.
http://wn.com/Kenneth_Tynan -
Kevin Eubanks
Kevin Tyrone Eubanks (born November 15, 1957 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American jazz guitarist and composer who was the leader of the Tonight Show Band with host Jay Leno from 1995 to 2010. He also led The Primetime Band on the short-lived The Jay Leno Show.
http://wn.com/Kevin_Eubanks -
Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey (born July 26, 1959) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and crooner. He grew up in California, and began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, before being cast in supporting roles in film and television. He gained critical acclaim in the early 1990s, culminating in his first Academy Award for The Usual Suspects (Best Supporting Actor), followed by a Best Actor Academy Award win for American Beauty (1999). His other starring roles in Hollywood include Seven, L.A. Confidential, Pay It Forward, and Superman Returns in a career which has eventually earned him Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Since 2003, he has been artistic director of the Old Vic theatre in London.
http://wn.com/Kevin_Spacey -
Kirk Douglas
http://wn.com/Kirk_Douglas -
Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular comedy teams of the early to mid Classical Hollywood era of American cinema. Composed of thin, English-born Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and heavy, American-born Oliver Hardy (1892–1957) they became well known during the late 1920s to the mid-1940s for their work in motion pictures; the team also appeared on stage throughout America and Europe.
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Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall (born Betty Joan Perske September 16, 1924) is an American film and stage actress and model, known for her distinctive husky voice and sultry looks.
http://wn.com/Lauren_Bacall -
Lionel Hampton
Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players. Hampton ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy Rich to Charlie Parker and Quincy Jones. In 1992, he was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.
http://wn.com/Lionel_Hampton -
Liza Minnelli
Liza May Minnelli (born March 12, 1946) is an American singer and actress. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli.
http://wn.com/Liza_Minnelli -
Maria Tallchief
Maria Tallchief (born January 24, 1925) was the first American prima ballerina. From 1942 to 1947 she danced with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, but she is best known for her time with the New York City Ballet from 1947 to 1965.
http://wn.com/Maria_Tallchief -
Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne (born January 16, 1934, Bradford, Pennsylvania) is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring a large sound, beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages.
http://wn.com/Marilyn_Horne -
Marion Williams
http://wn.com/Marion_Williams -
Mary K. Shell
Mary Katherine Jaynes Shell, previously Mary Hosking, usually known as Mary K. Shell (born February 9, 1927), is the first woman to have served as mayor of Bakersfield, California (1981–1985) and only the second woman to have served on the Kern County Board of Supervisors (1985-1997). At the time of her retirement from public office, Shell was termed by the Bakersfield Californian as "the most popular politician in Kern County history." She is the widow of Joseph C. Shell, Sr. (1918-2008), a former Republican minority leader of the California State Assembly from Los Angeles, Richard M. Nixon's intraparty opponent for governor in 1962, and a lawmaker who fought to bring water to southern California in the 1960s.
http://wn.com/Mary_K_Shell -
Max Weinberg
Max Weinberg (born April 13, 1951) is an American drummer and television personality, most widely known as the longtime drummer for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and as the bandleader for Conan O'Brien on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien''.
http://wn.com/Max_Weinberg -
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English film actor. Caine has appeared in over one hundred films.
http://wn.com/Michael_Caine -
Milton Berle
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle -
Milton DeLugg
Milton DeLugg (born December 2, 1918; Los Angeles, California) is an American composer and arranger.
http://wn.com/Milton_DeLugg -
Morton Gould
Morton Gould (December 10, 1913 – February 21, 1996) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, and pianist.
http://wn.com/Morton_Gould -
Neil Simon
Neil Simon (born July 4, 1927) is an American playwright and screenwriter. His numerous Broadway successes have led to his work being among the most regularly performed in the world.
http://wn.com/Neil_Simon -
Patti Page
Clara Ann Fowler (born November 8, 1927), known by her professional name Patti Page, is an American singer, one of the best-known female artists in traditional pop music. She was the best-selling female artist of the 1950s, and has sold over 100 million records. Her nickname is ''The Singin' Rage''.
http://wn.com/Patti_Page -
Paul Anka
Paul Albert Anka, OC (born July 30, 1941) is a Canadian American singer, songwriter, and actor.
http://wn.com/Paul_Anka -
Paul Hogan
Paul Hogan, AM (born 8 October 1939) is an Australian actor, comedian, film producer, and screen writer best known for his acting role as Crocodile Dundee, for which he won a Golden Globe award.
http://wn.com/Paul_Hogan -
Paul Newman
http://wn.com/Paul_Newman -
Paul Shaffer
Paul Allen Wood Shaffer, CM (born November 28, 1949) is a Canadian musician, actor, voice actor, author, comedian, and composer, best known for his work alongside comedian David Letterman. He is the bandleader and sidekick on the Late Show with David Letterman, and has appeared on Letterman's shows since 1982.
http://wn.com/Paul_Shaffer -
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger (born May 3, 1919) is an American folk singer and an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival:See Richard Silverstein,
http://wn.com/Pete_Seeger -
Peter Lassally
Peter Lassally (born in 1933 in Hamburg, Germany) is a former Carson Productions executive who served as the executive producer of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Late Night with David Letterman, and the Late Show with David Letterman. As of 2009, he is the executive producer of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
http://wn.com/Peter_Lassally -
Ray Combs
Raymond Neil "Ray" Combs, Jr. (April 3, 1956 – June 2, 1996) was an American comedian, actor, and host of the game show Family Feud on CBS and in syndication from 1988 to 1994.
http://wn.com/Ray_Combs -
Raymond Burr
http://wn.com/Raymond_Burr -
Red Skelton
Red Skelton (July 18, 1913 – September 17, 1997) was an American comedian who was best known as a top radio and television star from 1937 to 1971. Skelton's show business career began in his teens as a circus clown and went on to vaudeville, Broadway, films, radio, TV, night clubs and casinos, all while pursuing another career as a painter.
http://wn.com/Red_Skelton -
Richard Pryor
http://wn.com/Richard_Pryor -
Rickey Minor
Rickey Minor is a music director, composer and music producer, now best known as musical director and bandleader for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Minor was born in Louisiana to parents Cole and Goldie Minor and was raised in South Central Los Angeles, CA. Much of his musical training was self-taught.
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Risë Stevens
http://wn.com/Risë_Stevens -
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurim Williams (born July 21, 1951) is an American actor and comedian.
http://wn.com/Robin_Williams -
Roseanne Barr
Roseanne Cherie Barr (born November 3, 1952) is an American actress, comedian, writer, television producer and director.
http://wn.com/Roseanne_Barr -
Roy Acuff
Roy Claxton Acuff (September 15, 1903 – November 23, 1992) was an American country music singer, fiddler, and promoter. Known as the King of Country Music, Acuff is often credited with moving the genre from its early string band and "hoedown" format to the star singer-based format that helped make it internationally successful.
http://wn.com/Roy_Acuff -
Sammy Davis, Jr.
http://wn.com/Sammy_Davis_Jr -
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery KBE (born 25 August 1930), more commonly known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes.
http://wn.com/Sean_Connery -
Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine (born April 24, 1934) is an American film and theater actress, dancer, activist, and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career. In 1983, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Terms of Endearment. She is the elder sister of actor Warren Beatty.
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Shirley Temple
http://wn.com/Shirley_Temple -
Sidney Poitier
Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE ( or ; born February 20, 1927) is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat. He broke through as a star in acclaimed performances in American films and plays, which, by consciously defying racial stereotyping, gave a new dramatic credibility for black actors to mainstream film audiences in the Western world.
http://wn.com/Sidney_Poitier -
Skitch Henderson
http://wn.com/Skitch_Henderson -
Slim Pickens
Louis Burton Lindley, Jr. (June 29, 1919 – December 8, 1983), better known by the stage name Slim Pickens, was an American rodeo performer and film and television actor who epitomized the profane, tough, sardonic cowboy, but who is best remembered for his comic roles, notably in Dr. Strangelove, 1941 and Blazing Saddles.
http://wn.com/Slim_Pickens -
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim (born March 22, 1930) is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards (eight, more than any other composer) including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, and a Pulitzer Prize. His most famous scores include (as composer/lyricist) A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, and Assassins, as well as the lyrics for West Side Story and . He was president of the Dramatists Guild from 1973 to 1981.
http://wn.com/Stephen_Sondheim -
Steve Allen
Stephen Valentine Patrick William "Steve" Allen ( – ) was an American television personality, musician, actor, comedian, and writer. Though he got his start in radio, Allen is best-known for his television career. He first gained national attention as a guest host on ''Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. He graduated to become the first host of The Tonight Show, where he was instrumental in innovating the concept of the television talk show. Thereafter, he hosted numerous game and variety shows, including The Steve Allen Show, I've Got a Secret, The New Steve Allen Show'', and was a regular panel member on CBS' ''What's My Line?''
http://wn.com/Steve_Allen -
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer.
http://wn.com/Steve_Martin -
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Judkins (born May 13, 1950), name later changed to Stevland Hardaway Morris, known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist. Blind from shortly after birth, Wonder signed with Motown Records' Tamla label at the age of eleven, and continues to perform and record for Motown to this day.
http://wn.com/Stevie_Wonder -
Teresa Ganzel
Teresa Ganzel (born March 23, 1957, Toledo, Ohio) is an actress, comedienne, and cartoon voice-over actress.
http://wn.com/Teresa_Ganzel -
Tim Allen
Tim Allen (born Timothy Allen Dick; June 13, 1953) is an American comedian, actor, voice-over artist, and entertainer, known for his role in the sitcom Home Improvement. He is also known for his film roles in several popular movies, including the Toy Story series, The Santa Clause, and Galaxy Quest.
http://wn.com/Tim_Allen -
Tom Snyder
http://wn.com/Tom_Snyder -
Victor Borge
http://wn.com/Victor_Borge -
Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau (October 1, 1920 – July 1, 2000) was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears. He won an Academy Award for his performance in the 1966 Billy Wilder film The Fortune Cookie.
http://wn.com/Walter_Matthau -
Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty (, ; born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director.
http://wn.com/Warren_Beatty -
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg (; born Caryn Elaine Johnson; November 13, 1955) is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, and talk show host.
http://wn.com/Whoopi_Goldberg -
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 30, 1933) is an American country singer-songwriter, author, poet, actor and activist. He reached his greatest fame during the outlaw country movement of the 1970s, and remains iconic, especially in American popular culture.
http://wn.com/Willie_Nelson
Carson, Johnny Filmography
- Excavating the 2000 Year Old Man (2012)
- Betty White's 90th Birthday: A Tribute to America's Golden Girl (2012)
- The 2012 Comedy Awards (2012)
- The 2011 Comedy Awards (2011)
- Renee (2011)
- Jeff Dunham: Birth of a Dummy (2011)
- Paul Williams Still Alive (2011)
- Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2010)
- The Battle for Late Night (2010)
- Muppets 201: Rarities from the Henson Vault (2009)
- The Tragic Side of Comedy (2009)
- The 61st Primetime Emmy Awards (2009)
- Religulous (2008)
- The 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008)
- Run for Your Life (2008)
- Brando (2007)
- Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project (2007)
- The Making of 'The Larry Sanders Show' (2007)
- Hair, Let the Sun Shine In (2007)
- Talk to Me (2007)
- Jimmy Carter Man from Plains (2007)
- Legends: Rodney Dangerfield (2006)
- CMT Greatest Moments: Dolly Parton (2006)
- The Last Mogul (2005)
- The 77th Annual Academy Awards (2005)
- The 57th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (2005)
- Stan Kann: The Happiest Man in the World (2005)
- Inside Deep Throat (2005)
- When Stand-Up Comics Ruled the World (2004)
- Comedy Central Presents: 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time (2004)
- How It Began (2004)
- Keeping Time: The Life, Music & Photography of Milt Hinton (2004)
- Retrosexual: The 80's (2004)
- Live and Swingin': The Ultimate Rat Pack Collection (2003)
- World of Comedy (2002)
- 50 Years of NBC Late Night (2001)
- Wild Desk Ride (2001)
- Isn't She Great (2000)
- The Best of the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts (1998)
- The Newton Boys (1998)
- George Carlin: 40 Years of Comedy (1997)
- The Johnny Carson Collection, His Favorite Moments from 'The Tonight Show': 1962-1992 (1994)
- Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In: 25th Anniversary Reunion (1993)
- The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts (1993)
- The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom (1993)
- Laugh-In Past Christmas Present (1993)
- Bob Hope: The First 90 Years (1993)
- Oscar's Greatest Moments (1992)
- A Tribute to the Boys: Laurel and Hardy (1992)
- Jack Benny: Comedy in Bloom (1992)
- 60 Minutes: The Entertainers (1991)
- Johnny Carson's 29th Anniversary (1991)
- Pink Cadillac (1989)
- The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson 25th Anniversary Special (1987)
- Mr. President (1987)
- It's Howdy Doody Time (1987)
- The Garry Shandling Show: 25th Anniversary Special (1986)
- NBC 60th Anniversary Celebration (1986)
- The American Film Institute Salute to Billy Wilder (1986)
- All-Star Tribute to General Jimmy Doolittle (1986)
- George Burns' 90th Birthday Party: A Very Special Special (1986)
- A Gala Tribute Honoring Leonard Goldberg (1985)
- Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson 22nd Anniversary (1984)
- The 36th Annual Emmy Awards (1984)
- The 56th Annual Academy Awards (1984)
- Johnny Carson Presents the Tonight Show Comedians (1984)
- Unrehearsed Antics of the Stars (1984)
- Carson's Comedy Classics (1983)
- Sheena Easton... Act One (1983)
- George Burns Celebrates 80 Years in Show Business (1983)
- Carson's Comedy Classics (1983)
- The 35th Annual Emmy Awards (1983)
- Johnny Carson's 21st Anniversary (1983)
- The 54th Annual Academy Awards (1982)
- Johnny Goes Home (1982)
- The 54th Annual Academy Awards (1982)
- Johnny Goes Home (1982)
- Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson 20th Anniversary (1982)
- A Love Letter to Jack Benny (1981)
- The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson 19th Anniversary Special (1981)
- All-Star Inaugural Gala (1981)
- The 53rd Annual Academy Awards (1981)
- All-Star Inaugural Gala (1981)
- Johnny Carson's 18th Anniversary Special (1980)
- Bob Hope for President (1980)
- The 52nd Annual Academy Awards (1980)
- Lucy Moves to NBC (1980)
- The Annual Friars Club Tribute Presents a Salute to Johnny Carson (1979)
- Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson 17th Anniversary Special (1979)
- The 51st Annual Academy Awards (1979)
- The 31st Annual Emmy Awards (1979)
- A Tribute to Mr. Television Milton Berle (1978)
- Happy Birthday, Bob (1978)
- Life Goes to War: Hollywood and the Home Front (1977)
- NBC: The First Fifty Years - A Closer Look (1976)
- The George Burns Special (1976)
- Joys (1976)
- CBS Salutes Lucy: The First 25 Years (1976)
- The American Film Institute Salute to Orson Welles (1975)
- The 26th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1974)
- Jack Benny's Second Farewell Special (1974)
- The 28th Annual Tony Awards (1974)
- Jack Benny's First Farewell Special (1973)
- Johnny Carson Presents the Sun City Scandals '72 (1972)
- Don Rickles: Alive and Kicking (1972)
- The 24th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1972)
- Cancel My Reservation (1972)
- The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson 10th Anniversary (1972)
- Pure Goldie (1971)
- The 23rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1971)
- Johnny Carson Presents the Sun City Scandals '70 (1970)
- The Brass Are Comin' (1970)
- The Johnny Carson Special (1969)
- The Johnny Carson Special (1969)
- The Johnny Carson Special (1969)
- Goodbye, Columbus (1969)
- Carnival Nights (1968)
- The Joan Rivers Show (1968)
- The Bob Braun Show (1967)
- Danny Thomas Meets the Comics (1965)
- The Bob Hope Comedy Special (1965)
- Looking for Love (1964)
- The 16th Annual Emmy Awards (1964)
- The 14th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1962)
- The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962)
- The All-Star Comedy Hour (1962)
- The Arthur Murray Special for Bob Hope (1960)
- Do You Trust Your Wife (1956)
- The Morning Show (1954)
- Earn Your Vacation (1954)
- Carson's Cellar (1953)
- The Red Skelton Show (1951)
- The Squirrel's Nest (1949)
- The Squirrel's Nest (1949)
Carson, Johnny Filmography
Carson, Johnnie Filmography
karaoke
He sits behind his microphone
John-ny Car-son
He speaks in such a manly tone
John-ny Car-son
Ed McMahon comes on and says ";Here's Johnny";
Every night at eleven thirty he's so funny
It's (nice) to (have) you (on) the (show) tonight
I've seen (your) act (in) Vegas out of sight
When guests are boring he fills up the slack
John-ny Car-son
The network makes him break his back
John-ny Car-son
Ed McMahon comes on and says ";Here's Johnny";
Every night at eleven thirty he's so funny
Don't (you) think (he's) such (a) natural guy
The (way) he's (kept) it (up) could make you cry
Who's a man that we admire?
Johnny Carson is a real live wire.
Who's a man that we admire?
Johnny Carson is a real live wire.
Who's a man that we admire?
Johnny Carson is a real live wire.
Who's the man that we admire?
Johnny Carson is a real live wire
ALBUMS
- Comedy Magic
- Writing Jokes
- The Entertainer
- Likability
- Ad Libbing
- Technique
- Joke Construction
- The Monologue
- Acceptance
- Persona
- More Techniques
- Ego
- Sex Appeal & Love
- Comedy and Tragedy
- Rapport
- The Audience
- Dirty Material & Put Downs
- Human Nature
- Education
Born: 1925-10-23
Died: 2005-01-23
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David Letterman Talks with Johnny Carson about Jay Leno Hosting "The Tonight Show" - 1991
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:37
- Published: 31 Mar 2011
- Updated: 26 Aug 2012
Johnny Carson asks David Letterman how he feels about Jay Leno being the new host of "The Tonight Show" in 1991.
http://wn.com/David_Letterman_Talks_with_Johnny_Carson_about_Jay_Leno_Hosting_The_Tonight_Show_1991
Steve Martin Has to Leave
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:09
- Published: 03 Aug 2011
- Updated: 27 Aug 2012
Steve Martin tells Johnny Carson he has to leave on "The Tonight Show" in 1978. Visit www.facebook.com to like "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" on Facebook. And visit www.JohnnyCarson.com Follow Johnny Carson on Twitter at http
http://wn.com/Steve_Martin_Has_to_Leave
Groucho Wears a Special Suit
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:41
- Published: 21 Aug 2012
- Updated: 27 Aug 2012
Groucho Marx stops by "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson." Visit www.facebook.com to like "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" on Facebook. And visit www.JohnnyCarson.com Follow Johnny Carson on Twitter at http
http://wn.com/Groucho_Wears_a_Special_Suit
The Copper Clapper Caper
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:50
- Published: 21 Aug 2012
- Updated: 27 Aug 2012
Jack Webb appears in the "Copper Clapper Caper" sketch on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson." Visit www.facebook.com to like "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" on Facebook. And visit www.JohnnyCarson.com Follow Johnny Carson on Twitter at http
http://wn.com/The_Copper_Clapper_Caper
Johnny Pulls a Punch
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:24
- Published: 23 Aug 2012
- Updated: 26 Aug 2012
Joe Frazier spars with Johnny on "The Tonight Show." Visit www.facebook.com to like "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" on Facebook. And visit www.JohnnyCarson.com Follow Johnny Carson on Twitter at http
http://wn.com/Johnny_Pulls_a_Punch
Reagan and Brezhnev Summit
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:40
- Published: 21 Aug 2012
- Updated: 25 Aug 2012
Ronald Reagan and Leonid Brezhnev hold a hot tub summit on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson." Visit www.facebook.com to like "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" on Facebook. And visit www.JohnnyCarson.com Follow Johnny Carson on Twitter at http
http://wn.com/Reagan_and_Brezhnev_Summit
Johnny Apes with an Orangutan
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:18
- Published: 21 Aug 2012
- Updated: 27 Aug 2012
Johnny greets a baby orangutan on "The Tonight Show." Visit www.facebook.com to like "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" on Facebook. And visit www.JohnnyCarson.com Follow Johnny Carson on Twitter at http
http://wn.com/Johnny_Apes_with_an_Orangutan
Bette Midler Bids Adieu
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:08
- Published: 21 Aug 2012
- Updated: 25 Aug 2012
Bette Midler sings "You Made Me Watch You" to Johnny Carson on his penultimate episode. Visit www.facebook.com to like "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" on Facebook. And visit www.JohnnyCarson.com Follow Johnny Carson on Twitter at http
http://wn.com/Bette_Midler_Bids_Adieu
Frank Sinatra and Don Rickles Appear on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" — 1976
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:53
- Published: 04 Aug 2011
- Updated: 27 Aug 2012
Frank Sinatra and Don Rickles appear on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" in 1976. Visit www.facebook.com to like "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" on Facebook. And visit www.JohnnyCarson.com Follow Johnny Carson on Twitter at http
http://wn.com/Frank_Sinatra_and_Don_Rickles_Appear_on_The_Tonight_Show_Starring_Johnny_Carson_—_1976
The Cowboy Poets
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:14
- Published: 21 Aug 2012
- Updated: 27 Aug 2012
The cowboy poets spin their yarns for Johnny on "The Tonight Show." Visit www.facebook.com to like "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" on Facebook. And visit www.JohnnyCarson.com Follow Johnny Carson on Twitter at http
http://wn.com/The_Cowboy_Poets
Johnny discusses New York's power outage
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:24
- Published: 19 Aug 2012
- Updated: 24 Aug 2012
Johnny discusses New York's power outage
http://wn.com/Johnny_discusses_New_York's_power_outage
The Kissing & Fondling Bandits
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:36
- Published: 21 Aug 2012
- Updated: 26 Aug 2012
The Mighty Carson Art Players, featuring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca, present the Kissing & Fondling sketch.
http://wn.com/The_Kissing_Fondling_Bandits
The Duke's last hurrah
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:23
- Published: 30 Jun 2009
- Updated: 27 Aug 2012
John Wayne's dramatic and emotional final public appearance at the 1979 Academy Awards. Host Johnny Carson, narrated by Karl Malden. The year refers to the Oscar year, which is always a year behind
http://wn.com/The_Duke's_last_hurrah
Johnny Dons Don's Wig
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:18
- Published: 21 Aug 2012
- Updated: 23 Aug 2012
Johnny Carson dons a Don King wig on "The Tonight Show." Visit www.facebook.com to like "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" on Facebook. And visit www.JohnnyCarson.com Follow Johnny Carson on Twitter at http
http://wn.com/Johnny_Dons_Don's_Wig
Johnny Eats a Chip
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:11
- Published: 12 Mar 2011
- Updated: 26 Aug 2012
Johnny Carson gives potato chip collector Myrtle Young the shock of her life on "The Tonight Show" in 1987. Visit www.facebook.com to like "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" on Facebook. And visit www.JohnnyCarson.com Follow Johnny Carson on Twitter at http
http://wn.com/Johnny_Eats_a_Chip
Hit Him Where It Hurts
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:14
- Published: 20 Aug 2012
- Updated: 26 Aug 2012
Ed Ames teaches Johnny how to throw a tomahawk. Visit www.facebook.com to like "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" on Facebook. And visit www.JohnnyCarson.com Follow Johnny Carson on Twitter at http
http://wn.com/Hit_Him_Where_It_Hurts
Quail Dropping Jewelry
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:50
- Published: 21 Aug 2012
- Updated: 22 Aug 2012
Frank O. Hill presents his quail dropping art to Johnny. Visit www.facebook.com to like "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" on Facebook. And visit www.JohnnyCarson.com Follow Johnny Carson on Twitter at http
http://wn.com/Quail_Dropping_Jewelry
Johnny Demos a Diving Harness
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:18
- Published: 21 Aug 2012
- Updated: 22 Aug 2012
Johnny learns to dive on "The Tonight Show." Visit www.facebook.com to like "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" on Facebook. And visit www.JohnnyCarson.com Follow Johnny Carson on Twitter at http
http://wn.com/Johnny_Demos_a_Diving_Harness
Johnny Carson's last TV appearance
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:08
- Published: 08 Jul 2008
- Updated: 26 Aug 2012
I had to upload this because the other one on YouTube had the comments disabled and I had to say that Johnny will be missed and is by far my favorite celebrity of all time. CLASS ACT!! His leaving The Tonight Show was truly the end of an era...his passing made obviously dashed any hopes of any further appearances, and in no small way, I'll never be able to laugh that hard or be entertained that much as when he was the host of The Tonight Show.
http://wn.com/Johnny_Carson's_last_TV_appearance
Jeff Dunham and Peanut
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:39
- Published: 21 Aug 2012
- Updated: 25 Aug 2012
Jeff Dunham and Peanut perform on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson." Visit www.facebook.com to like "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" on Facebook. And visit www.JohnnyCarson.com Follow Johnny Carson on Twitter at http
http://wn.com/Jeff_Dunham_and_Peanut
Johnny Learns to Sumo Wrestle
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:21
- Published: 16 Aug 2012
- Updated: 26 Aug 2012
Johnny learns how to Sumo wrestle on "The Tonight Show." Visit www.facebook.com to like "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" on Facebook. And visit www.JohnnyCarson.com Follow Johnny Carson on Twitter at http
http://wn.com/Johnny_Learns_to_Sumo_Wrestle
Pat McCormick Streaks
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:49
- Published: 16 Aug 2012
- Updated: 24 Aug 2012
Pat McCormick streaks across the "Tonight Show" stage. Visit www.facebook.com to like "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" on Facebook. And visit www.JohnnyCarson.com Follow Johnny Carson on Twitter at http
http://wn.com/Pat_McCormick_Streaks
"Persnickety."
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:15
- Published: 21 Aug 2012
- Updated: 22 Aug 2012
Carnac's prediction: "Persnickety." Visit www.facebook.com to like "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" on Facebook. And visit www.JohnnyCarson.com Follow Johnny Carson on Twitter at http
http://wn.com/Persnickety
AP
AP/Douglas C. Pizac
Photo: AP / Musadeq Sadeq
27 Aug 2012
Seventeen civilians have been beheaded in Afghanistan, local officials say, with 10 Afghan soldiers killed in a separate incident. The civilians died in Musa Qala district, in the southern province of...
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25 Aug 2012
A jury in San Jose, California rejected Samsung's counterclaims against Apple, according to media reports—a big win for the Silicon Valley giant, which had claimed its iconic iPhone and iPad had been...
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Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling. Death is always an extreme event. It becomes even more severe and excessive for dying empires, their most vulnerable citizens, and their local power...
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26 Aug 2012
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Tom Arnold's Roast Of Roseanne Barr Surprise: 'Roseanne, You Were My Johnny Carson' (VIDEO)
13 Aug 2012
Huffington Post
Tom Arnold wasn't on the dais for the Comedy Central Roast of Roseanne, but he certainly took a fair share of hits over the course of the night. While he reportedly had "no interest" in appearing on the roast, Roseanne's notorious ex- took the stage late in the show, announcing that it was the first...(size: 6.0Kb)
Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Johnnie Carson Leads U.S. Delegation to the AU Summit
24 Jul 2012
All Africa
[US-AU Mission]Addis Ababa...(size: 0.2Kb)
The Examiner
Related topics Johnny Carson Advertisement Hard to believe that Johnny Carson left The Tonight Show 20 years ago, after an amazing 30-year run. For Americans between 1962 and 1992, Johnny was not unlike a grown-up bedtime story – for we watched him from our beds, and he was the last thing we saw...(size: 7.4Kb)
IMDb
Chicago â Any list of the most influential and important people in the history of television that doesnât include Johnny Carson is simply...(size: 1.0Kb)
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[U.S. Embassy...(size: 0.2Kb)
All Africa
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Scoop
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Huffington Post
When Johnny Carson stepped down from hosting The Tonight Show 20 years ago this week, Apple was pushing a rudimentary tablet computer called the Messagepad, and analog televisions were the primary delivery system for electronic media, news and entertainment. Back then, most of us lived on a handful...(size: 4.5Kb)
Johnny Carson Memorabilia Up For Auction
23 May 2012
NBC Washington
This week marks the 20th anniversary of Johnny Carson's last Tonight Show broadcast on NBC, and to mark the occasion a local auction house has put some rare Carson memorabilia on the on line auction block....(size: 2.5Kb)
Not to be confused with the US ambassador Johnnie Carson.
| Johnny Carson | |
|---|---|
 Carson in January 1966 |
|
| Birth name | John William Carson |
| Born | (1925-10-23)October 23, 1925 Corning, Iowa |
| Died | January 23, 2005(2005-01-23) (aged 79) Los Angeles, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Years active | 1950-1994 |
| Genres | Satire, sketch comedy, improvisational comedy |
| Subject(s) | current events, American politics, American culture, pop culture |
| Influences | [list membership disputed] Groucho Marx, Jack Benny, Fred Allen, Bob Hope, Laurel and Hardy, Red Skelton, George Burns, Milton Berle, Steve Allen, Charlie Chaplin, Don Rickles, Michael Gough, Bob Newhart[1] |
| Influenced | [list membership disputed] Ray Combs, Ellen DeGeneres, Kathy Griffin, Bill Hicks, Jay Leno, David Letterman,[2] George Lopez, Bill Maher, Conan O'Brien, Jerry Seinfeld, Garry Shandling |
| Spouse | Jody Morrill Wolcott (m. 1949-1963; divorced) Joanne Copeland (m. 1963-1972; divorced) Joanna Holland (m. 1972-1985; divorced) Alexis Maas (m. 1987-2005, his death) |
| Notable works and roles | Host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson |
| Signature |  |
| Emmy Awards | |
| Special Classification of Outstanding Program and Individual Achievement 1976 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson 1977 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson 1978 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson 1979 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson Governor's Award 1980 Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Program (Series) 1992 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson |
|
| Peabody Awards | |
| Personal Award 1985 | |
| American Comedy Awards | |
| Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (Leading Role) Network, Cable or Syndication 1987 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson Lifetime Achievement Award 1992 Lifetime Achievement |
|
John William "Johnny" Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host and comedian, known for thirty years as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962–1992). Carson received six Emmy Awards, the Governor Award, and a 1985 Peabody Award. He was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987. Johnny Carson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992 and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1993.[3]
Although his show was already successful by the end of the 1960s, during the 1970s Carson became an American icon and remained so until his retirement in 1992. He adopted a casual, conversational approach with extensive interaction with guests, an approach pioneered by Arthur Godfrey and previous Tonight Show hosts Steve Allen and Jack Paar. Late night hosts David Letterman, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, Craig Ferguson, and Jimmy Fallon have all cited [4][5] Carson's influence on their late-night talk shows, which resemble his in format and tone.
Contents |
Early life and career[link]
Carson was born in Corning, Iowa, in the year 1925, to Homer Lloyd "Kit" Carson, a power company manager, and Ruth Hook Carson, who was of Irish descent.[6] He grew up in the nearby towns of Avoca, Clarinda, and Red Oak in southwest Iowa before moving to Norfolk, Nebraska, at the age of eight. At the age of twelve, Carson found a book on magic at a friend's house and immediately purchased a mail-order magician's kit. He debuted as "The Great Carsoni" at fourteen and was paid $3; many other performances at local picnics and country fairs followed.[6]
Carson joined the U.S. Navy on June 8, 1943, received V-12 officer training at Columbia University[7] and Millsaps College,[8] and continued to perform magic. Commissioned an ensign late in the war, Carson was assigned to the USS Pennsylvania in the Pacific. While in the Navy, Carson posted a 10-0 amateur boxing record, with most of his bouts fought on board the USS Pennsylvania.[9] He was en route to the combat zone aboard a troopship when the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended the war. Carson served as a communications officer in charge of decoding encrypted messages and said that the high point of his military career was performing a magic trick for United States Secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal.
Carson then attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, where he joined Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, continued performing magic (now paid $25 per appearance[6]), wrote a thesis on the structure of Jack Benny's comedy routines,[10] and graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in radio and speech with a minor in physics in 1949.
He began his broadcasting career in 1950 at WOW radio and television in Omaha, Nebraska.[11] Carson soon hosted a morning television program called The Squirrel's Nest. One of his routines involved interviewing pigeons on the roof of the local courthouse that would allegedly report on the political corruption they had seen. Carson supplemented his income by serving as master of ceremonies at local church dinners, attended by some of the same politicians and civic leaders that he had lampooned on the radio.
In 1951 Carson visited California and unsuccessfully sought work. The wife of one of the political figures he spoofed owned stock in a radio station in Los Angeles and referred Carson to her brother, who was influential in the emerging television market in southern California, and later that year Carson went to work at CBS-owned Los Angeles television station KNXT.[6] He would later joke that he owed his success to the birds of Omaha. In 1953 comic Red Skelton — a fan of Carson's "cult success" low-budget sketch comedy show, Carson's Cellar (1951 to 1953) on KNXT — asked Carson to join his show as a writer. In 1954 Skelton during rehearsal accidentally knocked himself unconscious an hour before his live show began, and Carson successfully filled in for him.[6] In 1955, Jack Benny invited Carson to appear on one of his programs during the opening and closing segments. Carson imitated Benny and claimed that Benny had copied his gestures. Benny, however, predicted that Carson would have a successful career as a comedian.[12]
Carson hosted several shows besides Carson's Cellar, including the game show Earn Your Vacation (1954) and the variety show The Johnny Carson Show (1955–1956).[6][13] He was a regular panelist on the original To Tell the Truth until 1962. After the prime time The Johnny Carson Show failed, he moved to New York City to host Who Do You Trust? (1957–1962), formerly known as Do You Trust Your Wife?. In 1958 he appeared as a guest star in an episode entitled "Do You Trust Your Wife" on NBC's short-lived variety show, The Polly Bergen Show. It was on Who Do You Trust? that Carson met his future sidekick, Ed McMahon. Although he believed moving to daytime would hurt his career, Who Do You Trust? was a success. It was the first show where he could ad lib and interview guests,[10] and because of Carson's on-camera wit, the show became "the hottest item on daytime television" during his five years there.[6]
[edit] The Tonight Show
Main article: The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
NBC's Tonight was the late-night counterpart to its early-morning show Today. Originating in 1953 with host Steve Allen, Tonight was somewhat experimental at the time, as the only previous network late-night program was NBC's "Broadway Open House". Tonight was successful, and when Allen moved on to prime-time comedy-variety shows, Jack Paar replaced him as host of Tonight. Paar left the show in 1962.
Johnny Carson's success on Who Do You Trust? led NBC to invite him to take over Tonight a few months before Paar's departure. Carson declined the offer because he feared the difficulty of interviewing celebrities for 1 3/4 hours (105 minutes) daily, but NBC asked him again after Bob Newhart, Jackie Gleason, Groucho Marx, and Joey Bishop all declined. Carson accepted in March 1962 but had six months left on his ABC contract, during which NBC used multiple guest hosts including Merv Griffin.[10][6]
Although he continued to have doubts about his new job, Carson became host of Tonight (later becoming The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson) on October 1, 1962, and, after a difficult first year, overcame his fears.[10] While Tonight under its previous hosts had been successful, especially under Paar, Carson's version eventually did well in the ratings. Billy Wilder said of Carson:
By the simple law of survival, Carson is the best. He enchants the invalids and the insomniacs as well as the people who have to get up at dawn. He is the Valium and the Nembutal of a nation. No matter what kind of dead-asses are on the show, he has to make them funny and exciting. He has to be their nurse and their surgeon. He has no conceit. He does his work and he comes prepared. If he’s talking to an author, he has read the book. Even his rehearsed routines sound improvised. He’s the cream of middle-class elegance, yet he’s not a mannequin. He has captivated the American bourgeoisie without ever offending the highbrows, and he has never said anything that wasn’t liberal or progressive. Every night, in front of millions of people, he has to do the salto mortale [a circus parlance for an aerial somersault performed on the tightrope]. What’s more, he does it without a net. No rewrites. No retakes. The jokes must work tonight.[6]
McMahon followed Carson from Who Do You Trust? as his announcer and sidekick. McMahon's opening line, "Heeeere's Johnny" was followed by a brief monologue by Carson. This was often followed by comedy sketches, interviews, and music. Carson's trademark was a phantom golf swing at the end of his monologues, aimed stage left toward the studio orchestra. (Guest hosts sometimes parodied that gesture. Bob Newhart rolled an imaginary bowling ball toward the audience.) Johnny enjoyed what he called the "Carson Kits," or beautiful girls, to adorn his show. Theona Bryant, a favorite, was a model. The other "Carson Cuties" were Phyllis Applegate, Norma Brooks, and Sally Todd.
Paul Anka wrote the theme song, ("Johnny's Theme"), a reworking of his "Toot Sweet"; given lyrics, it was renamed, "It's Really Love," and recorded by Annette Funicello in 1959. Before taking over The Tonight Show, Carson wrote lyrics for the song and thus claimed 50% of the song's performance royalties (even though the lyrics were never used). The theme is heard being played on sound recordings of Carson's first Tonight Show and it was used without interruption through to his very last broadcast in 1992.
The show was originally produced in New York City, with occasional stints in California. It was not live in its early years, although during the 1970s, NBC fed the live taping from Burbank to New York via satellite for editing (see below). The program had been done "live on tape" (uninterrupted unless a problem occurred) since the Jack Paar days. Carson had a talent for quick quips to deal with problems.[6] If the opening monologue fared poorly, the band would start playing "Tea for Two" and Carson danced, to laughs from the studio audience. Alternatively, Carson might pull the boom mic close to his face and announce "Attention K-Mart shoppers!"
Move to Burbank[link]
In May 1972, the show moved from New York to Burbank, California. Carson often joked about "beautiful downtown Burbank"[14] and referred to "beautiful downtown Bakersfield," which prompted Mayor Mary K. Shell to chide Carson and invite him to her city to see improvements made during the early 1980s.[citation needed]
After July 1971, Carson stopped doing shows five days a week. Instead, on Monday nights there was a guest host, leaving Carson to do the other four each week. Shows were taped in Burbank at 5:30 pm (8:30 pm Eastern time) to be shown that evening at 11:30 pm Eastern time. On September 8, 1980, at Carson's request, the show cut its 90-minute format to 60 minutes; Tom Snyder's Tomorrow added a half hour to fill the vacant time. Joan Rivers became the "permanent" guest host from September 1983 until 1986. The Tonight Show returned to using rotating guest hosts, including comic George Carlin. Jay Leno then became the exclusive guest host in fall 1987. Leno joked that although other guest hosts had upped their fees, he had kept his low, assuring himself more bookings. Eventually, Monday night was for Leno, Tuesday for The Best of Carson—rebroadcasts usually dating from a year earlier but occasionally from the 1970s.
Although Carson's work schedule became more attenuated, Tonight remained so successful that his compensation from NBC continued to rise; by the mid-1970s he had become the highest-paid personality on television,earning about $4 million a year ($14,253,000 today), not including nightclub appearances and his other businesses. He refused many offers to appear in films, including title roles in The Thomas Crown Affair and Gene Wilder's role in Blazing Saddles.[6]
In recognition of his 25th anniversary on The Tonight Show, Carson received a personal Peabody Award, the Board saying he had "become an American institution, a household word, [and] the most widely quoted American"; they also said they "felt the time had come to recognize the contributions that Johnny has made to television, to humor, and to America."[15]
Comic characters[link]
File:Carnac.jpg
Carson as the character "Carnac the Magnificent", mid 1970s.[citation needed]
Carson played several continuing characters on sketches during the show, including
- Art Fern, the "Tea Time Movie" announcer, [16] whose theme song was "Hooray for Hollywood". Carson once admitted on camera that this was his favorite character, based on late-afternoon TV hosts who would deliver commercials throughout the movie. Each sketch usually featured three long commercials interrupted by silent, four-second clips from antique films. When the camera returned from each clip, Art was always caught off-guard and immediately reminded viewers that they were watching a film favorite. The movies always had unlikely casts and even less likely titles: "Slim Pickens, Patti Page, Duke Wayne, and Charlton Heston in another classic Western: 'Kiss My Saddle Horn'!" Carson originally played the fast-talking huckster in his own voice (as Honest Bernie Schlock or Ralph Willie), and finally settled on a nasal, high-pitched, smarmy drone, reminiscent of Jackie Gleason's "Reginald Van Gleason III" character. The character, now permanently known as Art Fern, wore a lavish toupee, loud jackets, and a pencil mustache. Actress Carol Wayne became famous for her 100-plus appearances (1971–1982) as Art's buxom assistant, the Matinée Lady. While Art gave his spiel, she would enter the stage behind him. Art would react to her attractive body, wincing loudly: "Ho — leeeee!" After Carol Wayne's death in 1985, Carson kept Art Fern off the air for most of the next year, and finally hired Danuta Wesley and then Teresa Ganzel to play the Matinée Lady. Carson also used these sketches to poke fun at the intricate Los Angeles interstate system, using a pointer and map to give confusing directions to shoppers, often including points where he would unfold the cardboard map to point out, via the appropriate picture, when the shopper would arrive at "the fork in the road". Another freeway routine in the same theme centered around the fictional "Slauson Cutoff". Art Fern would advise drivers to take a series of freeways until they reached the Slauson Cutoff, and would then advise them to "Get out of your car, cut off your slauson, get back in your car," often followed by peals of laughter from the audience, led by McMahon.
- Carnac the Magnificent, a turbaned psychic who could answer questions before seeing them. (This same routine had been done by Carson's predecessor, Steve Allen, as "The Answer Man". The Carnac character and routine closely resembled Ernie Kovacs' character "Mr. Question Man".ref name=EW /> Carnac had a trademark entrance in which he always turned the wrong direction when coming onto stage and then "tripped" on the step up to Carson's desk. (In one episode, technicians rigged Carson's desk to fall apart when Carnac fell into it.) These comedic missteps were an indication of Carnac's true prescient abilities. Ed McMahon would hand Carnac a series of envelopes containing questions, said to have been "sitting inside a mayonnaise jar on Funk & Wagnall's porch since noon today". Carnac would place each envelope against his forehead and predict the answer, such as "Gatorade". Then he would read the question: "What does an alligator get on welfare?" Some of the jokes were feeble, and McMahon used pauses after terrible puns and audience groans to make light of Carnac's lack of comic success ("Carnac must be used to quiet surroundings"), prompting Carson to return an equal insult. McMahon would always announce near the end, "I hold in my hand the last envelope," at which the audience would applaud wildly, prompting Carnac to pronounce a comedic "curse" on the audience, such as "May your sister elope with a camel!", or the most famous: "May the bird of paradise fly up your nose!"[citation needed]
- Floyd R. Turbo, American (with no pause between words). A stereotypical redneck wearing a plaid hunting coat and cap, who offered "editorial responses" to left-leaning causes or news events. Railing against women's rights in the workplace, for example, Turbo would shout: "This raises the question: kiss my Dictaphone!"
- Aunt Blabby, a cantankerous and sometimes amorous old lady, invariably being interviewed by straight man Ed McMahon about elder affairs.[16] McMahon would innocently use a common expression like "check out", only to have Aunt Blabby warn him: "Don't say 'check out' to an old person!" Aunt Blabby was an obvious copy of Jonathan Winters' most famous creation, Maude Frickert, including her black spinster dress and wig.
- El Mouldo, a mentalist, who would attempt to perform mind-reading and mind-over-matter feats, all of which failed. Often his tricks would include an attempt to bilk money from Ed McMahon or would end with him begging the audience for a dollar, or at least bus fare.
- The Maharishi, whose theme song was "Song of India". This frizzy-haired "holy man" spoke in a high-pitched, tranquil tone, greeted announcer McMahon with a flower, and answered philosophical questions.[citation needed]
Carson uncensored on satellite[link]
Even though Carson's program was based in Burbank, NBC's editing and production services for the program were located in New York, resulting in the requirement that Carson's program be transmitted from Burbank to New York. Beginning in 1976, NBC used the Satcom 2 satellite to do this, feeding the live taping (which usually took place in the early evening) directly to New York, where it would be edited prior to the normal broadcast. This live feed lasted usually from two to two-and-a-half hours a night, and was uncensored and commercial-free. During the commercial breaks the audio and picture would be left on, capturing at times risque language and other events that would certainly be edited out later going out over the feed.
At the same time, however, satellite ground stations owned by private individuals began to appear, and some managed to find the live feed. Satellite dish owners began to document their sightings in technical journals, giving viewers knowledge of things they were not meant to see. Carson and his production staff grew concerned about this, and pressured NBC into ceasing the satellite transmissions of the live taping in the early 1980s. The satellite link was replaced by microwave landline transmission until the show's editing facilities were finally moved to Burbank.[17]
Effect on popular culture[link]
Carson's show launched the careers of many performers, especially comedians.[6] Getting Carson to laugh and then to be called to the guest chair was the highest honor. Most notable among these were David Letterman, Jerry Seinfeld, Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Maher, Ellen Degeneres, Tim Allen, Drew Carey, and Roseanne Barr. Carson was successor to The Ed Sullivan Show as a showcase for all kinds of talent, as well as continuing a vaudeville-style variety show.
In 1966, Carson popularized Milton Bradley's game Twister when he played it with actress Eva Gabor. Not widely known at the time, the game skyrocketed in popularity after the broadcast.[18]
Controversies and feuds[link]
Carson often made jokes at the expense of other celebrities. Some years after a high-profile feud between Carson and Wayne Newton, the latter appeared on Larry King Live, declaring that "Johnny Carson is a mean-spirited human being. And there are people that he has hurt that people will never know about. And for some reason at some point, he decided to turn that kind of negative attention toward me. And I refused to have it."[19] One veteran NBC actor, Raymond Burr, became riled over Carson's continuing fat jokes and refused to appear on "The Tonight Show".[20]
Carson reportedly loathed what appeared to represent disloyalty among friends. The comedian was displeased when former Tonight Show guest hosts John Davidson and Joan Rivers got their own talk shows. Rivers's show on the Fox Network directly competed with Carson during the 1986-1987 season and then ended. On June 24, 2009, following Ed McMahon's death, Rivers lauded McMahon on Larry King Live but said that after she got her own show Carson never spoke to her again.[21]
In December 1973, Carson joked on Tonight about an alleged shortage of toilet paper. Panic buying and hoarding ensued across the United States as consumers emptied stores,[22] causing a real shortage that lasted for weeks. Stores and toilet-paper manufacturers had to ration supplies until the panic ended.[23][24] Carson apologized in January 1974[25] for the incident, which became what The New York Times called a "classic study" of how rumors spread.[26]
Carson successfully sued a manufacturer of portable toilets who wanted to call its product "Here's Johnny".[27]
Business ventures[link]
Carson was a major investor in the ultimately failed DeLorean Motor Company.
Carson was head of a group of investors who purchased and operated two television stations. The first was KVVU-TV in Henderson, Nevada, an independent station serving Las Vegas, acquired by the Carson group in 1979. Shortly after buying the station, KVVU was rumored to acquiring an NBC affiliation as then long-time affiliate KORK-TV was in the process of being replaced by KVBC, but it never happened.[citation needed] Carson's second station, independent KNAT-TV in Albuquerque, New Mexico was purchased in 1982. Unlike the Las Vegas operation, KNAT faced stiffer competition for top-quality syndicated programming. Carson sold both of his stations between 1985 and 1986, with KVVU going to Meredith Corporation and KNAT being sold to Trinity Broadcasting Network.
Carson's other business ventures included the successful Johnny Carson Apparel, Inc.[6]—his turtlenecks became a fashion trend—and a failed restaurant franchise.[28]
Retirement[link]
Carson retired from show business on May 22, 1992, at age 66, when he stepped down as host of The Tonight Show. His farewell was a major media event, often emotional for Carson, his colleagues, and the audiences, and stretched over several nights. He said the following on his 4,531st and final Tonight Show:
And so it has come to this... I, uh...am one of the lucky people in the world; I found something I always wanted to do, and I have enjoyed every single minute of it. I want to thank the gentlemen who've shared this stage with me for thirty years, Mr. Ed McMahon... Mr. 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 homes as you have been. I bid you a very heartfelt good night.
NBC gave the role of host to the show's then-current permanent guest host, Jay Leno. Leno and David Letterman were soon competing on separate networks.
Post-retirement appearances[link]
At the end of his final Tonight Show appearance, Carson indicated that he might, if so inspired, return with a new project, but instead chose to go into full retirement, rarely giving interviews and declining to participate in NBC's 75th anniversary celebrations. He made the occasional cameo appearance, including voicing himself on the May 13, 1993 episode of The Simpsons ("Krusty Gets Kancelled"), telephoning David Letterman on a November 1993 episode of Late Show with David Letterman, and appearing in the 1993 NBC Special Bob Hope: The First 90 Years. On May 13, 1994, Carson appeared on Late Show with David Letterman. During a week of shows from Los Angeles, Letterman was having Larry "Bud" Melman (Calvert DeForest) deliver his "Top Ten Lists" under the guise that a famous personality would be delivering the list instead. On the last show of the week, Letterman indicated that Carson would be delivering the list. Instead, DeForest delivered the list, insulted the audience (in keeping with the gag), and walked off to polite applause. Letterman then indicated that the card he was given did not have the proper list on it and asked that the "real" list be brought out. On that cue, the real Carson emerged from behind the curtain (as Letterman's band played "Johnny's Theme"), an appearance that prompted a standing ovation from the audience. Carson then requested to sit behind Letterman's desk; Letterman obliged, as the audience continued to cheer and applaud. After some moments, Carson departed from the show without having spoken to the audience. He later cited acute laryngitis as the reason for his silence. This night turned out to be Carson's last television appearance.
Letterman[link]
Just days before Carson's death, The New York Times published a story revealing that he occasionally sent jokes to Letterman.[29] Letterman would then use these jokes in the monologue of his show, which Carson got "a big kick out of" according to Worldwide Pants, Inc., Senior Vice-President Peter Lassally, who formerly produced both men's programs. He also claimed that Carson had always believed Letterman, not Leno, to be his "rightful successor."[30] Letterman frequently employs some of Carson's trademark bits on his show, including "Carnac" (with band leader Paul Shaffer as Carnac), "Stump the Band," and the "Week in Review."
Personal life[link]
Despite his on-camera demeanor, Carson was very shy off-camera, avoided most large parties,[6] and was referred to as "the most private public man who ever lived".[31] Dick Cavett recalled that "I felt sorry for Johnny in that he was so socially uncomfortable. I've hardly ever met anybody who had as hard a time as he did."[10] George Axelrod said of Carson: "Socially, he doesn’t exist. The reason is that there are no television cameras in living rooms. If human beings had little-red lights in the middle of their foreheads, Carson would be the greatest conversationalist on earth."[6]
He normally refused to discuss politics, social controversies, his childhood, or private life with interviewers, and offered the following list of pre-written answers to journalists who wanted to ask him questions:[6]
- Yes, I did.
- Not a bit of truth in that rumor.
- Only twice in my life, both times on Saturday.
- I can do either, but I prefer the first.
- No. Kumquats.
- I can’t answer that question.
- Toads and tarantulas.
- Turkestan, Denmark, Chile, and the Komandorskie Islands.
- As often as possible, but I’m not very good at it yet. I need much more practice.
- It happened to some old friends of mine, and it’s a story I’ll never forget.[6]
Politics[link]
Carson opposed capital punishment, favored racial equality, and was against criminalizing extramarital sex and pornography. He avoided explicitly mentioning his views on Tonight, however, saying "I hate to be pinned down", as that would "hurt me as an entertainer, which is what I am".[6] As he explained in 1970, "In my living room I would argue for liberalization of abortion laws, divorce laws, and there are times when I would like to express a view on the air. I would love to have taken on Billy Graham. But I'm on TV five nights a week; I have nothing to gain by it and everything to lose."[32]
Marriages[link]
In 1948, Carson married Jody Wolcott.[6] The marriage was volatile, with infidelities committed by both parties, and ended in divorce in 1963.[33] Carson got a "quickie" Mexican divorce from Wolcott that year and married Joanne Copeland on August 17, 1963. After a second protracted divorce proceeding in 1972, Copeland received a settlement of nearly half a million dollars and $75,000 a year in alimony for life.[6]
At the Carson Tonight Show's 10th anniversary party on September 30, 1972, Carson announced that he and former model Joanna Holland had been secretly married that afternoon,[6] shocking his friends and associates. Carson kidded that he had married three similarly named women to avoid "having to change the monogram on the towels." On March 8, 1983, Holland filed for divorce. Under California's community property laws, she was entitled to 50% of all the assets accumulated during the marriage, even though Carson earned virtually all of the couple's income. During this period, he joked on The Tonight Show, "my producer, Freddie de Cordova, really gave me something I needed for Christmas. He gave me a gift certificate to the law offices of Jacoby & Meyers." The divorce case finally ended in 1985 with an eighty-page settlement, Holland receiving $20 million in cash and property.
On June 20, 1987, Carson married Alexis Maas. The marriage lasted until his death in 2005.
Children[link]
Carson had three sons, Charles (known as "Kit"), Cory and Richard. All three sons were from his first marriage. Richard Carson died on June 21, 1991, when his car plunged down a steep embankment along a paved service road off Highway 1 near Cayucos, California. Apparently, Richard had been taking photographs when the accident occurred. On the first Tonight Show after Ricky's death, Carson paid tribute to his son's photographic work, and showed portraits of Ricky accompanied by Stevie Ray Vaughan on blues guitar playing Riviera Paradise. In addition, the final image of the show, as well as some "More to Come" bumpers, of Carson's last show on May 22, 1992, featured a photo Richard had taken.
Charity[link]
In 1981, Carson created the John W. Carson Foundation, dedicated to supporting children, education and health services. The Foundation continues to support charitable causes.[34]
In November 2004, Carson announced a $5.3 million gift to the University of Nebraska Foundation to support the Hixson–Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts Department of Theater Arts, which created the Johnny Carson School of Theater and Film. Another $5 million donation was announced by the estate of Carson to the University of Nebraska following his death.[citation needed], while a $1 million donation was announced on November 4, 2011, creating the "Johnny Carson Opportunity Scholarship Fund".[35]
Carson also donated to causes in his hometown of Norfolk, including the Carson Cancer Center at Faith Regional Health Services, the Elkhorn Valley Museum, and the Johnny Carson Theater at Norfolk Senior High School.
In August 2010, the charitable foundation created by Johnny Carson reported receiving $156 million from a personal trust established by the entertainer years prior to his January 2005 death. Carson's foundation was now by far the largest of the Hollywood charities.[36]
Other notes[link]
Carson, an amateur astronomer, was close friends with astronomer Carl Sagan, who often appeared on The Tonight Show. The unique way Sagan had of saying certain words, like "billions" of galaxies, would lead Carson to ribbing his friend, saying "BILL-ions and BILL-ions". Carson was the first person to contact Sagan's wife Ann Druyan with condolences when the scientist died in 1996. He owned several telescopes, including a Questar, considered at the time a top-of-the line telescope.[37]
Carson was shown on a 1978 segment of 60 Minutes practicing at home on a drum set given to him by close friend Buddy Rich, who was the jazz musician with the most appearances on The Tonight Show. Writer Gore Vidal, another frequent Tonight Show guest and friend, writes about Carson's personality in his 2006 memoirs.[38]
In 1982, Carson was found to be driving his DeLorean while under the influence of alcohol. He pled nolo contendere to a misdemeanor charge and given three years of probation. Carson was required to attend an alcohol program for drivers and was permitted to use his car only to drive to work and back.[39]
Carson was an avid tennis player. He took lessons from Bob Trapenberg for many years. He enjoyed watching tennis at Wimbledon as often as possible. When he sold a Malibu house to John McEnroe, the escrow required McEnroe to give Johnny six tennis lessons.
Death and tributes[link]
On March 19, 1999, Carson, then 74, suffered a severe heart attack at his home in Malibu, California. Carson was sleeping when he suddenly awoke with severe chest pains. He was rushed to a hospital in nearby Santa Monica where he underwent quadruple-bypass surgery.[40]
At 6:50 AM PST on January 23, 2005, Carson died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles of respiratory failure arising from emphysema.[41][42] He was 79 years old. Carson had revealed his terminal illness to the public in September 2002. Following his death, Carson's body was cremated and the ashes were given to his wife, Alexis Maas Carson. In accordance with his family's wishes, no public memorial service was held. Numerous tributes were paid to Carson upon his death, recognizing the deep and enduring affection held for him around the world, including a statement by then-President George W. Bush.[43]
The day after his death, January 24, 2005, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno paid tribute to Carson with guests Ed McMahon, Bob Newhart, Don Rickles, Drew Carey and k.d. lang.[44] Letterman followed suit on January 31 with former Tonight Show executive producer Peter Lassally and bandleader Doc Severinsen. At the beginning of this show, Letterman said that for thirty years no matter what was going on in the world, whether people had had a good or bad day, they wanted to end the day by being "tucked in by Johnny." Letterman also told his viewers that the monologue he had just spoken (which had been very well received by the studio audience) had consisted entirely of jokes sent to him by Carson in the last few months of his life.[45] Doc Severinsen ended the Letterman show that night by playing one of Carson's two favorite songs, "Here's That Rainy Day" (the other was "I'll Be Seeing You").
On his final Tonight Show appearance, Carson himself said that while sometimes people who work together for long stretches of time on television don't necessarily like each other, this was not the case with him and McMahon; they were good friends that would have drinks and dinner together, and the camaraderie that they had on the show could not be faked. Carson and McMahon were friends for forty-six years.[46]
The 2005 film The Aristocrats was dedicated to Carson.[47]
At the 1st Annual Comedy Awards on Comedy Central, the Johnny Carson Award was given to David Letterman.
At the 2nd Annual Comedy Awards on Comedy Central, the Johnny Carson Award was given to Don Rickles.
A two-hour documentary about his life, Johnny Carson: King of Late Night, aired on PBS on May 14, 2012, as part of their American Masters series. It is narrated by Kevin Spacey and features interviews with many of Carson's family, fellow comedians and proteges. [48]
References[link]
- ^ "'Bob Newhart: Unbuttoned'". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2005/07/20/DI2087072001819.html. [dead link]
- ^ An interview with David Letterman (TV-series). Charlie Rose, WNET. 1996-02-26. http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/6364. Retrieved 2008-11-14.
- ^ Johnny Carson. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved July 30, 2009.
- ^ "Interview :David Letterman He's No Johnny Carson". Time. February 6, 1989. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,956906,00.html.
- ^ "Jimmy Fallon". AskMen. 1974-09-09. http://www.askmen.com/celebs/men/entertainment_60/88_jimmy_fallon.html. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Tynan, Kenneth (1978-02-20). "Fifteen Years of the Salto Mortale". The New Yorker. http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1978/02/20/1978_02_20_047_TNY_CARDS_000326477?printable=true. Retrieved 2011-03-16.
- ^ "Careers Johnny Carson". Military.com. http://www.military.com/Careers/Content1?file=trans_johnny_carson.htm&area=Content. Retrieved 2011-04-26.
- ^ "Timeline". Millsaps College. http://www.millsaps.edu/about_millsaps/timeline.php. Retrieved September 10, 2011.
- ^ "Johnny Carson Amateur Boxing Record". Boxing-Scoop.com. http://www.boxing-scoop.com/show_boxer.php?boxer_ID=12192. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
- ^ a b c d e "Late Night". Pioneers of Television, 9 January 2008.
- ^ The Official Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson
- ^ "Jack Gives Johnny Carson Advice (1955)". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUd1-_91YTk. Retrieved 2011-04-26.
- ^ The Johnny Carson Show at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ James, Meg; Gold, Matea (October 11, 2007). "NBC socks it to Burbank". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2007/oct/11/business/fi-nbc11. Retrieved May 7, 2010.
- ^ "Johnny Carson Personal Award". Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. 1985. http://www.peabody.uga.edu/winners/details.php?id=307. Retrieved 2011-04-26.
- ^ a b Hibberd, James. "'Johnny Carson: King of Late Night' airing tonight: Overrated royalty? A review | Ken Tucker's TV | EW.com". Watching-tv.ew.com. http://watching-tv.ew.com/2012/05/14/johnny-carson-pbs-tonight-show-king-of-late-night/. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
- ^ Cooper, Jr., Robert B. (2006). Television's Pirates: Hiding Behind Your Picture Tube.
- ^ "Menace to Morals: Twister." Minnesota Monthly, January 2011, 70.
- ^ "Wayne Newton on Larry King Live". CNN. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0711/29/lkl.01.html. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
- ^ Michael S. Starr, "Hiding in Plain Sight", 184.
- ^ 219520.html|date=2009-06-23
- ^ Buchsbaum, Susan (1986-10-21). "On a roll: Unraveling the truth about toilet paper". Boston Phoenix: p. 6. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=X20tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tooFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3182%2C1867682. Retrieved May 10, 2012.
- ^ Huntley, Helen (1973-12-27). "Toilet Paper Shortage Hits Suncoast Shoppers". St. Petersburg Times: pp. 2-B. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VepRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=J3MDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1485%2C752674. Retrieved May 10, 2012.
- ^ "Firm Allocates Toilet Paper". Milwaukee Journal. Washington Post Service: pp. Accent 2. 1974-01-14. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fR8qAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3igEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4987%2C2267952. Retrieved May 10, 2012.
- ^ "Toilet Tissue Shortage: Real or Contrived?". St. Petersburg Times: pp. 25-A. 1974-01-18. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5-pRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=L3MDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7268%2C1823113. Retrieved May 10, 2012.
- ^ Malcolm, Andrew H. (1974-02-03). "The 'Shortage' of Bathroom Tissue: A Classic Study in Rumor". The New York Times: p. 29.
- ^ Carson v. Here's Johnny Portable Toilets, Inc., 810 F.2d 104, 105 (6th Cir. 1987)
- ^ Bernstein, Adam (2005-01-24). "For Decades, Comic Ruled Late-Night TV". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A30475-2005Jan23.
- ^ "Carson Feeds Letterman Lines". The New York Times. http://pqarchiver.nypost.com/nypost/access/781543221.html?dids=781543221:781543221&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jan+20%2C+2005&author=Post+Wire+Services&pub=New+York+Post&edition=&startpage=102&desc=CARSON+FEEDS+LETTERMAN+LINES. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
- ^ "Carson Feeds Letterman Lines". The New York Post. http://pqarchiver.nypost.com/nypost/access/781543221.html?dids=781543221:781543221&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jan+20%2C+2005&author=Post+Wire+Services&pub=New+York+Post&edition=&startpage=102&desc=CARSON+FEEDS+LETTERMAN+LINES. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
- ^ Reader's Digest September 2005, p. 178; Book Bonus: Ed McMahon Here's Johnny, Berkley Trade, 2006 ISBN 978-0-425-21229-5
- ^ Barthel, Joan (23 January). "Here's Johnny! Out There". Life: 52. http://books.google.com/books?id=gVAEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA52&dq=In%20my%20living%20room%20I%20would%20argue%20for%20liberalization%20of%20abortion%20laws%2C%20divorce%20laws%2C%20and%20there&pg=PA52#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
- ^ Pleading Poverty and Demanding Money, Johnny Carson's First Wife Tells the Sad Secrets of Her Troubled Marriage By Michelle Green, Sue Carswell, Eleanor Hoover May 7, 1990 Vol. 33 No. 18 People Magazine
- ^ "Making a World of Difference". Children's Hospital Los Angeles. November 2008. http://www.childrenshospitalla.org/atf/cf/%7B1cb444df-77c3-4d94-82fa-e366d7d6ce04%7D/CAMPAIGNNEWS%20FALL%2008.PDF. Retrieved 2010-01-31.
- ^ "Carson Foundation donates $1M for UNL scholarships". Lincoln Journal Star. November 2011. http://journalstar.com/news/local/education/article_2c55ad55-be37-5123-8f6a-3cfea3655945.html.
- ^ Time Waster. "Carnac The Munificent". The Smoking Gun. http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/celebrity/carnac-munificent. Retrieved 2011-04-26.
- ^ Questar, Company Seven Astro-Optics Division
- ^ Gore Vidal, Point to Point Navigation: A Memoir, New York: Doubleday, 2006.
- ^ Wilson, Jeff (October 13, 1982). "Johnny Carson's Driving Restricted". UPI. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=NcRTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=54cDAAAAIBAJ&dq=johnny%20carson%20driving%20alcohol%20delorean&pg=5801%2C1144493. Retrieved 2011-04-06.
- ^ Biography for Johnny Carson from Internet Movie Database
- ^ Longtime host of ‘Tonight Show’ dies at 79 Associated Press, February 8, 2005
- ^ Net mourns death of Johnny Carson Jeff Pelline CNET News February 8, 2005
- ^ Quotations on Johnny Carson's Death Associated Press January 23, 2005
- ^ Tribute To Johnny Carson Friends Return To Stage Where They And Johnny Carson Made TV Magic By Chris Hawke CBS News Burbank, Calif. January 25, 2005
- ^ "Letterman Pays Special Tribute to Carson". Associated Press. February 1, 2005. http://www.redorbit.com/news/general/123709/letterman_pays_special_tribute_to_carson/.
- ^ Drury, Jack (2008). Lauderdale: Playground of the Stars. Images of America. Arcadia Publishing. p. 21. ISBN 0-7385-5351-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=OzkV0UxzRRgC&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21. Retrieved 2011-04-26.
- ^ "The Aristocrats Synopsis". HBO. http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/aristocrats/synopsis.html. Retrieved 2011-04-26.
- ^ Lloyd, Robert (2012-05-12). "'Johnny Carson: King of Late Night' goes behind throne: Review". latimes.com. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-et-johnny-carson-20120510,0,1177468.story. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
Further reading[link]
Accounts on work and life[link]
- Bart, Peter (1992-05-18). We Hardly Knew Ye.. Los Angeles: Variety.
- Corkery, Paul (August 1987). Carson: The Unauthorized Biography. Randt & Co. ISBN 0-942101-00-6.
- Cox, Stephen (2002-08-15). Here's Johnny: Thirty Years of Americas Favorite Late Night Entertainer. Cumberland House Publishing. ISBN 1-58182-265-0.
- De Cordova, Fred (1988-03-15). Johnny Came Lately. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-55849-8.
- Hise, James Van (1992). 40 Years at Night: the Story of the Tonight Show. Movie Publisher Services. ISBN 1-55698-308-5.
- Knutzen, Erik (1992-05-21). Celebs Say Thanks, Johnny.. Herald.
- Leamer, Laurence (2005-03-29). King of the Night: The Life of Johnny Carson. Avon. ISBN 0-06-084099-4.
- McMahon, Ed (2005-10-18). Here's Johnny!: My Memories of Johnny Carson, The Tonight Show, and 46 Years of Friendship. Thomas Nelson. ISBN 1-4016-0236-3.
- Smith, Ronald L. (October 1987). Johnny Carson: An Unauthorized Biography. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-01051-6.
- Zoglin, Richard (1992-03-16). And What A Reign It Was: In His 30 Years, Carson Was The Best. Time.
- Sweeney, Don (2005). Backstage at the Tonight Show, from Johnny Carson to Jay Leno. Taylor Trade Publishing. ISBN 978-1-58979-303-3.
Humor material collections[link]
- Carson, Johnny (1965). Happiness is a Dry Martini. Doubleday and Company. ISBN 1-199-39735-0
- Carson, Johnny (1967). Misery is a blind date. Doubleday and Company. ASIN: B002J1EG3A
- Johnny Carson Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
External links[link]
 |
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Johnny Carson |
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Johnny Carson |
- Johnny Carson at the Internet Movie Database
- Johnny Carson at the Internet Broadway Database
- Johnny Carson at Find a Grave
- Official website for The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson
- "Article on Johnny Carson". Archived from the original on 2007-10-13. http://web.archive.org/web/20071013161038/http://dir.salon.com/people/bc/2001/02/20/carson/index.html. at Salon
- "On Carson's contribution to Late Night". Archived from the original on 2007-10-14. http://web.archive.org/web/20071014103641/http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=online&s=siegel012405. at The New Republic
- Tynan, Kenneth. 1978 profile, The New Yorker
- The Johnny Carson Show, USA Today
- Martin, Steve. Posthumous Letter to Carson, The New York Times
- Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
- Watch on line either clips from or entire program Johnny Carson King of Late Night - Watch The Full Documentary pbs.org Includes a page on the making of the documentary.
Obituaries[link]
- Obituary at CNN
- Obituary at MSNBC
- Wolcott, James. Obituary, Vanity Fair
- Severo, Richard; Carter, Bill (January 24, 2005). "Johnny Carson, Low-Key King of Late-Night TV, Dies at 79". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/24/arts/television/24john.html?ex=1264309200&en=6f658f88eb80aabd&ei=5090. Retrieved May 7, 2010.
- "A Good Friend Has Left Us". James Randi Educational Foundation. http://www.randi.org/jr/carson.html. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
| Media offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jack Paar |
Host of The Tonight Show October 1, 1962 – May 22, 1992 |
Succeeded by Jay Leno |
| Preceded by Bob Hope |
Host of the Academy Awards 1979–82 |
Succeeded by Liza Minnelli, Dudley Moore, Richard Pryor and Walter Matthau |
| Preceded by Liza Minnelli, Dudley Moore, Richard Pryor and Walter Matthau |
Host of the Academy Awards 1984 |
Succeeded by Jack Lemmon |
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Carson, Johnny |
| Alternative names | Carson, John William |
| Short description | Talk show host |
| Date of birth | October 23, 1925 |
| Place of birth | Corning, Iowa |
| Date of death | January 23, 2005 |
| Place of death | Los Angeles, California |
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
| David Letterman | |
|---|---|
 Letterman performing on his show in June 2011. |
|
| Pseudonym | Earl Hofert |
| Born | (1947-04-12) April 12, 1947 (age 65) Indianapolis, Indiana, United States[1] |
| Medium | Stand-up, talk show |
| Nationality | American |
| Years active | 1974–present |
| Genres | Observational comedy, surreal humor, deadpan |
| Subject(s) | Self-deprecation, everyday life |
| Influences | Steve Allen,[citation needed] Johnny Carson,[2] Jack Paar,[citation needed] Paul Dixon[3] |
| Influenced | Jimmy Kimmel, Jim Gaffigan, Jon Stewart, Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Fallon |
| Spouse | Michelle Cook (1969–1977) Regina Lasko (2009–present) |
| Domestic partner(s) | Regina Lasko (1986–2009) |
| Notable works and roles | Host of The David Letterman Show (NBC) Host of Late Night with David Letterman (NBC) Host of Late Show with David Letterman (CBS) |
| Signature |  |
| Website | CBS.com/latenight/lateshow |
| Emmy Awards | |
| Outstanding Host or Hostess in a Variety Series 1981 The David Letterman Show Outstanding Individual Achievement — Writers 1981 The David Letterman Show Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program 1984 Late Night with David Letterman 1985 Late Night with David Letterman 1986 Late Night with David Letterman 1987 Late Night with David Letterman Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series 1994 Late Show with David Letterman |
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| American Comedy Awards | |
| Funniest Male Performer in a TV Special (Leading or Supporting) Network, Cable or Syndication 1989 Late Night with David Letterman 1995 Late Show with David Letterman: Video Special Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (Leading Role) Network, Cable or Syndication 1994 Late Show with David Letterman 2001 Late Show with David Letterman |
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David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host and comedian.[1] He hosts the late night television talk show, Late Show with David Letterman, broadcast on CBS. Letterman has been a fixture on late night television since the 1982 debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC. Letterman recently surpassed friend and mentor Johnny Carson for having the longest late-night hosting career in the United States of America.[4]
Letterman is also a television and film producer. His company Worldwide Pants produces his show as well as its network follow-up The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Worldwide Pants has also produced several prime-time comedies, the most successful of which was Everybody Loves Raymond, currently in syndication.
In 1996, David Letterman was ranked #45 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.[5]
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Early life and career[link]
Letterman was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. His father, Harry Joseph Letterman (April 1915 – February 1973),[6] was a florist of British descent; his mother Dorothy Letterman (née Hofert, now Dorothy Mengering), a Presbyterian church secretary of German descent, is an occasional figure on the show, usually at holidays and birthdays.
Letterman lived on the north side of Indianapolis (Broad Ripple area), not far from Speedway, IN, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and he enjoyed collecting model cars, including racers.[7] In 2000, he told an interviewer for Esquire that, while growing up, he admired his father's ability to tell jokes and be the life of the party. Harry Joseph Letterman survived a heart attack at age 36, when David was a young boy. The fear of losing his father was constantly with Letterman as he grew up.[8] The elder Letterman died of a second heart attack[9] at age 57.
Letterman attended his hometown's Broad Ripple High School at the same time as Marilyn Tucker (future wife of Dan Quayle) and worked as a stock boy at the local Atlas supermarket.[10] According to the Ball State Daily News, he originally had wanted to attend Indiana University, but his grades weren't good enough, so he decided to attend Ball State University, in Muncie, Indiana.[11] He is a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, and he graduated from what was then the Department of Radio and Television, in 1969. A self-described average student, Letterman endowed a scholarship for what he called "C students" at Ball State.[12]
Though he registered for the draft and passed his physical after graduating from college, he was not drafted for service in Vietnam due to receiving a draft lottery number of 352 (out of 365).[13]
Letterman began his broadcasting career as an announcer and newscaster at the college's student-run radio station—WBST—a 10-watt campus station which now is part of Indiana Public Radio.[14] He was fired for treating classical music with irreverence.[14]
Letterman then became involved with the founding of another campus station—WAGO-AM 570 (now WWHI, 91.3).[15]
Letterman credits Paul Dixon—host of the Paul Dixon Show, a Cincinnati-based talk show also shown in Indianapolis while Letterman was growing up—for inspiring his choice of career:[3]
- "I was just out of college [in 1969], and I really didn't know what I wanted to do. And then all of a sudden I saw him doing it [on TV]. And I thought: That's really what I want to do!"
Weatherman[link]
Letterman began his career as a radio talk show host on WNTS (AM), and on Indianapolis television station WLWI (now called WTHR) as an anchor, and weatherman. He received some attention for his unpredictable on-air behavior, which included congratulating a tropical storm for being upgraded to a hurricane and predicting hail stones "the size of canned hams."[16] He would also occasionally report the weather and the day's very high and low temps for fictitious cities ("Eight inches of snow in Bingree and surrounding areas.") while on another occasion saying that a state border had been erased.[17] ("From space you can see the border between Indiana and Ohio has been erased. I'm not in favor of this.") He also starred in a local kiddie show, made wisecracks as host of a late night TV show called "Freeze-Dried Movies" (he once acted out a scene from "Godzilla" using plastic dinosaurs),[18] and hosted a talk show that aired early on Saturday mornings called "Clover Power,"[19] in which he interviewed 4-H members about their projects.[20]
In 1971, Letterman appeared as a pit road reporter for ABC Sports' tape-delayed coverage of the Indianapolis 500.[21] David initially is introduced as Chris Economaki in his job as a corner reporter. Letterman interviews Mario Andretti who has just crashed out of the race and asks him a question about traffic on the course.
Move to Los Angeles[link]
In 1975, encouraged by his then-wife Michelle and several of his Sigma Chi fraternity brothers, Letterman moved to Los Angeles, California, with hope of becoming a comedy writer.[22] He started off by writing material for comedian Jimmie Walker.[23] He also began performing stand-up comedy at The Comedy Store, a proving ground for unknown comics.
In the summer of 1977, Letterman was a writer and regular on the six-week summer series The Starland Vocal Band Show, broadcast on CBS.[24] He hosted a 1977 pilot for a game show entitled The Riddlers[25][26] that was never picked up and co-starred in the Barry Levinson-produced comedy special Peeping Times that aired in January 1978. Later that year, Letterman was a cast member on Mary Tyler Moore's variety show, Mary.[27] Letterman made a guest appearance on Mork & Mindy (as a parody of EST leader Werner Erhard[28]) and appearances on game shows such as The $20,000 Pyramid,[29] The Gong Show, Password Plus[30] and Liar's Club, as well as talk shows such as The Mike Douglas Show.[31] He was also screen tested for the lead role in the 1980 film Airplane!, a role that eventually went to Robert Hays.[32]
His dry, sarcastic humor caught the attention of scouts for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and Letterman was soon a regular guest on the show. Letterman became a favorite of Carson's and was a regular guest host for the show beginning in 1978. Letterman credits Carson as the person who influenced his career the most.[2]
NBC[link]
Morning show[link]
Main article: The David Letterman Show
On June 23, 1980, Letterman was given his own morning comedy show on NBC, The David Letterman Show. It was originally 90 minutes long, but was shortened to 60 minutes in August 1980.[33] The show was a critical success, winning two Emmy Awards, but was a ratings disappointment and was canceled in October 1980.
[edit] Late Night with David Letterman
Main article: Late Night with David Letterman
NBC kept Letterman under contract to try him in a different time slot. Late Night with David Letterman debuted February 1, 1982; the first guest on the first show was Bill Murray.[34] Murray also guested on January 31, 2012 – 30 years later. The show ran Monday through Thursday at 12:30 a.m. Eastern Time, immediately following The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (a Friday night broadcast was added in June 1987). It was seen as being edgy and unpredictable, and soon developed a cult following (particularly among college students). Letterman's reputation as an acerbic interviewer was borne out in verbal sparring matches with Cher[35] (who even called him an asshole on the show), Shirley MacLaine,[36] Charles Grodin, and Madonna. The show also featured comedy segments and running characters, in a style heavily influenced by the 1950s and 1960s programs of Steve Allen.[37] Although Ernie Kovacs is often cited as an influence on the show,[38] Letterman has denied this.[2]
The show often featured quirky, genre-mocking regular features, including "Stupid Pet Tricks[39] ", dropping various objects off the roof of a five-story building,[40] demonstrations of unorthodox clothing (such as suits made of Alka-Seltzer,[41] Velcro[42] and suet), a recurring Top 10 list, the Monkey-Cam[43] (and the Audience Cam), and a facetious letter-answering segment.[44] The Top 10 list, several "Film[s] by My Dog Bob" in which a camera was mounted on Letterman's own dog[45] (often with comic results), Stupid Human Tricks,[46] Small Town News,[47] and Stupid Pet Tricks[48] (which had its origins on Letterman's morning show) all eventually moved with Letterman to CBS.
Other memorable moments included Letterman using a bullhorn to interrupt a live interview on The Today Show, announcing that he was the NBC president while not wearing any pants; interrupting Al Roker on WNBC-TV's broadcast of Live at Five by walking into their studio (which occupied the same floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza as Letterman's studio); and staging "elevator races", complete with commentary by NBC Sports' Bob Costas. In one infamous appearance, in 1982, Andy Kaufman (who was already wearing a neck brace) appeared to be slapped and knocked to the ground by professional wrestler Jerry Lawler (though Lawler and Kaufman's friend Bob Zmuda later revealed that the event was staged.)[49] In another memorable exchange, sex expert Dr. Ruth Westheimer included cucumbers in a list of handy sex objects that women could find at home. The following night, guest Ted Koppel asked Letterman "May I insert something here?" and Dave responded "OK, as long as it's not a cucumber."[citation needed]
[edit] Late Show with David Letterman
Main article: Late Show with David Letterman
In 1992, Johnny Carson retired, and many fans believed that Letterman would become host of The Tonight Show. When NBC instead gave the job to Jay Leno, Letterman departed NBC to host his own late-night show on CBS, opposite The Tonight Show at 11:30 p.m., called the Late Show with David Letterman. The new show debuted on August 30, 1993 and was taped at the historic Ed Sullivan Theater, where Ed Sullivan taped his eponymous variety series from 1948 to 1971. For Letterman's arrival, CBS spent $8 million in renovations.[50] In addition to that cost, CBS also signed Letterman to a lucrative three-year, $14 million/year contract,[51] doubling his Late Night salary. The total cost for everything (renovations, negotiation right paid to NBC, signing Letterman, announcer Bill Wendell, Shaffer, the writers and the band) was over $140 million.
But while the expectation was that Letterman would retain his unique style and sense of humor with the move, Late Show was not an exact replica of his old NBC program. Recognizing the more formal mood (and wider audience) of his new time slot and studio, Letterman eschewed his trademark blazer with khaki pants and white sneakers wardrobe combination in favor of expensive shoes, tailored suits and light-colored socks. The monologue was lengthened and Paul Shaffer and the "World's Most Dangerous Band" followed Letterman to CBS, but they added a brass section and were rebranded the "CBS Orchestra" as a short monologue and a small band were mandated by Carson while Letterman occupied the 12:30 slot. Additionally, because of intellectual property disagreements, Letterman was unable to import many of his Late Night segments verbatim,[52] but he sidestepped this problem by simply renaming them (the "Top Ten List" became the "Late Show Top Ten", "Viewer Mail" became the "CBS Mailbag", etc.)
Popularity[link]
The main competitor of The Late Show is NBC's The Tonight Show, which was hosted by Jay Leno for nearly 16 years, but from June 1, 2009, to January 22, 2010, was hosted by Conan O'Brien. In 1993 and 1994, The Late Show consistently gained higher ratings than The Tonight Show. But in 1995, ratings dipped and Leno's show consistently beat Letterman's in the ratings from the time that Hugh Grant came on Leno's show after Grant's arrest for soliciting a prostitute.;[53] Leno typically attracted about 5 million nightly viewers between 1999 and 2009. The Late Show lost nearly half its audience during its competition with Leno, attracting 7.1 million viewers nightly in its 1993–94 season and about 3.8 million per night as of Leno's departure in 2009.[54] In the final months of his first stint as host of The Tonight Show, Leno beat Letterman in the ratings by a 1.3 million viewer margin (5.2 million to 3.9 million), and Nightline and The Late Show were virtually tied.[55] Once O'Brien took over Tonight, however, Letterman closed the gap in the ratings.[56][57][58] O'Brien initially drove the median age of Tonight Show viewers from 55 to 45, with most older viewers opting to watch The Late Show instead.[59]
Following Leno's return to The Tonight Show, however, Leno has regained his lead.[60]
Letterman's shows have garnered both critical and industry praise, receiving 67 Emmy Award nominations, winning 12 times in his first 20 years in late night television. From 1993–2009, Letterman ranked higher than Leno in the annual Harris Poll of Nation's Favorite TV Personality 12 times.[61] For example, in 2003 and 2004 Letterman ranked second in that poll, behind only Oprah Winfrey, a year that Leno was ranked fifth.[62] Leno was higher than Letterman on that poll three times during the same period, in 1998, 2007, and 2008.[61]
Hosting the Academy Awards[link]
On March 27, 1995, Letterman acted as the host for the 67th Academy Awards ceremony. Critics blasted[63] Letterman for what they deemed a poor hosting of the Oscars, noting that his irreverent style undermined the traditional importance and glamor of the event.[citation needed] In a joke about their unusual names (inspired by a similar joke by Woody Allen), he started off by introducing Uma Thurman to Oprah Winfrey, and then both of them to Keanu Reeves: "Oprah...Uma. Uma...Oprah," "Have you kids met Keanu?"[64] This and many of his other jokes fell flat.[citation needed] Although Letterman attracted the highest ratings to the annual telecast since 1983, many felt that the bad publicity garnered by Letterman's hosting caused a decline in the Late Show's ratings.[65]
Letterman recycled the apparent debacle into a long-running gag. On his first show after the Oscars, he joked, "Looking back, I had no idea that thing was being televised." He lampooned his stint two years later, during Billy Crystal's opening Oscar skit, which also parodied the plane-crashing scenes from that year's chief nominated film, The English Patient.
For years afterward, Letterman recounted his hosting the Oscars, although the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences continued to hold Letterman in high regard and they had invited him to host the Oscars again.[66][67] On September 7, 2010, he made an appearance on the premiere of the 14th season of The View, and confirmed that he had been considered for hosting again.
Heart surgery hiatus[link]
On January 14, 2000, a routine check-up revealed that an artery in Letterman's heart was severely obstructed. He was rushed to emergency surgery for a quintuple bypass.[68]
During the initial weeks of his recovery, reruns of the Late Show were shown and introduced by friends of Letterman including Drew Barrymore,[58] Ray Romano, Robin Williams, Bonnie Hunt, Megan Mullally, Bill Murray, Regis Philbin, Charles Grodin, Nathan Lane, Julia Roberts,[58] Bruce Willis, Jerry Seinfeld, Martin Short, Steven Seagal, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Danny DeVito, Steve Martin, and Sarah Jessica Parker.
Subsequently, while still recovering from surgery, Letterman revived the late night tradition that had virtually disappeared on network television during the 1990s of 'guest hosts' by allowing Bill Cosby, Kathie Lee Gifford (recommended by Regis Philbin, who was asked first but had no time in his schedule), Dana Carvey, Janeane Garofalo, and others to host new episodes of The Late Show. Cosby—the show's first guest host—refused to sit at Letterman's desk out of respect, using the couch instead; Garofalo followed suit, utilizing a set of grade-school desks instead.
Upon his return to the show on February 21, 2000, Letterman brought all of the doctors and nurses on stage who had participated in his surgery and recovery (with extra teasing of a nurse who had given him bed baths—"This woman has seen me naked!"),[69] including Dr. O. Wayne Isom and physician Louis Aronne, who frequently appears on the show. In a show of emotion, Letterman was nearly in tears as he thanked the health care team with the words "These are the people who saved my life!" The episode earned an Emmy nomination. For a number of episodes, Letterman continued to crack jokes about his bypass, including saying, "Bypass surgery: it's when doctors surgically create new blood flow to your heart. A bypass is what happened to me when I didn't get The Tonight Show! It's a whole different thing." In a later running gag he lobbied his home state of Indiana to rename the freeway circling Indianapolis (I-465) "The David Letterman Bypass." He also featured a montage of faux news coverage of his bypass surgery, which included a clip of Dave's heart for sale on the Home Shopping Network. Letterman became friends with his doctors and nurses. In 2008, a Rolling Stone interview stated "he hosted a doctor and nurse who'd helped perform the emergency quintuple-bypass heart surgery that saved his life in 2000. 'These are people who were complete strangers when they opened my chest,' he says. 'And now, eight years later, they're among my best friends.' "[4]
Additionally, Letterman invited the band Foo Fighters to play "Everlong",[70] introducing them as "my favorite band, playing my favorite song."[71] During a later Foo Fighters appearance, Letterman said that Foo Fighters had been in the middle of a South American tour which they canceled to come play on his comeback episode.
Letterman again handed over the reins of the show to several guest hosts (including Bill Cosby, Brad Garrett, Elvis Costello, John McEnroe, Vince Vaughn, Will Ferrell, Bonnie Hunt, Luke Wilson and bandleader Paul Shaffer) in February 2003, when he was diagnosed with a severe case of shingles. Later that year, Letterman made regular use of guest hosts—including Tom Arnold and Kelsey Grammer—for new shows broadcast on Fridays. In March 2007, Adam Sandler—who had been scheduled to be the lead guest—served as a guest host while Letterman was ill with a stomach virus.[72]
Re-signing with CBS[link]
In March 2002, as Letterman's contract with CBS neared expiration, ABC offered him the time slot for long-running news program Nightline with Ted Koppel. Letterman was interested as he believed he could never match Leno's ratings at CBS due to Letterman's complaint of weaker lead-ins from the network's late local news programs, but was reluctant to replace Koppel.[73] Letterman addressed his decision to re-sign on the air, stating that he was content at CBS and that he had great respect for Koppel.
On December 4, 2006, CBS revealed that Letterman signed a new contract to host The Late Show with David Letterman through the fall of 2010. "I'm thrilled to be continuing on at CBS," said Letterman. "At my age you really don't want to have to learn a new commute."[74] Letterman further joked about the subject by pulling up his right pants leg, revealing a tattoo, presumably temporary, of the ABC logo.
"Thirteen years ago, David Letterman put CBS late night on the map and in the process became one of the defining icons of our network," said Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of CBS Corporation. "His presence on our air is an ongoing source of pride, and the creativity and imagination that the Late Show puts forth every night is an ongoing display of the highest quality entertainment. We are truly honored that one of the most revered and talented entertainers of our time will continue to call CBS 'home.'"[75]
According to a 2007 article in Forbes magazine, Letterman earned $40 million a year.[76] A 2009 article in The New York Times, however, said his salary was estimated at $32 million per year.[77] In June 2009, Letterman's Worldwide Pants and CBS reached agreement to continue the Late Show until at least August 2012. The previous contract had been set to expire in 2010, and the two-year extension is shorter than the typical three-year contract period negotiated in the past.[77] Worldwide Pants agreed to lower its fee for the show, though it had remained a "solid moneymaker for CBS" under the previous contract.[77]
On the February 3, 2011, edition of the Late Show, during an interview with Howard Stern, Letterman said he would continue to do his talk show for "maybe two years, I think."[78]
2007–2008 writers' strike[link]
The Late Show went off air for eight weeks during the months of November and December because of the Writers Guild of America strike. Letterman's production company—Worldwide Pants—was the first company to make an individual agreement with the WGA,[79] thus allowing his show to come back on air on January 2, 2008. On his first episode since being off air, he surprised the viewing audience with his newly grown beard, which signified solidarity with the strike.[80] His beard was shaved off during the show on January 7, 2008.
Controversy over jokes about daughter of Sarah Palin[link]
On June 8 and June 9, 2009, Letterman told a sexually-themed joke on his show each night about a daughter of Sarah Palin.[81] Palin was in New York City at the time with her fourteen year-old daughter, Willow, and the jokes were said to be aimed at the daughter, never named, who was visiting New York City with her mother.[81] Palin criticized the jokes, saying in a statement posted on the internet that "I doubt he'd ever dare make such comments about anyone else's daughter," and "laughter incited by sexually-perverted comments made by a 62-year-old male celebrity aimed at a 14-year-old girl" is "disgusting."[82] On June 10, Letterman responded to the controversy on his show by stating that the jokes were meant to be about Palin's eighteen year-old daughter, Bristol, whose pregnancy as an unmarried teenager had caused controversy during the 2008 Presidential election, and that "(t)hese are not jokes made about (Palin's) 14-year-old daughter. I would never, never make jokes about raping or having sex of any description with a 14-year-old girl."[82] His remarks didn't put an end to the public criticism, however, with the National Organization for Women, who supported Palin in a statement, noting he had given only "something of an apology."[81] With the controversy not subsiding, Letterman addressed the issue again on his June 15 show, faulting himself for the error and apologizing "especially to the two daughters involved, Bristol and Willow, and also to the governor and her family and everybody else who was outraged by the joke."[83]
Letterman and Carson[link]
In spite of Johnny Carson's clear intention to pass his title to Letterman, NBC selected Jay Leno to host The Tonight Show after Carson's departure.[84] Letterman maintained a close relationship with Carson through his break with NBC. Three years after he left for CBS, HBO produced a made-for-television movie called The Late Shift, based on a book by New York Times reporter Bill Carter, chronicling the battle between Letterman and Leno for the coveted Tonight Show hosting spot. Letterman would mock the film for months afterward, specifically on how the actor playing him, John Michael Higgins, did not resemble him in the least.[citation needed]
Carson later made a few cameo appearances as a guest on Letterman's show. Carson's final television appearance came May 13, 1994, on a Late Show episode taped in Los Angeles, when he made a surprise appearance during a 'Top 10 list' segment. The audience went wild as Letterman stood up and proudly invited Carson to sit at his desk. The applause was so protracted that Carson was unable to say anything, and he finally returned backstage as the applause continued (it was later explained that Carson had laryngitis, though Carson can be heard talking to Letterman during his appearance).
In early 2005, it was revealed that Carson still kept up with current events and late-night TV right up to his death that year, and that he occasionally sent jokes to Letterman, who used these jokes in his monologue; according to CBS senior vice president Peter Lassally (a onetime producer for both men), Carson got "a big kick out of it."[85] Letterman would do a characteristic Johnny Carson golf swing after delivering one of Carson's jokes. In a tribute to Carson, all of the opening monologue jokes during the first show following Carson's death were written by Carson.
Lassally also claimed that Carson had always believed Letterman, not Leno, to be his "rightful successor."[86] Letterman also frequently employs some of Carson's trademark bits on his show, including "Carnac the Magnificent" (with Paul Shaffer as Carnac), "Stump the Band" and the "Week in Review."
Letterman and Oprah Winfrey[link]
Letterman and Oprah had a 16 year feud which according to Letterman started when he and his girlfriend decided to skip out on a bill, tricking the waiter into thinking Oprah agreed to pay it.[87]
On September 10, 2007, Letterman made his first appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. He shared pictures of his son and live-in girlfriend. The so-called feud between Letterman and Winfrey apparently ended in 2005 when Winfrey appeared on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman on December 2, in an event Letterman jokingly referred to as "the Super Bowl of Love".[88] Winfrey had previously appeared on Letterman's show when he was hosting NBC's Late Night on May 2, 1989.
Winfrey and Letterman also appeared together in a Late Show promo that aired during CBS's coverage of Super Bowl XLI in February 2007, with the two sitting next to each other on the couch watching the game. Since the game was played between the Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears, the Indianapolis-born Letterman wears a Peyton Manning jersey, while Winfrey—who tapes her show in Chicago—is in a Brian Urlacher jersey.[89] Three years later, during CBS's coverage of Super Bowl XLIV, the two appeared again, this time with Winfrey sitting on a couch between Letterman and Jay Leno. The appearance was Letterman's idea: Leno flew to New York City in an NBC corporate jet, sneaking into the Ed Sullivan Theater during the Late Show's February 4 taping wearing a disguise, meeting Winfrey and Letterman at a living room set created in the theater's balcony where they taped their promo.[90]
Response to Internet death threat[link]
On August 17, 2011, it was reported that a Muslim militant had posted a death threat against Letterman on a website frequented by Al-Qaeda supporters, calling on American Muslims to kill Letterman for making a joke about the death of an Al-Qaeda leader killed in a drone strike in Pakistan in June 2011.[91] In his show on August 22, Letterman joked about the threat, saying "State Department authorities are looking into this. They're not taking this lightly. They're looking into it. They're questioning, they're interrogating, there's an electronic trail—but everybody knows it's Leno."[92]
Appearances in other media[link]
Letterman appeared in issue 239 of the Marvel comic book The Avengers, in which the title characters are guests on Late Night.[93] A parody of Letterman, named "David Endochrine," is gassed to death along with his bandleader named "Paul" and their audience in Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns.[94]
Letterman appeared in the pilot episode of the short-lived 1986 series "Coach Toast", and he appears with a bag over his head as a guest on Bonnie Hunt's ca. 1993 sitcom The Building. He also appears in The Simpsons, as himself in a couch gag when The Simpsons find themselves (and the couch) in "Late Night with David Letterman." He had a cameo in the feature film Cabin Boy, with Chris Elliott, who worked as a writer on Letterman's show. In this and other appearances, Letterman is listed in the credits as "Earl Hofert", the name of Letterman's maternal grandfather. He also appeared as himself in the Howard Stern biopic Private Parts as well as the 1999 Andy Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon, in a few episodes of Garry Shandling's 1990s TV series The Larry Sanders Show and in "The Abstinence", a 1996 episode of the sitcom Seinfeld. Letterman also made an uncredited appearance in the first episode of the third season of the sitcom The Nanny.
Letterman provided vocals for the Warren Zevon song "Hit Somebody" from My Ride's Here,[95] and provided the voice for Butt-head's father in the 1996 animated film Beavis and Butt-head Do America.
In 2010, a documentary Dying to Do Letterman was released directed by Joke Fincioen and Biagio Messina featuring Steve Mazan, a stand up comic, who has cancer and wants to appear on the Letterman Show. The film won Best Documentary and Jury Awards at the Cinequest Film Festival.[96] Steve Mazan published a same-titled book (full title, Dying to Do Letterman: Turning Someday into Today) about his own saga.[97]
Known for rarely giving television interviews, Letterman appeared as an exclusive guest on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight on May 29, 2012. He was interviewed for one full hour by a long-time friend and fellow television host Regis Philbin, who guest hosted the show during Piers Morgan's leave during that week.
Other projects[link]
Worldwide Pants[link]
Letterman started his own production company—Worldwide Pants Incorporated—which produced his show and several others, including Everybody Loves Raymond, The Late Late Show, and several critically acclaimed, but short-lived television series for Bonnie Hunt. Worldwide Pants also produced the dramedy program Ed, which aired on NBC from 2000–2004. It was Letterman's first association with NBC since he left the network in 1993. During Ed's run, the star, Tom Cavanagh, appeared as a guest on The Late Show several times.
In 2005, Worldwide Pants produced its first feature film, Strangers with Candy, which was a prequel to the Comedy Central TV series of the same title. In 2007, Worldwide Pants produced the ABC comedy series, Knights of Prosperity.
Worldwide Pants made significant news in December 2007 when it was announced that Letterman's company had independently negotiated its own contract with the Writers Guild of America, East, thus allowing Letterman, Craig Ferguson, and their writers to return to work, while the union continued its strike against production companies, networks and studios who had not reached an agreement.
Record company[link]
In late April 2010, several music industry websites reported that Letterman started a record label named Clear Entertainment/C.E. Music and signed his first artist, Runner Runner.[98][99] Lucy Walsh announced on her MySpace page that she has been signed by Letterman and Clear Entertainment/C.E. Music and is working on her album.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing[link]
Main article: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLLR) is an auto racing team that currently races in the American Le Mans Series, and part-time in the Indy Racing League. It is co-owned by 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal, businessman Mike Lanigan, and Letterman himself, and is based in Hilliard, Ohio. The team won the 2004 Indianapolis 500 with driver Buddy Rice. Letterman was a pit reporter for ABC in the 1971 Indianapolis 500.[21]
American Foundation for Courtesy and Grooming[link]
Main article: American Foundation for Courtesy and Grooming
American Foundation for Courtesy and Grooming is Letterman's private foundation. Through it, Letterman has donated millions of dollars to charities and other non-profits in Indiana and Montana, celebrity-affiliated organizations such as Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, universities such as Ball State, and other organizations such as the American Cancer Society, Salvation Army, and Doctors Without Borders.
Personal life[link]
Marriages and long-term relationships[link]
In 1969, Letterman married Michelle Cook; the marriage ended by divorce in 1977.[100] He also had a long-term relationship with former head writer and producer on Late Night, Merrill Markoe. Markoe was the mind behind several Late Night staples, such as "Stupid Pet/Human Tricks".
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Wikinews has related news: TV late night show host David Letterman marries girlfriend of 23 years |
Letterman has a son, Harry Joseph Letterman (born on November 3, 2003), with Regina Lasko. Harry is named after Letterman's father.[101] In 2005, police discovered a plot to kidnap Harry Letterman and ransom him for $5 million. Kelly Frank, a house painter who had worked for Letterman, was charged in the conspiracy.[102]
Letterman and Lasko, who had been together since 1986, wed on March 19, 2009, during a quiet courthouse civil ceremony in Choteau, Montana, where he purchased a ranch in 1999.[103][104][105] Letterman announced the marriage during the taping of his March 23 show, shortly after congratulating Bruce Willis for getting married the previous week. Letterman told the audience he nearly missed the ceremony because his truck became stuck in mud two miles from their house.[106] The family resides in North Salem, New York, on a 108-acre (44 ha) estate.[107]
Stalking incident[link]
Beginning in May 1988, Letterman was stalked by Margaret Mary Ray, a woman suffering from schizophrenia. She once stole his Porsche, repeatedly broke into his house, and camped out on his tennis court. Her exploits drew national attention, and Letterman occasionally joked about her behavior in his show, although never mentioning her name. After she committed suicide in 1998, Letterman told the New York Times that he had had great compassion for her,[108] and publicly expressed sympathy.[109]
[edit] Extortion attempt and revelation of affairs
On his October 1, 2009, show, Letterman announced that he had been the victim of an extortion attempt by someone threatening to reveal that he had had sex with several of his female employees, and at the same time, he confirmed that he had had such relationships.[110] He stated that three weeks earlier (on September 9, 2009) someone had left a package in his car with material he said he would write into a screenplay and a book if Letterman did not pay him $2 million. Letterman said that he contacted the Manhattan District Attorney's office, ultimately cooperating with them to conduct a sting operation involving giving the man a phony check.[111] Subsequently, Robert J. "Joe" Halderman, a producer of the CBS true crime journalism series 48 Hours, was arrested after trying to deposit the check. He was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury and pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempted grand larceny on October 2, 2009.[112] Eventually, on March 9, 2010, he pleaded guilty to this same felony and served a 6-month jail sentence, followed by probation and community service.[113]
A central figure in the case and one of the women Letterman had had a sexual relationship with was his longtime personal assistant Stephanie Birkitt, who often appeared with him on his show. She had also worked for 48 Hours.[114] Until a month prior to the revelations, she had shared a residence with Halderman,[115] who allegedly had copied her personal diary and used it, along with private emails, in the blackmail package.[116]
On October 3, 2009, a former CBS employee, Holly Hester, announced that she and Letterman had engaged in a year-long "secret" affair in the early 1990s while she was his intern and a student at New York University.[117]
In the days following the initial announcement of the affairs and the arrest, several prominent women, including Kathie Lee Gifford, co-host of NBC's Today Show, and NBC news anchor Ann Curry questioned whether Letterman's affairs with subordinates created an unfair working environment.[118] A spokesman for Worldwide Pants said that the company's sexual harassment policy did not prohibit sexual relationships between managers and employees.[119] According to business news reporter Eve Tahmincioglu, "CBS suppliers are supposed to follow the company's business conduct policies" and the CBS 2008 Business Conduct Statement states that "If a consenting romantic or sexual relationship between a supervisor and a direct or indirect subordinate should develop, CBS requires the supervisor to disclose this information to his or her Company's Human Resources Department..."[120]
On October 5, 2009, Letterman devoted a segment of his show to a public apology to his wife and staff.[121][122] Three days later, Worldwide Pants announced that Birkitt had been placed on a "paid leave of absence" from the Late Show.[123] On October 15, CBS News announced that the company's Chief Investigative Correspondent, Armen Keteyian, had been assigned to conduct an "in-depth investigation" into Halderman's blackmail of Letterman.[124]
Awards and honors[link]
Awards[link]
Main article: List of David Letterman awards
In his capacities as either a writer, producer, performer, or as part of a writing team, Letterman is among the most nominated people in Emmy Award history with 52 nominations, winning two Daytime Emmys and five Primetime Emmys since 1981. His nomination record is second only to producer Jac Venza, who holds the record for the most Emmy nominations for an individual (57). Letterman has been nominated every year since 1984, when he first appeared on late night television as the host of Late Night with David Letterman. Additionally, he has won four American Comedy Awards. Letterman was the first recipient of the Johnny Carson Award for Comedic Excellence at The Comedy Awards in 2011.
David Letterman Communication and Media Building[link]
On September 7, 2007, Letterman visited his alma mater, Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, for the dedication of a communications facility named in his honor for his dedication to the university throughout his career as a comedian. The $21 million, 75,000-square-foot (7,000 m2) David Letterman Communication and Media Building opened for the 2007 fall semester. It features state-of-the-art recording equipment and facilities. Thousands of Ball State students, faculty, and local residents welcomed Letterman back to Indiana.[125] Letterman's emotional speech touched on his struggles as a college student and his late father, and also included the "top ten good things about having your name on a building", finishing with, "if reasonable people can put my name on a $21 million building, anything is possible."[126]
At the same time, Letterman also received a Sagamore of the Wabash award given by Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, which recognizes distinguished service to the state of Indiana.[125]
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- ^ The Avengers meet David Letterman reviewed at misterkitty.org
- ^ Review of The Dark Knight Returns at Batman-on-film.com
- ^ Warren Zevon : Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song) from Artistdirect
- ^ Dying to Do Letterman official website
- ^ The Book Tree: Book Review - Dying to Do Letterman
- ^ Runner Runner sign to EMI
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- ^ Biography for David Letterman at the Internet Movie Database
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- ^ Snead, Elizabeth (2009-03-23). "David Letterman (finally) gets hitched to Regina Lasko". Los Angeles Times. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedishrag/2009/03/ok-theres-somet.html. Retrieved 2009-03-26.
- ^ Dave's domain from the March 22, 2007 "Gimme Shelter" column in the New York Post
- ^ Bruni, Frank (November 22, 1998). "For Letterman Stalker, Mental Illness Was Family Curse and Scarring Legacy". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9E0CE7DC1130F931A15752C1A96E958260. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
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- ^ Martinez, Edecio (October 2, 2009). "Robert Joe Halderman, 48 Hours Producer, Named in David Letterman Sex Extortion Plot". CBSnews.com. http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/10/02/crimesider/entry5357903.shtml?tag=cbsnewsCrimesiderArea.0.
- ^ Honan, Edith (September 2, 2009). "Suspect in Letterman extortion pleads not guilty". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE5910GR20091002. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
- ^ Grace, Melissa; Boyle, Christina; McShane, Larry (March 9, 2010). "Ex-CBS producer Robert Halderman pleads guilty to blackmailing David Letterman over intern affairs". NY Daily News (New York). http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/03/09/2010-03-09_david_letterman_blackmailer_robert_halderman_will_plead_guilty_take_sixmonth_jai.html. Retrieved 2010-03-10.
- ^ Shea, Danny (October 2, 2009). "Stephanie Birkitt". The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/02/stephanie-birkitt-letterm_n_307558.html. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
- ^ Carter, Bill; Stelter, Brian (October 2, 2009). "Letterman Extortion Raises Questions for CBS". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/03/business/media/03extort.html.
- ^ "Stephanie Birkitt Secret Diary at Center of Letterman Sex Extortion, Say Cops". CBS News/Associated press. October 5, 2009. http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/10/05/crimesider/entry5364879.shtml. Retrieved 2009-10-05.
- ^ Cahalan, Sussanah; Karni, Annie; Cohen, Stephanie (October 4, 2009). "'Late Show' staff gals got plenty of 'advances'". New York Post. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/late_show_staff_gals_got_plenty_QzBeMomGK52ixJtyl0Z8kI. Retrieved 2009-10-04.
- ^ "Will women viewers turn away from Letterman?". Associated Press. October 4, 2009. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/33167148/ns/today-entertainment/t/will-women-viewers-turn-away-letterman/. Retrieved 2009-10-04.
- ^ Gold, Matea; Collins, Scott (October 3, 2009). "David Letterman affair is no joke". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-et-letterman3-2009oct03,0,257832,full.story. Retrieved 2009-10-04. "'We have a written policy in our employee manual that covers harassment,' the spokesman said in a statement. 'It is circulated to every employee every year. Dave is not in violation of our policy and no one has ever raised a complaint against him.'"
- ^ Tahmincioglu, Eve (October 4, 2009). "Sleeping with the boss often leads to trouble: Policies on workplace romances aim to limit legal liabilities". MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33146450/ns/business-careers/. Retrieved 2009-10-04. "If a consenting romantic or sexual relationship between a supervisor and a direct or indirect subordinate should develop, CBS requires the supervisor to disclose this information to his or her Company's Human Resources Department to ensure that there are no issues of actual or apparent favoritism, conflict of interest, sexual harassment, or any other negative impact on others in the work environment."
- ^ "Letterman apologizes to wife on Monday's show: Late-night host says Regina Lasko has been 'horribly hurt' by his behavior". Associated Press. MSNBC. October 5, 2009-. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33184320/ns/entertainment-television/. Retrieved 2009-10-05.
- ^ Doug Ganley et al (October 5, 2009). "Letterman makes in-studio apology to wife, staffers". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/05/david.letterman.apology/. Retrieved 2009-10-05.
- ^ "David Letterman's former mistress Stephanie Birkitt banned from Late Show set". London Telegraph. October 8, 2009. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/6271085/David-Lettermans-former-mistress-Stephanie-Birkitt-banned-from-Late-Show-set.html. Retrieved 2009-10-12.
- ^ Mangan, Dan (October 15, 2009). "Network's correspondent probing Dave's extortion scandal". New York Post. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/item_d9zwWsNX2hw5DMFJsuh5LO. Retrieved 2009-10-15.
- ^ a b Lloyd, Christopher (September 8, 2007). "It's no joke: Ball State dedicates building in Letterman's honor". indystar.com. http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200781121039.
- ^ Ball State University (September 7, 2007). David Letterman Communication and Media Building (videos). http://www.bsu.edu/web/news/letterman/.
External links[link]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: David Letterman |
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: David Letterman |
- David Letterman at the Open Directory Project
- David Letterman at the Internet Movie Database
- David Letterman's Feb. 24, 1978 appearance on 90 Minutes Live
- Official Late Show biography
- 1999 article on Letterman from Salon.com
- Tape of Letterman announcing affairs/extortion attempt on Late Show
- Works by or about David Letterman in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
| Media offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| First | Host of Late Night Feb. 1, 1982 – June 25, 1993 |
Succeeded by Conan O'Brien |
| First | Host of The Late Show Aug. 30, 1993 – present |
Incumbent |
| Preceded by Whoopi Goldberg |
Host of the Academy Awards 1995 |
Succeeded by Whoopi Goldberg |
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Letterman, David |
| Alternative names | Letterman, Dave |
| Short description | American television personality |
| Date of birth | April 12, 1947 |
| Place of birth | Indianapolis, Indiana, United States |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/David_Letterman
Related pages:
http://it.wn.com/David Letterman
http://es.wn.com/David Letterman
http://ru.wn.com/Леттерман, Дэвид
http://fr.wn.com/David Letterman
http://de.wn.com/David Letterman
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Letterman
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
"Leno" redirects here. For other uses, see Leno (disambiguation).
| Jay Leno | |
|---|---|
 Leno in July 2008 |
|
| Birth name | James Douglas Muir Leno |
| Born | (1950-04-28) April 28, 1950 (age 62)[1] New Rochelle, New York, U.S.[1] |
| Medium | Television, Film, Stand up |
| Nationality | American |
| Years active | 1973–present |
| Genres | Observational comedy, Political satire |
| Subject(s) | American culture, Everyday life |
| Influences | Johnny Carson, Robert Klein, Alan King, George Carlin,[2] Don Rickles, Bob Newhart, Rodney Dangerfield |
| Influenced | Dennis Miller[3] |
| Spouse | Mavis Leno (1980–present) |
| Notable works and roles | The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (host, 1992–2009, 2010–) The Jay Leno Show (host, 2009–2010) |
| Signature |  |
| Website | The Tonight Show with Jay Leno |
| Emmy Awards | |
| Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series 1995 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno |
|
James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno /ˈlɛnoʊ/ (born April 28, 1950)[1] is an American stand-up comedian and television host.
From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. (Eastern Time, UTC-5), also on NBC. After The Jay Leno Show was canceled in January 2010 amid a host controversy, Leno returned to host The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on March 1, 2010.[4]
Contents |
Early life[link]
James "Jay" Leno was born in New Rochelle, New York, in 1950. His mother, Catherine (née Muir; 1911–1993), a homemaker, was born in Greenock, Scotland, and came to the United States at age 11. Leno's father, Angelo (1910–1994), who worked as an insurance salesman, was born in New York to immigrants from Flumeri, Italy.[5] Leno grew up in Andover, Massachusetts, and although his high school guidance counselor recommended that he drop out of school, he later obtained a Bachelor's degree in speech therapy from Emerson College, where he started a comedy club in 1973.[6] Leno's siblings include his late older brother, Patrick, who was a Vietnam veteran[7] and a lawyer.[6]
Career[link]
During the 1970s, Leno appeared in minor roles in several television series and films, first in the 1976 episode "J.J. in Trouble" of Good Times and the same year in the pilot of Holmes & Yo-Yo. After an uncredited appearance in the 1977 film Fun with Dick and Jane, he played more prominent parts in 1978 in American Hot Wax and Silver Bears. Other films and television series from that period include Almost Heaven (1978), "Going Nowhere" (1979) from One Day at a Time, Americathon (1979), Polyester (1981), "The Wild One" (1981) from Alice, "Feminine Mistake" (1979) and "Do the Carmine" (1983) from Laverne & Shirley.
[edit] The Tonight Show
_by_Alan_Light.jpg)
Starting in 1987, Leno was a regular substitute host for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. In 1992, he replaced Carson as host[8] amid controversy with David Letterman, who had been hosting Late Night with David Letterman since 1982 (aired after The Tonight Show), who many had expected to be Carson's successor. The story of this turbulent transition was later turned into a book and a movie. Leno continued to perform as a stand-up comedian throughout his tenure on The Tonight Show.
In 2004, Leno signed a contract extension with NBC which would keep him as host of The Tonight Show until 2009.[9] Later in 2004, Conan O'Brien signed a contract with NBC under which O'Brien would become the host of The Tonight Show in 2009, replacing Leno at that time.[10]
During the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, Leno was accused of violating WGA guidelines by writing his own monologue for The Tonight Show. While NBC and Leno claim there were private meetings with the WGA where there was a secret agreement allowing this, the WGA denied such a meeting.[11] Leno answered questions in front of the Writers Guild of America, West trial committee in February 2009 and June 2009, and when the WGAW published its list of strike-breakers on 11 August 2009, Leno was not on the list.[12][13]
In 1998, Leno competed in a tag-team match at the WCW's "Road Wild" pay-per-view . In 2001, he voiced The Crimson Chin, a superhero in the Nickelodeon animated series The Fairly OddParents and continues to do so today.
Leno said in 2008 that he was saving all of his income from The Tonight Show and living solely off his income from stand-up comedy.[14]
On April 23, 2009, Leno checked himself into a hospital with an undisclosed illness.[15] He was released the following day and returned to work on Monday, April 27. The two subsequently cancelled Tonight Show episodes for April 23 and April 24 were Leno's first in 17 years as host.[16][17] Initially, the illness that caused the absence was not disclosed, but later Leno told People magazine that the ailment was exhaustion.[17][18]
Michael Jackson trial[link]
In the 2005 trial of Michael Jackson over allegations of child molestation, Leno appeared as a defense witness (many celebrity defense witnesses had been expected, but Leno was one of the few whose testimony was actually needed). In his testimony regarding a call by the accuser, Leno testified that he never called the police, that no money was asked for, and there was no coaching — but that the calls seemed unusual and scripted.[19]
As a result, Leno was initially not allowed to continue telling jokes about Jackson or the case, which had been a fixture of The Tonight Show's opening monologue in particular. But he and his show's writers used a legal loophole by having Leno briefly step aside while stand-in comedians took the stage and told jokes about the trial. Stand-ins included Roseanne Barr, Drew Carey, Brad Garrett, and Dennis Miller among others.[20]
[edit] Succession by Conan O'Brien and The Jay Leno Show
Main article: The Jay Leno Show
Because Leno's show continued to lead all late-night programming in the Nielsen ratings, the pending expiration of Leno's contract led to speculation about whether he would become a late-night host for another network after his commitment to NBC expired.[21] Leno left The Tonight Show on Friday May 29, 2009,[22][23] and Conan O'Brien took over on June 1, 2009.
On December 8, 2008, it was reported that Leno would remain on NBC and move to a new hour-long show at 10 p.m. Eastern Time (9 p.m. Central Time) five nights a week.[24] This show follows a similar format to The Tonight Show, tapes at the same lot, and retains many of Leno's most popular segments. Late Night host Conan O'Brien was his successor on The Tonight Show.[25]
Jay Leno's new show, titled The Jay Leno Show, debuted on September 14, 2009. It was announced at the Television Critics Association summer press tour that it would feature one or two celebrities, the occasional musical guest, and keep the popular "Headlines" segments, which would air near the end of the show. First guests included Jerry Seinfeld, Oprah Winfrey (via satellite), and a short sit-down with Kanye West discussing his controversy at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.[26]
[edit] Timeslot conflict and return to The Tonight Show
|
Wikinews has related news: US TV host Conan O'Brien rejects NBC's offer to switch his show's time slot |
Main article: 2010 Tonight Show conflict
In their new roles, neither O'Brien nor Leno succeeded in delivering the viewing audiences the network anticipated. On January 7, 2010, multiple media outlets reported that beginning March 1, 2010, Jay Leno would move from his 10pm weeknight time slot to 11:35pm, due to a combination of pressure from local affiliates whose newscasts were suffering, and both Leno's and O'Brien's poor ratings.[27][28] Leno's show would be shortened from an hour to 30 minutes. All NBC late night programming would be preempted by the 2010 Winter Olympics between February 15 and February 26. This would move The Tonight Show to 12:05am, a post-midnight timeslot for the first time in its history. O'Brien's contract stipulated that NBC could move the show back to 12:05 a.m. without penalty (a clause put in primarily to accommodate sports preemptions).[29]
On January 10, NBC confirmed that they would move Jay Leno out of primetime as of February 12 and intended to move him to late night as soon as possible.[30][31] TMZ reported that O'Brien was given no advance notice of this change, and that NBC offered him two choices: an hour-long 12:05am time slot, or the option to leave the network.[32] On January 12, O'Brien issued a press release that stated he would not continue with Tonight if it moved to a 12:05am time slot,[33] saying, "I believe that delaying The Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn’t The Tonight Show."
On January 21, it was announced that NBC had struck a deal with O'Brien. It was decided that O'Brien would leave The Tonight Show. The deal was made that O'Brien would receive a $33 million payout and that his staff of almost 200 would receive $12 million in the departure. O'Brien's final episode aired on Friday, January 22.[34][35][36] Leno returned as host of The Tonight Show following the 2010 Winter Olympics on March 1, 2010.
On July 1, 2010, Variety reported that total viewership for Jay Leno's Tonight Show had dropped from 5 million to 4 million for the second quarter of 2010, compared to the same period in 2009. Although this represented the lowest second-quarter ratings for the show since 1992, Tonight was still the most-watched late night program, ahead of ABC's Nightline (3.7 million) and David Letterman's Late Show (3.3 million).[37] Ratings over the following summer, when compared to the same period in 2009 with O'Brien hosting The Tonight Show (including O'Brien's highly rated debut), showed that while total viewership was 12% higher for Leno, viewership in the important "adults aged 18–49" demographic was 23% lower.[38] NBC ratings specialist Tom Bierbaum commented that due to the host being out of late night television for a period of time and the subsequent 2010 Tonight Show conflict, Leno's ratings fall was "not a surprise at all".[39]
Public image[link]
Criticism of Leno[link]
Leno has faced heated criticism and some negative publicity for his perceived role in the 2010 Tonight Show timeslot conflict.[40][41] Critics have pointed to a 2004 Tonight Show clip, wherein Leno claimed he would allow O'Brien to take over without incident.[41][42] At the time, Leno stated he didn't want O'Brien to leave for a competing network, adding, "I'll be 59 when [the switch occurs], that's five years from now. There's really only one person who could have done this into his 60s, and that was Johnny Carson; I think it's fair to say I'm no Johnny Carson."[42] Leno also described The Tonight Show as a dynasty, saying "you hold it and hand it off to the next person. And I don't want to see all the fighting..." At the end of the segment, he said, "Conan, it's yours! See you in five years, buddy!"[43]
Actor and comedian Patton Oswalt was among the first celebrities to openly voice disappointment with Leno, saying, "Comedians who don't like Jay Leno now, and I'm one of them, we're not like, 'Jay Leno sucks;' it's that we're so hurt and disappointed that one of the best comedians of our generation... willfully has shut the switch off."[44] Rosie O'Donnell has been among O'Brien's most vocal and vehement supporters,[45][46] calling Leno a "bully" and his recent actions "classless and kind of career-defining."[47]
Bill Zehme, the co-author of Leno's autobiography Leading with My Chin, told the Los Angeles Times: "The thing Leno should do is walk, period. He's got everything to lose in terms of public popularity by going back. People will look at him differently. He'll be viewed as the bad guy."[48]
Support for Leno[link]
NBC Sports head executive and former Saturday Night Live producer Dick Ebersol spoke out against all who had recently mocked Leno, calling them "chicken-hearted and gutless."[49]
Jeff Gaspin also defended Leno: "This has definitely crossed the line. Jay Leno is the consummate professional and one of the hardest-working people in television. It's a shame that he's being pulled into this."[48]
Paul Reiser and Jerry Seinfeld are two of the number of celebrities to have voiced support for Leno.[50][51]
Responding to the mounting criticism, Leno claimed that NBC had assured him that O'Brien was willing to accept the proposed arrangement and then would not let either host out of his contract.[52] Leno also said that the situation was "all business."[52] He appeared on the January 28 episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in an attempt to repair some of the damage done to his public image.[53][54]
Personal life[link]
Leno has been married since 1980 to Mavis Leno; they have no children.[55]
He is known for his prominent jaw, which has been described as mandibular prognathism.[56] In the book Leading with My Chin he stated that he is aware of surgery that could reset his mandible, but does not wish to endure a prolonged healing period with his jaws wired shut.
Leno is dyslexic.[6] He claims to sleep only four to five hours each night.[57] Leno does not drink or smoke, nor does he gamble.[58] He spends most of his free time visiting car collections or working in his private garage.[58]
Leno reportedly earns $32 million each year;[59] his total net worth is unknown, but has been estimated to be at least $150 million.[60]
Charity[link]
In 2001, along with his wife, he donated $100,000 to the Feminist Majority's campaign to stop gender apartheid in Afghanistan, to educate the public regarding the plight of women in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. Mavis Leno is on the board of the Feminist Majority.[61][62]
In 2009, he donated $100,000 to a scholarship fund at Salem State College in honor of Lennie Sogoloff. Mr. Sogoloff gave Leno his start at his jazz club, Lennie's-on-the-Turnpike.[63]
Love Ride[link]
Since 1985 Jay Leno has been the grand marshal for the Love Ride, a motorcycle charity event which since its founding in 1984 has raised nearly $14 million dollars for charities benefiting muscular dystrophy research and, in 2011, Autism Speaks.[citation needed]
Vehicle collection[link]
Leno owns approximately 100 vehicles, not including about 90 motorcycles.[65] He also has a website called "Jay Leno's Garage," which contains video clips and photos of his automobiles in detail.[66]
He has a regular column in Popular Mechanics which showcases his car collection and gives advice about various automotive topics, including restoration and unique models, such as his jet-powered motorcycle and solar-powered hybrid. Leno also writes occasional "Motormouth" articles for The Sunday Times,[67] reviewing high-end sports cars and giving his humorous take on automotive matters.
References[link]
- ^ a b c "Jay Leno Biography". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/person/1548610/Jay-Leno/biography. Retrieved February 3, 2009.
- ^ Breuer, Howard, and Stephen M, Silverman (2008-06-24). "Carlin Remembered: He Helped Other Comics with Drug Problems". People. Time Inc.. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,20208460,00.html?xid=rss-fullcontentcnn. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
- ^ James Hirsen, Dennis Miller: Why I 'Ascended' to the Right, NewsMax.com, February 5, 2004.
- ^ Adalian, Josef (January 21, 2010). "Exclusive: Conan, NBC Officially Splitsville (Updated)". The Wrap. http://www.thewrap.com/ind-column/new-nbc-breaking-story-13241. Retrieved January 21, 2010.
- ^ "Jay Leno Biography (1950–)". Film Reference. http://www.filmreference.com/film/70/Jay-Leno.html. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
- ^ a b c Carter, Bill. "Pushed From Late Night, Leno Is Set for Prime Time" The New York Times, 12 September 2009.
- ^ Aivaz, Mike (October 18, 2007). "Obama on Leno: Hillary has declared 'mission accomplished' too soon". The Raw Story. http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Obama_takes_jab_at_Clinton_on_1018.html. Retrieved May 11, 2008. [dead link]
- ^ "Carson cuts appearances". Rome News-Tribune. Associated Press (Rome, Ga.): p. 14. June 2, 1987. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=NQMIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SzYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5008,192179&dq=tonight+jay-leno+shandling. Retrieved October 26, 2008.
- ^ "NBC signs Jay Leno to contract extension". USA Today. Associated Press. March 31, 2004. http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2004-03-30-leno-contract-extended_x.htm. Retrieved October 26, 2008.
- ^ Carter, Bill (September 27, 2004). "Conan O'Brien to Succeed Jay Leno in 2009, NBC Announces". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/27/business/media/28CND-NBC.html?pagewanted=print&position=. Retrieved October 26, 2008.
- ^ "LENO/WGA: WHAT'S THE REAL STORY? NBC Claims Jay Asked For & Received WGA Permission To Write Monologue At Secret Monday Meeting With Verrone". Deadline Hollywood Daily. http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/lenowga-whats-the-real-story-nbc-claims-jay-asked-for-received-wga-permission-to-write-monologue-at-monday-meeting-with-verrone-et-al/. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
- ^ Verrier, Richard (2009-08-11). "WGA: No chin music for Jay Leno". Company Town (Los Angeles Times). http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2009/08/guild-clears-jay-leno-of-violating-strike-rules.html. Retrieved 2009-08-14.
- ^ Littleton, Cynthia (2009-08-11). "Jay Leno cleared of strike violations; WGA West issues penalties in three cases". Variety (New York City: Reed Business Information). http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118007189.html?categoryId=2821&cs=1. Retrieved 2009-08-14.
- ^ della Cava, Marco (July 17, 2008). "Jay Leno Gears up for Life After 'Tonight'". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2008-07-16-leno-cover_N.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
- ^ Hannah, Jack (2009-04-23). "Jay Leno hospitalized; 'Tonight Show' tapings canceled". CNN.com (Cable News Network). http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/04/23/leno.hospitalized/index.html. Retrieved 2009-08-14.
- ^ Dillon, Nancy (April 24, 2009). "Jay Leno released from the hospital". New York: NYDailyNews. http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/04/24/2009-04-24_rep_jay_leno_hospital_trip_precautionary_late_night_host_to_be_released_friday.html. Retrieved 2009-04-24.
- ^ a b "Jay Leno misses first show in 17 years". Canada.com. Reuters (Winnipeg, Manitoba: Canwest Publishing Inc.). 2009-04-24. http://www.canada.com/News/Leno+misses+first+show+years/1530668/story.html. Retrieved 2009-08-14.
- ^ Warrick, Pamela (2009-05-01). "Jay Leno Reveals Mystery Ailment: Exhaustion". People.com (Time Inc.). http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20276256,00.html. Retrieved 2009-08-14.
- ^ Sweetingham, Lisa (May 24, 2005). "Comedians Jay Leno and Chris Tucker testify for Michael Jackson". Court TV. http://www.courttv.com/trials/jackson/052405_ctv.html. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
- ^ Bryant, Karyn (2005-03-08). "Showbiz Tonight". CNN. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0503/08/sbt.01.html. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
- ^ Moore, Frazier (May 18, 2008). "NBC's Jay Leno-Conan O'Brien swap prompts rumors". Newsday. Associated Press. http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-fftv5685783may18,0,4188633.story?track=rss. Retrieved October 26, 2008. [dead link]
- ^ Carter, Bill (July 22, 2008). "Date Is Set for Leno's 'Tonight' Finale". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/arts/television/22late.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Subjects/T/Television. Retrieved October 26, 2008.
- ^ Carter, Bill (2009-05-30). "Jay Leno Takes Final Bow on ‘Tonight Show’". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/30/arts/television/30leno.html?em. Retrieved 2009-05-30.
- ^ Carter, Bill (December 9, 2008). "Where Is Leno Going? To Prime Time, on NBC". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/business/media/09leno.html?em. Retrieved May 6, 2010.
- ^ "Leno's last 'Tonight' announced". CNN.com. Associated Press. July 21, 2008. Archived from the original on July 24, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080724101827/http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/TV/07/21/tv.nbc.tonight.ap/index.html. Retrieved July 21, 2008. "Leno's last show was Friday, May 29, and O'Brien started the following Monday, June 1, NBC executives told a Television Critics Association meeting Monday."
- ^ Jay Leno Reveals What To Expect From His New Primetime Show
- ^ "Future For NBC's Tonight Show Up In The Air", Los Angeles Times, January 2010.
- ^ "Jay Leno Heading Back To Late Night, Conan O’Brien Weighing Options".
- ^ Finke, Nikki (2010-01-07). NBC ON THE HOT SEAT: Will It Be Jay AND Conan In Late Night? What's The Reason For Leno's Anti-NBC Monologue Tonight?. Retrieved 2010-01-09.
- ^ "NBC confirms move of "Leno Show"[dead link]"
- ^ "Update: NBC Plans Leno at 11:30, Conan at 12", The New York Times, 7 January 2010.
- ^ "NBC to Conan O'Brien – The Choice Is Yours", TMZ, 8 January 2010.
- ^ Conan Won't Do "The Tonight Show" Following Leno, MSNBC.com, 12 January 2010.
- ^ Robert Seidman , NBC Announces That Jay Leno Will Return To Host “The Tonight Show” Beginning March 1, tvbythenumbers.com, 21 January 2010.
- ^ NBC Universal Confirms Conan O’Brien Exit Deal Signed from Bloomberg via Business Week
- ^ Conan O'Brien, NBC reach deal[dead link] from CBC News
- ^ Levine, Stuart (2010-07-01). "'Kimmel,' 'Nightline' show demo increase". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118021316.html?categoryid=14&cs=1.
- ^ Pike, Julie (September 7, 2010). "Tonight Show Ratings Plummet – Jay Leno Sinks Beneath Conan O'Brien Numbers". The National Ledger (The National Ledger, LLC). http://www.nationalledger.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi?archive=53&num=34570. Retrieved 2010-10-04.
- ^ Piccalo, Gina (October 24, 2010). "Comedians Laugh as Leno Sinks". The Daily Beast. http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-10-24/jay-lenos-sinking-tonight-show-ratings-will-conan-obrien-get-the-last-laugh/. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
- ^ The Wall Street Journal article: "Why Some Comics Aren’t Laughing at Jay Leno".
- ^ a b Kansas City Star article: "Jay Leno is Mr. Nice Guy no more — but was he ever?[dead link]".
- ^ a b Digital Journal article: Jay Leno in 2004: "In '09, Conan, it's yours"
- ^ Funnyordie.com: 2004 Tonight Show Clip: "Conan, It's yours!"
- ^ The Huffington Post article: "Patton Oswalt: Jay Leno Is Like Nixon, I Don't Like Him".
- ^ Porter, Rick (2010-01-14). "Rosie O'Donnell is on Team Conan". Zap2it. http://blog.zap2it.com/thedishrag/2010/01/rosie-odonnell-is-on-team-conan.html. Retrieved 2009-01-15.
- ^ New York Daily News article: "Rosie O'Donnell, Jimmy Kimmel slam Jay Leno over Tonight Show battle."
- ^ New York Magazine article: "Rosie O’Donnell Has More to Say About Jay Leno."
- ^ a b Los Angeles Times article: "Taking on America's 'nice guy'", p. 2.
- ^ Los Angeles Times article: "Taking on America's 'nice guy'".
- ^ The Huffington Post article: "Paul Reiser: A Teachable Moment."
- ^ The Wrap article: "Seinfeld on Jay-Conan Debacle: 'I Can't Blame NBC'."
- ^ a b Entertainment Weekly article: "Jay Leno Tries to Make Nice, While Conan Rallies the Troops."
- ^ Perez Hilton article: "Oprah Shows Some Tonight Show Love".
- ^ TV.com article: "Confirmed, Jay Leno to Restore Reputation on 'Oprah'[dead link]".
- ^ "Jay Leno". Who's Who in America. Marquis. http://www.whoswhoinamerica.com/jay_leno/talk_show_host_comedian_writer/occ28/5463136.
- ^ Chudley, A.E. (October 1998). "Genetic landmarks through philately – The Habsburg jaw". Clinical Genetics 54 (4): 283–284. DOI:10.1034/j.1399-0004.1998.5440404.x. PMID 9831338.
- ^ Mike McLeod, Jay Leno – The Tonight Show's $1 Billion Man Collects Cars and Motorcycles, go-star.com
- ^ a b Nevada Magazine article: "Classic cars and comedy".
- ^ Forbes article: "Jay Leno – The Top 100 Celebrities".
- ^ CelebrityNetWorth.com: "Jay Leno's Net Worth."
- ^ "Hollywood's Latest Cause: Can A Pack Of Celebrities Save Afghanistan's Women?". Newsweek. December 6, 1999. http://www.newsweek.com/id/90455/output/print.
- ^ Greenberg, Susan H. (February 21, 2000). "So Many Causes, So Little Time Save The Rain Forest! Free Tibet! For Today's Stars, There's No Business Like Fund-Raising Business". Newsweek. http://www.newsweek.com/id/82834.
- ^ "Leno says thanks with $100k check". The Boston Herald. April 12, 2009. http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/04/12/leno_says_thanks_with_100k_check. Retrieved November 29, 2009.
- ^ Update: 1915 Hispano-Suiza Aero Engine Car (video), jaylenosgarage.com
- ^ The Cars, jaylenosgarage.com
- ^ "Jay Leno's Garage". Official Website. http://www.jaylenosgarage.com.
- ^ Moran, Michael (May 9, 2007). "Jay Leno's million dollar garage". London: The Times. http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/driving/article1746609.ece. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
External links[link]
|
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Jay Leno |
|
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jay Leno |
- Official Tonight Show with Jay Leno web site
- Jay Leno's Car Collection
- Jay Leno's Columns at Octane magazine
- The New York Times on Leno's affiliation with McPherson College
- Live performance videos from the Tonight Show
- Jay Leno at the Internet Movie Database
| Media offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Conan O'Brien |
Host of The Tonight Show March 1, 2010–present |
Succeeded by incumbent |
| Preceded by Johnny Carson |
Host of The Tonight Show May 25, 1992 – May 29, 2009 |
Succeeded by Conan O'Brien |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Leno, Jay |
| Alternative names | Leno-Muir, James Douglas; Leno, James Douglas Muir; |
| Short description | TV personality |
| Date of birth | April 28, 1950 |
| Place of birth | New Rochelle, New York, United States |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is about the performer. For other people named Steve Martin, see Steve Martin (disambiguation).
| Steve Martin | |
|---|---|
 Martin in April 2011 |
|
| Birth name | Stephen Glenn Martin |
| Born | (1945-08-14) August 14, 1945 (age 66) Waco, Texas, United States |
| Medium | Concert, film, recordings, television, books |
| Nationality | American |
| Years active | 1967–present |
| Genres | Surreal humor, Musical comedy, physical comedy, sketch comedy, Wit/word play Music: bluegrass |
| Influences | British television, Red Skelton, Jerry Lewis, Jack Benny, Laurel and Hardy, Wally Boag[1] |
| Influenced | Judd Apatow, Will Arnett, Louis C.K., Stephen Colbert,[2] Eddie Izzard, Patton Oswalt,[3] Lucy Porter, Sarah Silverman, Jon Stewart |
| Spouse | Victoria Tennant (1986–1994)[4] Anne Stringfield (2007–present) |
| Signature |  |
| Website | www.stevemartin.com |
| Emmy Awards | |
| Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy, Variety or Music 1969 The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour |
|
| Grammy Awards | |
| Best Comedy Album 1978 Let's Get Small 1979 A Wild and Crazy Guy Best Country Instrumental Performance 2002 Foggy Mountain Breakdown Best Bluegrass Album 2009 The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo |
|
| American Comedy Awards | |
| Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy 2000 Lifetime Achievement |
|
| NYFCC Award for Best Actor | |
| All of Me (1984) | |
Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, author, playwright, producer, musician and composer. Martin came to public notice as a writer for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and later became a frequent guest on The Tonight Show. In the 1970s, Martin performed his offbeat, absurdist comedy routines before packed houses on national tours. In 2004, Comedy Central[5] ranked Martin at sixth place in a list of the 100 greatest stand-up comics.
Since the 1980s, having branched away from stand-up comedy, Martin has become a successful actor in both comedic and dramatic roles, as well as an author, playwright, pianist, and banjo player, eventually earning Emmy, Grammy, and American Comedy awards, among other honors.
Contents |
Early life[link]
Martin was born in Waco, Texas,[6] the son of Mary Lee (née Stewart) and Glenn Vernon Martin, a real estate salesman and aspiring actor.[4][7] Martin was raised in Inglewood, California, and then later in Garden Grove, California, in a Baptist family.[8] Martin was a cheerleader of Garden Grove High School.[9] One of his earliest memories is of seeing his father, as an extra, serving drinks onstage at the Call Board Theatre on Melrose Place. During World War II, in England, Martin's father had appeared in a production of Our Town with Raymond Massey. Years later, he would write to Massey for help in Steve's fledgling career, but would receive no reply. Expressing his affection through gifts of cars, bikes, etc., Martin's father was stern, and not emotionally open to his son.[10] He was proud but critical, with Martin later recalling that in his teens his feelings for his father were mostly ones of hatred.[11] Martin's first job was at Disneyland, selling guidebooks on weekends and full-time during the summer school break. That lasted for three years (1955–1958). During his free time he frequented the Main Street Magic shop, where tricks were demonstrated to potential customers.[10] By 1960, he had mastered several of the tricks and illusions, and took a paying job there in August. There he perfected his talents for magic, juggling, and creating balloon animals, frequently performing for tips.[12] In his authorized biography, close friend Morris Walker suggests that Martin could "be described most accurately as an agnostic [...] he rarely went to church and was never involved in organized religion of his own volition".[13]
Comedy[link]
After high school graduation, Martin attended Santa Ana Junior College, taking classes in drama and English poetry. In his free time, he teamed up with friend and Garden Grove High School classmate Kathy Westmoreland to participate in comedies and other productions at the Bird Cage Theatre. He joined a comedy troupe at Knott's Berry Farm.[10] Later, he met budding actress Stormie Sherk, and they developed comedy routines and became romantically involved. Sherk's influence caused Martin to apply to the California State University, Long Beach, for enrollment with a major in Philosophy.[10] Stormie enrolled at UCLA, about an hour's drive north, and the distance eventually caused them to lead separate lives.[14]
Inspired by his philosophy classes, Martin considered becoming a professor instead of an actor-comedian. His time at college changed his life. "It changed what I believe and what I think about everything. I majored in philosophy. Something about non-sequiturs appealed to me. In philosophy, I started studying logic, and they were talking about cause and effect, and you start to realize, 'Hey, there is no cause and effect! There is no logic! There is no anything!' Then it gets real easy to write this stuff, because all you have to do is twist everything hard—you twist the punch line, you twist the non sequitur so hard away from the things that set it up".[15] Martin recalls wondering in a psychology class "What if there were no punch lines? What if there were no indicators? What if I created tension and never released it? What if I headed for a climax, but all I delivered was an anticlimax? What would the audience do with all that tension? Theoretically, it would have to come out sometime. But if I kept denying them the formality of a punch line, the audience would eventually pick their own place to laugh, essentially out of desperation."[16] Martin periodically spoofed his philosophy studies in his 1970s stand-up act, comparing philosophy with studying geology. "If you're studying geology, which is all facts, as soon as you get out of school you forget it all, but philosophy you remember just enough to screw you up for the rest of your life."[17]
In 1967, Martin transferred to UCLA and switched his major to theater. While attending college, he appeared in an episode of The Dating Game. Martin began working local clubs at night, to mixed notices, and at twenty-one he dropped out of college.[18]
Career[link]
Early career – stand-up[link]
In 1967, his former girlfriend Nina Goldblatt, a dancer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, helped Martin land a writing job with the show by submitting his work to head writer Mason Williams.[19] Williams initially paid Martin out of his own pocket. Along with the other writers for the show, Martin won an Emmy Award[20] in 1969, aged 23.[10] He also wrote for John Denver (a neighbor of his in Aspen, Colorado, at one point), The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, and The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. Martin's first TV appearance was on The Steve Allen Show in 1969. He says: "[I] appeared on The Virginia Graham Show, circa 1970. I looked grotesque. I had a hairdo like a helmet, which I blow-dried to a puffy bouffant, for reasons I no longer understand. I wore a frock coat and a silk shirt, and my delivery was mannered, slow and self-aware. I had absolutely no authority. After reviewing the show, I was depressed for a week."[21] During these years his roommates included comedian Gary Mule Deer and singer/guitarist Michael Johnson.[22] Martin opened for groups such as The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Carpenters, and Toto. He appeared at San Francisco's The Boarding House, among other venues. He continued to write, earning an Emmy nomination for his work on Van Dyke and Company in 1976.
In the mid-1970s, Martin made frequent appearances as a stand-up comedian on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.,[21] and on The Gong Show, HBO's On Location and NBC's Saturday Night Live (SNL). SNL's audience jumped by a million viewers when he made guest appearances, though despite a common misconception, he was never a cast member.[10] Martin has guest-hosted Saturday Night Live 15 times, bested only in number of presentations by host Alec Baldwin (who has hosted 16 times as of September 2011). On the show, Martin popularized the air quotes gesture, which uses four fingers to make double quote marks in the air.[23] While on the show Martin became close with several of the cast members, including Gilda Radner. On the day Radner died of ovarian cancer in 1989, a visibly shaken Martin hosted SNL and featured footage of himself and Radner together in a 1978 sketch.
His TV appearances in the 1970s led to the release of comedy albums that went platinum.[10] The track "Excuse Me" on his first album, Let's Get Small, helped establish a national catch phrase.[10] His next album, A Wild and Crazy Guy (1978), was an even bigger success, reaching the No.2 spot on the US sales chart, selling over a million copies. "Just a wild and crazy guy" became another of Martin's known catch phrases.[10] The album featured a character based on a series of Saturday Night Live sketches where Martin and Dan Aykroyd played "Georgi" and "Yortuk" the Festrunk Brothers, a couple of bumbling Czechoslovak would-be playboys. The album ends with the song "King Tut", sung and written by Martin and backed by the "Toot Uncommons", members of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. It was later released as a single, reaching No.17 on the US charts in 1978 and selling over a million copies.[10][24] The song came out during the King Tut craze that accompanied the popular traveling exhibit of the Egyptian king's tomb artifacts. Both albums won Grammys for Best Comedy Recording in 1977 and 1978, respectively. Martin performed "King Tut" on the April 22, 1978, edition of SNL.
On his comedy albums, Martin's stand-up is self-referential and sometimes self-mocking. It mixes philosophical riffs with sudden spurts of "happy feet", banjo playing with balloon depictions of concepts like venereal disease, and the controversial kitten juggling (he is a master juggler). His style is off-kilter and ironic, and sometimes pokes fun at stand-up comedy traditions, such as Martin opening his act (from A Wild and Crazy Guy) by saying, "I think there's nothing better for a person to come up and do the same thing over and over for two weeks. This is what I enjoy, so I'm going to do the same thing over and over and over [...] I'm going to do the same joke over and over in the same show, it'll be like a new thing." Or: "Hello, I'm Steve Martin, and I'll be out here in a minute."[23][25] In one comedy routine, used on the Comedy Is Not Pretty! album, Martin claimed that his real name was "Gern Blanston". The riff took on a life of its own. There is a Gern Blanston website, and for a time a rock band took the moniker as their name.[26] He stopped stand-up in 1981 to concentrate on movies and never went back.[10]
Acting career – film[link]
By the end of the 1970s, Martin had acquired the kind of following normally reserved for rock stars, with his tour appearances typically occurring at sold-out arenas filled with tens of thousands of screaming fans. But unknown to his audience, stand-up comedy was "just an accident" for him; his real goal was to get into film.[15]
Martin's first film was a short, The Absent-Minded Waiter (1977). The seven-minute-long film, also featuring Buck Henry and Teri Garr, was written by and starred Martin. The film was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Short Film, Live Action. He made his first feature film appearance in the musical Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, where he sang The Beatles' "Maxwell's Silver Hammer". In 1979, Martin co-wrote and starred in his first full-length movie, The Jerk, directed by Carl Reiner. The movie was a huge success, grossing over $100 million on a budget of approximately $4 million.[27]
Stanley Kubrick met with him to discuss the possibility of Martin starring in a screwball comedy version of Traumnovelle (Kubrick later changed his approach to the material, the result of which was 1999's Eyes Wide Shut). Martin was executive producer for Domestic Life, a prime-time television series starring friend Martin Mull, and a late-night series called Twilight Theater. It emboldened Martin to try his hand at his first serious film, Pennies from Heaven, a movie he was anxious to perform in because of his desire to avoid being typecast. To prepare for that film, Martin took acting lessons from director Herbert Ross, and spent months learning how to tap dance. The film was a financial failure; Martin's comment at the time was "I don't know what to blame, other than it's me and not a comedy."[28]
Martin was in three more Reiner-directed comedies after The Jerk: Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid in 1982, The Man with Two Brains in 1983 and All of Me in 1984, possibly his most critically acclaimed comic performance to date.[29][30] In 1986, Martin joined fellow Saturday Night Live veterans Martin Short and Chevy Chase in ¡Three Amigos!, directed by John Landis, and written by Martin, Lorne Michaels, and singer-songwriter Randy Newman. It was originally entitled The Three Caballeros and Martin was to be teamed with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. In 1986, Martin was in the movie musical film version of the hit Off-Broadway play Little Shop of Horrors (based on a famous B-movie), playing the sadistic dentist, Orin Scrivello. The film was the first of three films teaming Martin with Rick Moranis. In 1987, Martin joined comedian John Candy in the John Hughes movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles. That same year, Roxanne, the film adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac which Martin co-wrote, won him a Writers Guild of America, East award. It also garnered recognition from Hollywood and the public that he was more than a comedian. In 1988, he performed in the Frank Oz film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, a remake of Bedtime Story, alongside Michael Caine.
Martin starred in the Ron Howard film Parenthood, with Moranis in 1989. He later met with Moranis to make the Mafia comedy My Blue Heaven in 1990. In 1991, Martin starred in and wrote L.A. Story, a romantic comedy, in which the female lead was played by his then-wife Victoria Tennant. Martin also appeared in Lawrence Kasdan's Grand Canyon, in which he played the tightly-wound Hollywood film producer, Davis, who was recovering from a traumatic robbery that left him injured, which was a more serious role for him. Martin also appeared in a remake of the comedy Father of the Bride in 1991 (followed by a sequel in 1995). He starred in the 1992 comedy HouseSitter, with Goldie Hawn and Dana Delany.
In David Mamet's 1997 thriller, The Spanish Prisoner, Martin played a darker role as a wealthy stranger who takes a suspicious interest in the work of a young businessman (Campbell Scott). He went on to star with Eddie Murphy in the 1999 comedy Bowfinger, which Martin also wrote. He appeared in a version of Waiting for Godot as Vladimir, with Robin Williams as Estragon and Bill Irwin as Lucky. In 1998, Martin guest starred with U2 in the 200th episode of The Simpsons titled "Trash of the Titans", providing the voice for sanitation commissioner Ray Patterson. In 1999, Martin and Hawn starred in a remake of the 1970 Neil Simon comedy, The Out-of-Towners. By 2003, Martin ranked 4th on the box office stars list, after starring in Bringing Down The House and Cheaper By The Dozen, each of which earned over $130 million at U.S. theaters. That same year, he also played the villainous Mr. Chairman in the animation/live action blend, Looney Tunes: Back in Action.
Martin wrote and starred in Shopgirl (2005), based on his own novella (2000), and starred in Cheaper by the Dozen 2. He also starred in the box office hit The Pink Panther in 2006, standing in Peter Sellers's shoes as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau, a role which he reprised in 2009's The Pink Panther 2. In Baby Mama (2008), he played the founder of a health food company, and in It's Complicated (2009), he played opposite Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin. In 2009, an article in The Guardian listed Martin as one of the best actors never to receive an Oscar nomination.[31]
He appeared with Jack Black, Owen Wilson, and JoBeth Williams in the birdwatching comedy The Big Year, in 2011.
Writing[link]
In 1993, Martin wrote his first full length play Picasso at the Lapin Agile. The first reading of the play took place in Beverly Hills, California at Steve Martin's home, with Tom Hanks reading the role of Pablo Picasso and Chris Sarandon reading the role of Albert Einstein. Following this, the play opened at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois, and played from October 1993 to May 1994, then went on to run successfully in Los Angeles, New York City and several other US cities.[32] In 2009, the La Grande, Oregon school board refused to allow the play to be performed after several parents complained about the content. In an open letter in the local Observer newspaper, Martin wrote "I have heard that some in your community have characterized the play as 'people drinking in bars, and treating women as sex objects.' With apologies to William Shakespeare, this is like calling Hamlet a play about a castle [...] I will finance a non-profit, off-high school campus production [...] so that individuals, outside the jurisdiction of the school board but within the guarantees of freedom of expression provided by the Constitution of the United States can determine whether they will or will not see the play".[33]
Throughout the 1990s, Martin wrote various pieces for The New Yorker. In 2002, he adapted the Carl Sternheim play The Underpants, which ran Off Broadway at Classic Stage Company and in 2008, co-wrote and produced Traitor, starring Don Cheadle. He has also written the novellas, Shopgirl (2000), and The Pleasure of My Company (2003), both more wry in tone than raucous.[34] A story of a 28-year-old woman behind the glove counter at the Neiman Marcus department store in Beverly Hills, Shopgirl was made into a film starring Martin and Claire Danes.[34] The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2005 and was featured at the Chicago International Film Festival and the Austin Film Festival before going into limited release in the US. In 2007, he published a memoir, Born Standing Up, which TIME magazine named as one of the Top 10 Nonfiction Books of 2007, ranking it at #6, and praising it as "a funny, moving, surprisingly frank memoir."[35] In 2010, he published the novel An Object of Beauty.
Hosting[link]
Martin hosted Academy Awards solo in 2001 and 2003 and with Alec Baldwin in 2010.[36] In 2005, Martin co-hosted Disneyland: The First 50 Magical Years, marking the park's anniversary. Disney continued to run the show until March 2009, which now plays in the lobby of Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.
Music[link]
Martin first picked up the banjo when he was around 17 years of age. Martin has claimed in several interviews and in his autobiography, "Born Standing Up", that he used to take 33 rpm bluegrass records and slow them down to 16 rpm and tune his banjo down, so the notes would sound the same. Martin was able to pick out each note, and perfect his playing.
Martin learned how to play the banjo with help from John McEuen, who later joined the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. McEuen's brother later managed Martin as well as the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Martin did his stand-up routine opening for the band in the early 1970s. He had the band play on his hit song, "King Tut", being credited as "The Toot Uncommons" (as in Tutankhamun).
File:Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers in Seattle.JPG
Steve Martin playing with the Steep Canyon Rangers in Seattle
The banjo was a staple of Martin's 1970s stand-up career, and he periodically poked fun at his love for the instrument.[21] On the Comedy Is Not Pretty! album he included an all-instrumental jam, titled "Drop Thumb Medley", and played the track on his 1979 concert tour. His final comedy album, The Steve Martin Brothers (1981), featured one side of Martin's typical stand-up material, with the other side featuring live performances of Steve playing banjo with a bluegrass band.
In 2001, he played banjo on Earl Scruggs's remake of "Foggy Mountain Breakdown". The recording was the winner of the Best Country Instrumental Performance category at the following year's Grammys. In 2008, Martin appeared with the band, In the Minds of the Living, during a show in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.[37]
In 2009, Martin released his first all-music album, The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo with appearances from stars such as Dolly Parton.[38] The album won the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album in 2010.[39] Nitty Gritty Dirt Band member John McEuen produced the album.
Martin made his first appearance on The Grand Ole Opry on May 30, 2009.[40] In the American Idol season eight finals, he performed alongside Michael Sarver and Megan Joy in the song "Pretty Flowers". In June, Martin played banjo along with the Steep Canyon Rangers on A Prairie Home Companion, and began a two-month U.S. tour with the Rangers in September, including an appearances at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, Carnegie Hall and Benaroya Hall in Seattle.[41][42] In November, they went on to play at the Royal Festival Hall in London with support from Mary Black.[43] In 2010, Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers appeared at the New Orleans Jazzfest, Merlefest Bluegrass Festival in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, at Bonnaroo Music Festival, at the ROMP[44] Bluegrass festival in Owensboro, Kentucky, at the Red Butte Garden Concert series and on the BBC's Later... with Jools Holland.[45][46] Martin performed "Jubilation Day" with the Steep Canyon Rangers on The Colbert Report on March 21, 2011, on Conan on May 3, 2011, and on BBC's The One Show on July 6, 2011.[47] Martin performed a song he wrote called "Me and Paul Revere"[48] in addition to two other songs on the lawn of the Capitol Building in Washington, DC, at the "Capitol Fourth Celebration" on July 4, 2011.[49]
Personal life[link]
Martin was romantically involved with actress and singer Bernadette Peters, his costar in the films The Jerk and Pennies from Heaven, during the 1970s and early 1980s. He married actress Victoria Tennant on November 20, 1986, and the union lasted until 1994. On July 28, 2007, after three years together, Martin married Anne Stringfield, a writer and former staffer for The New Yorker magazine.[50] Former Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey presided over the ceremony at Martin's Los Angeles home. Lorne Michaels, creator of Saturday Night Live, was best man.[50] Several of the guests, including close friends Tom Hanks, Eugene Levy, comedian Carl Reiner, and magician/actor Ricky Jay were not informed that a wedding ceremony would take place. Instead, they were told they were invited to a party, and were surprised by the nuptials.[50]
Investigators at Berlin's state criminal police office (LKA) think that Martin was one victim of a German art forgery scandal. In July 2004 Martin purchased what he believed to be a 1915 work by the German-Dutch painter Heinrich Campendonk, "Landschaft mit Pferden", or "Landscape With Horses", from a Paris gallery for what should have been a bargain price in the neighborhood of €700,000 (around $850,000 at the time). Before the purchase an expert authenticated the work and identified the painter's signature on a label attached to the back. Fifteen months later Martin put the painting up for sale, and auction house Christie's disposed of it in February 2006 to a Swiss businesswoman for €500,000 – a loss of €200,000. Police believe the fake Campendonk originated from an invented art collection devised by a group of German swindlers caught in 2010. Skillfully forged paintings from this group were sold to French galleries like the one where Martin bought the forgery.[51]
Awards and honors[link]
- 1969 Emmy Award – The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (with other writers)
- 1978 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album – Let's Get Small[52]
- 1979 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album – A Wild and Crazy Guy.[52]
- 1989 Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from California State University Long Beach[53]
- 2001 Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance with Earl Scruggs (and others) – banjo performance of "Foggy Mountain Breakdown".[52]
- 2005 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor
- 2005 Disney Legend award
- 2007 30th Annual Kennedy Center Honors
- 2009 Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album for his album The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo.[52]
- 2011 International Bluegrass Music Association's Entertainer of the Year.
Written works by Martin[link]
- The Jerk (1979) (Screenplay written with Carl Gottlieb)
- Cruel Shoes (1979) (Essays)
- Picasso at the Lapin Agile and Other Plays: Picasso at the Lapin Agile, the Zig-Zag Woman, Patter for the Floating Lady, WASP (1996) (Play)
- L.A. Story and Roxanne: Two Screenplays (published together in 1997) (Screenplays)
- Pure Drivel (1998) (Stories)
- Bowfinger (1999) (Screenplay)
- Eric Fischl : 1970–2000 (2000) (Afterword)
- Modern Library Humor and Wit Series (2000) (Introduction and Series Editor)
- Shopgirl (2000) (Novella)
- Kindly Lent Their Owner: The Private Collection of Steve Martin (2001) (Art)
- The Underpants: A Play (2002) (Play)
- The Pleasure of My Company (2003) (Novel)
- The Alphabet from A to Y with Bonus Letter Z (2007) (Children's Books illustrated by Roz Chast)
- Born Standing Up (2007) (Memoir)
- An Object of Beauty (2010) (Novel)
- Late For School (2010) (Children's book)
- The Ten, Make That Nine, Habits of Very Organized People. Make That Ten.: The Tweets of Steve Martin (February 21, 2012) (Collection)
Released stand-up shows[link]
- Steve Martin-Live! (1986, VHS)
- Saturday Night Live: The Best Of Steve Martin (1998, DVD)
Filmography[link]
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | Disneyland Dream | Documentary | |
| 1977 | The Absent-Minded Waiter | Short Subject | |
| 1978 | Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | Dr. Maxwell Edison | |
| 1979 | The Muppet Movie | Insolent Waiter | |
| The Kids Are Alright | Documentary | ||
| The Jerk | Navin R. Johnson | Also Writer | |
| 1981 | Pennies from Heaven | Arthur | Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |
| 1982 | Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid | Rigby Reardon | Also Writer |
| 1983 | The Man with Two Brains | Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr | |
| 1984 | The Lonely Guy | Larry Hubbard | |
| All of Me | Roger Cobb | National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |
|
| 1985 | Movers & Shakers | Fabio Longio | |
| 1986 | Three Amigos | Lucky Day | Also Writer and Executive Producer |
| Little Shop of Horrors | Orin Scrivello, DDS | Billed as "Special Appearance" | |
| 1987 | Roxanne | C.D. Bales | Also Writer and Executive Producer Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |
| Planes, Trains and Automobiles | Neal Page | ||
| 1988 | Dirty Rotten Scoundrels | Freddy Benson | |
| 1989 | Parenthood | Gil Buckman | Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |
| 1990 | My Blue Heaven | Vinnie Antonelli | |
| 1991 | L.A. Story | Harris K. Telemacher | Also Writer and Executive Producer |
| Father of the Bride | George Banks | Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance | |
| Grand Canyon | Davis | ||
| 1992 | HouseSitter | Newton Davis | |
| Leap of Faith | Jonas Nightengale | ||
| 1993 | And the Band Played On | The Brother | Cameo |
| 1994 | A Simple Twist of Fate | Michael McCann | Also Writer and Executive Producer |
| Mixed Nuts | Philip | ||
| 1995 | Father of the Bride Part II | George Banks | Nominated – American Comedy Award for Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture (Leading Role) Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |
| 1996 | Sgt. Bilko | Master Sergeant Ernest G. Bilko | |
| 1997 | The Spanish Prisoner | Jimmy Dell | |
| 1998 | The Prince of Egypt | Hotep | Voice |
| 1999 | The Out-of-Towners | Henry Clark | |
| Bowfinger | Bobby Bowfinger | Also writer | |
| The Venice Project | Cameo | ||
| Fantasia 2000 | Introductory Host | Disney Re-Release | |
| 2000 | Joe Gould's Secret | Charlie Duell | |
| 2001 | Novocaine | Frank Sangster | |
| 2002 | Smothered: The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour | As himself | |
| 2003 | Bringing Down the House | Peter Sanderson | |
| Looney Tunes: Back in Action | Mr. Chairman | ||
| Cheaper by the Dozen | Tom Baker | ||
| 2004 | Jiminy Glick in Lalawood | Cameo | |
| The Merchant of Venice | |||
| 2005 | Shopgirl | Ray Porter | Also Writer and Producer |
| Cheaper by the Dozen 2 | Tom Baker | ||
| Disneyland: The First 50 Magical Years | As himself | ||
| 2006 | The Pink Panther | Inspector Clouseau | A remake of the earlier series |
| 2008 | Baby Mama | Barry | |
| Traitor | Writer and Producer | ||
| 2009 | The Pink Panther 2 | Inspector Clouseau | Also Screenplay Nominated - Razzie Award for Worst Actor |
| It's Complicated | Adam Schaffer | ||
| 2011 | The Big Year | Stu Preissler |
Discography[link]
Albums[link]
| Album | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [54] |
US Bluegrass [54][55] |
|||
| Let's Get Small | 1977 | 10 | — |
|
| A Wild and Crazy Guy | 1978 | 2 | — |
|
| Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band soundtrack | 1978 | 5 | — |
|
| Comedy Is Not Pretty! | 1979 | 25 | — |
|
| The Steve Martin Brothers | 1981 | 135 | — | |
| Little Shop of Horrors soundtrack | 1986 | — | — | |
| The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo | 2009 | 93[58] | 1 | |
| Rare Bird Alert[59] | 2011 | 43 | 1 | |
| "—" denotes a title that did not chart. | ||||
Singles[link]
| Single | Year | Peak chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| US [60] |
||
| "Grandmother's Song" | 1977 | 72 |
| "King Tut" | 1978 | 17 |
| "Cruel Shoes" | 1979 | 91 |
Music videos[link]
| Video | Year | Director |
|---|---|---|
| "Jubilation Day"[61] | 2011 | Ryan Reichenfeld |
TV specials[link]
| Title | Year | Network |
|---|---|---|
| "Steve Martin: A Wild and Crazy Guy" | 1978 | NBC |
| "All Commercials... A Steve Martin Special" | 1980 | NBC |
| "Steve Martin: Comedy is Not Pretty" | 1980 | NBC |
| "Steve Martin's Best Show Ever" | 1981 | NBC |
| "The Winds of Whoopie" | 1983 | NBC |
References[link]
- ^ Martin (2007) p18–19
- ^ King, Larry. "Interview with Stephen Colbert". Larry King Live. October 11, 2007.
- ^ "The AST Interview: Patton Oswalt". Web.archive.org. November 21, 2005. Archived from the original on October 13, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071013165258/http://aspecialthing.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1465. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
- ^ a b Morris (1999) p 2.
- ^ Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of all Time
- ^ Walker (1999) p1
- ^ "Ancestry of Steve Martin". Wargs.com. http://www.wargs.com/other/martin.html. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
- ^ Martin (2007) pp.20–39
- ^ http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/20/top-5-famous-former-male-cheerleaders/
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Steve Martin, a Mild and Crazy Guy". Time Magazine article. November 15, 2007. Accessed August 14, 2010.
- ^ Wills, Dominic. "Steve Martin – Biography". TalkTalk. http://www.talktalk.co.uk/entertainment/film/biography/artist/steve-martin/biography/118. Retrieved May 15, 2010.
- ^ Martin (2007) p 39
- ^ Walker (1999) p40
- ^ Martin (2007) p 65
- ^ a b Fong-Torres, Ben (1982) "Steve Martin Sings: The Rolling Stone Interview". Rolling Stone February 18, 1982. Issue 363
- ^ "Being Funny: How the path-breaking comedian got his act together" By Steve Martin. Smithsonian magazine. February 2008. Accessed August 14, 2010
- ^ Steve Martin at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ "SteveMartin.com | Stop the Presses"[dead link]
- ^ Martin, (2007) p. 76
- ^ Steve Martin Emmy Award Winner
- ^ a b c Martin, Steve (2008). "Being Funny". Smithsonian Magazine. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/funny-martin-200802.html. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
- ^ Martin, (2007) p. 77
- ^ a b Frum, David (2000). How We Got Here: The '70s. New York, New York: Basic Books. pp. 36–37. ISBN 0-465-04195-7.
- ^ "King Tut" Video. Accessed August 14, 2010.
- ^ "Rationalist of the Absurd: Steve Martin’s extraordinarily calculated comedy".New York Books" Nov 18, 2007. Accessed August 12, 2010[dead link]
- ^ Martin (2007) p176–77
- ^ Chris Brummel (2010). "The Jerk". http://chrisbrummel.com/the-jerk-that-movie-about-hating-cans. Retrieved June 19, 2010.
- ^ American film Volume 7. 1981. American Film Institute, Arthur M. Sackler Foundation
- ^ "All of Me". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1000640-all_of_me/. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
- ^ All of Me. New York Times film review. September 21, 1984. Accessed August 12, 2010
- ^ Singer, Leigh (February 19, 2009). "Oscars: the best actors never to have been nominated". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2009/feb/19/best-actors-never-nominated-for-oscars. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
- ^ History: Picasso At The Lapin Agile. Oct. 13, 1993 – May. 12, 1994. Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Accessed August 14, 2010
- ^ "Of arts and sciences". by Steve Martin. Article in The Observer (Oregon). March 13, 2009. Accessed August 14, 2010
- ^ a b But Seriously, Folks. Time Magazine article. October 16, 2000. Accessed August 14, 2010
- ^ Grossman, Lev (December 9, 2007). "Born Standing Up'' review". Time.com. http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/top10/article/0,30583,1686204_1686244_1691787,00.html. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
- ^ "Hosts of the 2010 (82nd) Academy Awards". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
- ^ "Steve Martin Plays The Banjo Really Well (Video)". October 6, 2009. HuffingtonPost.com. Retrieved May 15, 2010.
- ^ Itzkoff, Dave (August 5, 2009). "Steve Martin brings it all home with his banjo". Guardian. Retrieved May 15, 2010
- ^ The Crow album on Martin's official website. Retrieved May 15, 2010.
- ^ "Steve Martin To Make Grand Ole Opry Debut". April 1, 2009. Billboard. Retrieved May 15, 2010.
- ^ "Benaroya Hall Calendar, Seattle Symphony Orchestra".
- ^ Madison, Tjames (August 4, 2009). "Steve Martin and his banjo map fall tour". LiveDaily.com. Retrieved on October 4, 2009.
- ^ Gill, Andy (November 10, 2009). "Steve Martin with The Steep Canyon Rangers, Royal Festival Hall, London". The Independent.
- ^ "2011 ROMP". Bluegrass-museum.org. International Bluegrass Music Museum. http://www.bluegrass-museum.org/general/home.php.
- ^ "Concerts – 2010 Outdoor Concert Series". Red Butte Garden. The University of Utah. Retrieved May 15, 2010.
- ^ "BBC – BBC Two Programmes – Later... with Jools Holland, Series 35, Episode 9". BBC. Retrieved May 15, 2010.
- ^ Tobey, Matt (March 21, 2011). "This Week on the Colbert Report: Steve Martin". Ccinsider.comedycentral.com. Comedy Partners. http://ccinsider.comedycentral.com/2011/03/21/this-week-on-the-colbert-report-steve-martin/. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
- ^ Barker, Olivia (June 29, 2011). "Steve Martin's 'Paul Revere' picks away at history". USA Today.
- ^ "A Capitol Fourth". PBS. Retrieved July, 4, 2011.
- ^ a b c "Steve Martin weds girlfriend Anne Stringfield". July 29, 2007. USA Today.
- ^ Der Spiegel (May 30, 2011). "German Art Forgery Scandal Reaches Hollywood". http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,765658,00.html. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
- ^ a b c d http://www.grammy.com/nominees/search?artist=%22steve+martin%22&title=&year=All&genre=All
- ^ Los Angeles Times via Sydney Morning Herald; August 28, 1989 Late Edition; NEWS AND FEATURES; Pg. 11
- ^ a b "Steve Martin – Billboard Albums". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p198/charts-awards. Retrieved January 15, 2011.
- ^ "Steve Martin Album & Song Chart History". Billboard.com. Prometheus Media Group. Retrieved January 15, 2011.
- ^ a b c "RIAA – Searchable Database: Steve Martin". Recording Industry Association of America. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?artist=%22Martin,%20Steve%22. Retrieved November 14, 2011.
- ^ "RIAA – Searchable Database: Lonely Hearts Club Band". Recording Industry Association of America. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?artist=%22Lonely%20Hearts%20Club%20Band%22. Retrieved November 14, 2011.
- ^ "Bluegrass Albums | Billboard.com". Billboard. June 13, 2009. http://www.billboard.com/#/charts/bluegrass-albums?chartDate=2009-06-13. Retrieved March 24, 2011.
- ^ "Rare Bird Alert". Rounder.com. Rounder Records. March 1, 2011. http://www.rounder.com/2011/03/new-releases/rare-bird-alert. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
- ^ "Steve Martin – Billboard Albums". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p198/charts-awards/billboard-singles. Retrieved January 15, 2011.
- ^ "CMT : Videos : Steve Martin : Jubilation Day". Country Music Television. http://www.cmt.com/videos/steve-martin/659725/jubilation-day.jhtml. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
Sources[link]
- Martin, Steve. (2007) Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life. Scribner. ISBN 1-4165-5364-9.
- Walker, Morris (1999) Steve Martin: The Magic Years. SPI Books. ISBN 1-56171-980-3.
External links[link]
|
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Steve Martin |
|
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Steve Martin |
- Official website
- Steve Martin at the Internet Movie Database
- Steve Martin on National Public Radio in 2008. Article and radio file
- Steve Martin on National Public Radio in 2003. Radio file.
- Steve Martin on Charlie Rose Video of interview
- Men's Vogue article
- Disney Legends profile
- Works by or about Steve Martin in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Martin, Steve |
| Alternative names | Martin, Stephen Glen |
| Short description | American comedian, writer, entertainer |
| Date of birth | August 14, 1945 |
| Place of birth | Waco, Texas, United States |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Steve_Martin
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http://ru.wn.com/Мартин, Стив
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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Martin
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
| Bette Midler | |
|---|---|
 Midler backstage at the Grammy Awards, February 1990 |
|
| Background information | |
| Also known as | The Divine Miss M |
| Born | (1945-12-01) December 1, 1945 (age 66) |
| Origin | Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. Territory |
| Genres | Vocal, pop, adult contemporary, comedy |
| Occupations | Singer, actress, comedian, author, producer |
| Instruments | Vocals-mezzo soprano, ukulele |
| Years active | 1965–present |
| Labels | Atlantic (1972–1997) Warner Bros. (1998–2001) Columbia (2002–present) |
| Associated acts | Barry Manilow |
| Website | bettemidler.com |
Bette Midler (born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys. During her more than forty-year career, Midler has been nominated for two Academy Awards, and won three Grammy Awards, four Golden Globes, three Emmy Awards, and a special Tony Award. She has sold over 30 million albums worldwide.[1] Her voice type is categorized as deep mezzo soprano.[2]
Contents |
Early life and family[link]
Midler was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her parents moved from Paterson, New Jersey to Honolulu before she was born, and hers was one of the few Jewish families in a mostly Asian neighborhood.[3] Her mother, Ruth (née Schindel), was a seamstress and housewife, and her father, Fred Midler, worked at a Navy base in Hawaii as a painter.[4] She was named after actress Bette Davis, though Davis pronounced her first name in two syllables, and Midler uses one, /ˈbɛt/.[5] She was raised in Aiea and attended Radford High School, in Honolulu.[6] She was voted "Most Talkative" in the 1961 school Hoss Election, and in her Senior Year (Class of 1963), "Most Dramatic".[7] Midler majored in drama at the University of Hawaii, but left after three semesters.[8] She earned money in the 1966 film Hawaii as an extra,[5] playing an uncredited seasick passenger named Miss David Buff.
Midler married Martin von Haselberg on December 16, 1984, about six weeks after their first meeting. Their daughter, Sophie Frederica Alohilani Von Haselberg, was born on November 14, 1986.[9]
Career[link]
Theater work[link]
In the summer of 1965, Midler relocated to New York City, using the money from her work in the film Hawaii. She landed her first professional onstage role in Tom Eyen's Off-Off-Broadway plays in 1965, Miss Nefertiti Regrets and Cinderella Revisited, a children's play by day and an adult show by night.[10] From 1966 to 1969, she played the role of Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway.[5] After Fiddler, she joined the original cast of Salvation in 1969.[11]
In the summer of 1970, Midler began singing in the Continental Baths, a gay bathhouse in the city.[5] During this time, she became close to her piano accompanist, Barry Manilow, who produced her first album in 1972, The Divine Miss M.[10] It was during her time at the Continental Baths that she built up a core following. In the late 1990s, during the release of her album Bathhouse Betty, Midler commented on her time performing there, "Despite the way things turned out [with the AIDS crisis], I'm still proud of those days. I feel like I was at the forefront of the gay liberation movement, and I hope I did my part to help it move forward. So, I kind of wear the label of 'Bathhouse Betty' with pride".[12]
In 1971, Midler starred in the first professional production of The Who's rock opera Tommy, with director Richard Pearlman and the Seattle Opera.[13] It was during the run of Tommy that Midler first appeared on The Tonight Show.
[edit] 1972–1980: The Divine Miss M and success
Midler released her debut album, The Divine Miss M, on Atlantic Records, in December 1972. It reached Billboard's Top 10 and became a million-selling Platinum-certified album,[14] earning Midler the 1973 Grammy Award for Best New Artist.[15] It featured three hit singles, with "Do You Want To Dance?", "Friends", and "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy", which became Midler's first No. 1 Adult Contemporary hit. "Bugle Boy" became a very successful rock cover of the classic swing tune originally introduced and popularized in 1941 by the famous Andrews Sisters, of whom Midler has repeatedly referenced as her idols and inspiration, as far back as her first appearances on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. Midler told Carson in an interview that she always wanted to move like the sisters, and Patty Andrews once remembered, "When I first heard the introduction on the radio, I thought it was our old record. When Bette opened at the Amphitheater in Los Angeles, Maxene and I went backstage to see her. Her first words were, 'What else did you record?'"[16] During another one of Midler's concerts, Maxene went on stage and presented her with an honorary bugle. Bette recorded other Andrews Sisters hits, including "In the Mood" and "Lullaby of Broadway."[16]
Her self-titled follow-up album was released at the end of 1973. It reached Billboard's Top 10 and eventually sold close to a million copies in the United States alone.[17] Midler returned to recording with the 1976 and 1977 albums, Songs for the New Depression and Broken Blossom.
In 1974, she received a Special Tony Award for her contribution to Broadway,[18] with Clams on the Half Shell Revue playing at the Minskoff Theater. From 1975–1978, she also provided the voice of Woody the Spoon on the PBS educational series Vegetable Soup. In 1977, Midler's first television special, Ol' Red Hair is Back, premiered, featuring guest stars Dustin Hoffman and Emmett Kelly. It went on to win the Emmy Award[19] for Outstanding Special — Comedy-Variety or Music.[20]
In 1979, Midler made her first motion picture, starring in the 1960s-era rock and roll tragedy The Rose, as a drug-addicted rock star modeled after Janis Joplin.[5] That year, she also released her fifth studio album, Thighs and Whispers. Midler's first foray into disco was a commercial and critical failure and went on to be her all-time lowest charting album, peaking at No. 65 on the Billboard album chart.[21] Soon afterward, she began a world concert tour, with one of her shows in Pasadena being filmed and released as the concert film Divine Madness (1980).
In 1979, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Rose, a role for which she won the Golden Globe for Best Actress (Comedy or Musical).[5] The film's acclaimed soundtrack album sold over two million copies in the United States alone, earning a Double Platinum certification.[14] The single version of the song held the No. 1 position on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart for five consecutive weeks and reached No. 3 on Billboard's Hot 100. It earned Midler her first Gold single[14] and won the Grammy award for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female.[15]
[edit] 1981–89: Wind Beneath My Wings and Beaches
In 1981, Midler worked on the troubled comedy project Jinxed!. However, during production, there was friction with co-star Ken Wahl and the film's director, Don Siegel.[citation needed] Released in 1982, the film was a major flop.[citation needed] Midler did not appear in any other films until 1986. During those four years, she concentrated on her music career and in 1983, released the album No Frills, produced by Chuck Plotkin, who was best known for his work with Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. The album included three single releases: the ballad "All I Need To Know", a cover of Detroit native Marshall Crenshaw's "You're My Favorite Waste of Time" – which Midler fell in love with after flipping his 45 of "Someday Someway"[citation needed] – and Midler's take on the Rolling Stones cover "Beast of Burden". The rock and New Wave album became Midler's third lowest charting album in the U.S.
Midler performed on USA for Africa's 1985 fund-raising single "We Are the World", and participated at the Live Aid event at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia.[22] Also in 1985, she signed a multi-picture deal with Touchstone Pictures. She was subsequently cast by director Paul Mazursky in Down and Out in Beverly Hills, beginning a successful comedic acting career.[5] She followed that role with Ruthless People (1986), Outrageous Fortune (1987), and Big Business (1988).[5] Later in 1988, Midler lent her voice to the animated character Georgette, a snobbish poodle, in Disney's Oliver & Company, and had a hit with the tearjerker Beaches, co-starring Barbara Hershey.[5] The accompanying soundtrack remains Midler's all-time biggest selling disc, reaching No. 2 on Billboard's album chart and with U.S. sales of four million copies. It featured her biggest hit, "Wind Beneath My Wings", which went to No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100, achieved Platinum status,[14] and won Midler her third Grammy Award – for Record of the Year – at the 1990 telecast.[15]
1990–2000: Chart comeback[link]
In 1990, Midler's single "From A Distance" topped the charts and achieved platinum status. The next year, Midler co-starred with Woody Allen in Scenes from a Mall, again for Mazursky. She earned another Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for 1991's For the Boys, directed by Mark Rydell, who also directed The Rose. For the latter, she was awarded another Golden Globe for Best Actress (Comedy or Musical).[20] She turned down the lead role in 1992's Sister Act, which instead went to Whoopi Goldberg.[23] In 1993, she starred with Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy in the movie, Hocus Pocus, as Winifred "Winnie" Sanderson, the head witch of the Sanderson Sisters.[5][24]
Midler's other films include Stella (1990), The First Wives Club (1996), and The Stepford Wives (2004).[5] Her television work includes an Emmy-nominated version of the stage musical Gypsy and a guest appearance as herself in Fran Drescher's The Nanny. In 1997, Midler, along with her co-stars from The First Wives Club, Goldie Hawn, and Diane Keaton, was a recipient of the Women in Film Crystal Award, which honors "outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry".[25]
Midler won an Emmy Award in 1992 for her performance on the next-to-last episode of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in May 1992, during which she sang an emotion-laden "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" to Johnny Carson. That night, Midler began singing "Here's That Rainy Day", Carson's favorite song; Carson joined in a few lyrics later.[26] She appeared on Seinfeld in the episode "The Understudy", which was the season finale of that show's sixth season in 1995.
Her 1997 HBO special Diva Las Vegas earned her a third Emmy Award, for Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Music Program.[20]
In 1995 and 1999, she reached the top of the US Dance Charts with remixes of her hits "To Deserve You"[27] on Atlantic and "I'm Beautiful"[28] on Warner Brothers Records. "To Deserve You" reached No. 2 and "I'm Beautiful" reached No. 1.
2000–01[link]
Midler has guest-starred in various sitcoms over the years, including The Simpsons in the episode "Krusty Gets Kancelled" (she is first seen traversing a highway picking up trash when she is approached by Bart and Lisa with a request for Midler to appear on a show to revive Krusty's dying career). In 2000, Midler starred in her own sitcom, Bette. Airing on CBS, initial ratings were high but soon declined and the show did not last a full season, being cancelled in early 2001. During the show's short lifespan, Bette's daughter (played by Lindsay Lohan in the pilot, then by Marina Malota starting with the third episode) and her husband were recast (Robert Hays succeeded Kevin Dunn in the final episode aired). The show was also reportedly rocked by backstage turmoil. Also in 2001, Bette or Bust, a book chronicling Midler's "Divine Miss Millennium Tour", was released.
Music[link]
Midler has won three Grammy Awards.,[29] Best New Artist, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "The Rose" and Record of the Year for "Wind Beneath My Wings". Two of her recordings, "Wind Beneath My Wings" and "From a Distance" won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year. "From a Distance" became her longest running No. 1 – six consecutive weeks – on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. When the American Film Institute announced "The 100 Years of the Greatest Songs" on June 22, 2004, two of Midler's recordings were selected by the board: "Wind Beneath My Wings" (No. 44) and "The Rose" (No. 83). However, after years of erratic record sales, Midler was dropped from the Warner Brothers label in 2001, after nearly three decades with Warner Music Group.
After a reported long-standing feud with Barry Manilow, the two joined forces after many years in 2003 to record Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook. Of the project, Manilow said he'd had a dream that he was recording with Midler again, so he called her up with the idea and she agreed that it was due time to work together again. Manilow duetted with Midler on the song "(I'd Like to Get You on a) Slow Boat to China", after a little dialogue between the two artists at the start of the track. Now signed to Columbia Records, the album was an instant success, being certified gold in only a few weeks. One of the Clooney Songbook selections, "This Ole House", became Midler's first Christian radio single shipped by Rick Hendrix and his positive music movement. The album was nominated for a Grammy the following year.[30]
In 2003–04, Midler toured the U.S. in her new show, Kiss My Brass, to sell-out audiences. In early 2005, an Australian tour, Kiss My Brass Down Under, was equally successful. Midler joined forces again with Manilow for another tribute album, Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook. Released in October 2005, the album sold 55,000 copies the first week of release, returned Midler to the Top 10,[31] and was nominated for a Grammy Award.[32]
Grammy Awards[link]
| Year | Award | Performance | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | Best New Artist | — | Won |
| Album of the Year | The Divine Miss M | Nominated | |
| Best Female Pop Vocal Performance | "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" | Nominated | |
| 1981 | Best Female Pop Vocal Performance | "The Rose" | Won |
| Record of the Year | Nominated | ||
| 1990 | Record of the Year | "Wind Beneath My Wings" | Won |
| Best Female Pop Vocal Performance | Nominated | ||
| 1991 | Best Female Pop Vocal Performance | "From a Distance" | Nominated |
| Record of the Year | Nominated | ||
| 2004 | Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album | Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook | Nominated |
| 2007 | Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album | Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook | Nominated |
| 2008 | Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album | Cool Yule | Nominated |
- The year given is the year of the ceremony.
- In 1981 the album In Harmony: A Sesame Street Record won the Grammy for Best Recording for Children, Midler was one of the various artists featured. This Grammy was awarded to the producers, David Levine and Lucy Simon.
- "Wind Beneath My Wings" also won the Grammy for Song of the Year. This Grammy was awarded to the songwriters, Larry Henley and Jeff Silbar.
- In 1990 Midler's version of "From a Distance" won the Grammy for Song of the Year. This Grammy was awarded to the songwriter, Julie Gold.
Ongoing work[link]
In 2006, Midler released a new Christmas album, Cool Yule, featuring the title song (written by Steve Allen) and a duet of "Winter Wonderland"/"Let It Snow" with Johnny Mathis. Midler starred in the 2007 film Then She Found Me, directed by Helen Hunt and starring Hunt, Matthew Broderick, and Colin Firth, and appeared on the American Idol season 6 finale, singing "Wind Beneath My Wings" live at the Kodak Theatre.
On December 6, 2007, Midler's album Cool Yule received a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.[33]
Midler had a Vegas show entitled Bette Midler: The Showgirl Must Go On at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. The show comprised The Staggering Harlettes, 20 female dancers called The Caesar Salad Girls and a 13-piece band. The show debuted on February 20, 2008, and played its final performance on January 31, 2010, after a two-year run.[34] The show was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding variety,music or comedy special in 2011.[35]
A new "best of" album, Jackpot: The Best Bette, was released in 2008 and reached No. 66 on the U.S. charts, and No. 6 in the UK, where it was certified Platinum for sales of over 300,000 copies.[36]
In June 2009, Midler appeared on the Bravo TV show My Life on the D-List with Kathy Griffin. In December 2009, Midler appeared in the Royal Variety Performance, an annual British charity event attended by Queen Elizabeth II. She performed "In My Life" and "Wind Beneath My Wings" as the closing act.[37]
In 2010, Midler voiced the character Kitty Galore in the animated film Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore. The film was a modest success, grossing $112 million worldwide.[38] In November 2010, Midler released Memories of You, another compilation of lesser known tracks from her catalog. She promoted the album to her UK fans on Daybreak and The Graham Norton Show, on the latter of which she also performed "Dreamland" from For the Boys.[citation needed]
Midler is one of the producers of the Broadway production of the musical Priscilla Queen of the Desert which opened in February 2011.[39]
Midler will be co-starring alongside Billy Crystal in the movie Parental Guidance due to be released in 2012. Midler also auctioned her outfits and achievements from her 40-year career in November 2011 in order to raise money for the New York Restoration Project.
Midler has an estimated net worth of $175 million.[40]
In June 2012, she is slated to receive the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award at the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York in recognition of her having "captivated the world" with her "stylish presentation and unmistakable voice".[41]
Charity work[link]
In 1995, Midler founded the New York Restoration Project (NYRP), a non-profit organization with the goal of revitalizing neglected neighborhood parks in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods of New York City.[5] These include Highbridge Park, Fort Washington Park, and Fort Tryon Park in upper Manhattan and Roberto Clemente State Park and Bridge Park in the Bronx.[42]
In 1999, the city planned to auction 114 community gardens for commercial development. Midler led a coalition of greening organizations to save them. NYRP took ownership of 60 of the most neglected plots. Today, Midler and her organization work with local volunteers and community groups to ensure that these gardens are kept safe, clean and vibrant. In 2003, Midler opened Swindler Cove Park, a new 5-acre (20,000 m2) public park on the Harlem River shore featuring specially designed educational facilities and the Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse, the first community rowing facility to be built on the Harlem River in more than 100 years. The organization offers free in-school and after-school environmental education programming to students from high-poverty Title I schools.[42]
Discography[link]
Main article: Bette Midler discography
- 1972: The Divine Miss M
- 1973: Bette Midler
- 1976: Songs for the New Depression
- 1977: Live at Last
- 1977: Broken Blossom
- 1979: Thighs and Whispers
- 1983: No Frills
- 1990: Some People's Lives
- 1995: Bette of Roses
- 1998: Bathhouse Betty
- 2000: Bette
- 2003: Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook
- 2005: Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook
- 2006: Cool Yule
Tours[link]
|
|
Filmography[link]
Film[link]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | Hawaii | Passenger | uncredited |
| 1969 | Goodbye, Columbus | Wedding Guest | uncredited, cut scene |
| 1972 | Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers | unknown | voice |
| 1974 | Thorn, TheThe Thorn | Virgin Mary | Also known as The Divine Mr. J; blocked distribution of film |
| 1979 | Rose, TheThe Rose | Mary Rose Foster | Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Golden Globe Award New Star Of The Year - Actress Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role |
| 1980 | Divine Madness! | Herself/ Divine Miss M. |
concert film Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |
| 1982 | Jinxed! | Bonita Friml | |
| 1986 | Down and Out in Beverly Hills | Barbara Whiteman | Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |
| 1986 | Ruthless People | Barbara Stone | American Comedy Award for Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture |
| 1987 | Outrageous Fortune | Sandy Brozinsky | American Comedy Award for Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |
| 1988 | Beaches | C. C. Bloom | |
| 1988 | Oliver & Company | Georgette | voice |
| 1988 | Big Business | Sadie Shelton/Sadie Ratliff | American Comedy Award for Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture |
| 1989 | Lottery, TheThe Lottery | Short film | |
| 1990 | Stella | Stella Claire | |
| 1991 | For the Boys | Dixie Leonard | Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress |
| 1991 | Scenes from a Mall | Deborah Fifer | |
| 1992 | Hijinx | ... The Ringmaster | |
| 1993 | Gypsy | Mama Rose | Television film Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie |
| 1993 | Hocus Pocus | Winifred 'Winnie' Sanderson | Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actress |
| 1995 | Get Shorty | Doris Saphron | uncredited American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture |
| 1996 | First Wives Club, TheThe First Wives Club | Brenda Cushman | National Board of Review Award for Best Cast Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |
| 1997 | That Old Feeling | Lilly Leonard | |
| 1999 | Get Bruce | Herself | |
| 1999 | Fantasia 2000 | Herself / Hostess | (segment "Piano Concerto No. 2, Allegro, Opus 102") |
| 2000 | What Women Want | Dr. J.M. Perkins | uncredited |
| 2000 | Isn't She Great | Jacqueline Susann | |
| 2000 | Drowning Mona | Mona Dearly | |
| 2004 | Stepford Wives, TheThe Stepford Wives | Bobbie Markowitz | |
| 2007 | Then She Found Me | Bernice Graves | |
| 2008 | Women, TheThe Women | Leah Miller | |
| 2010 | Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore | Kitty Galore | |
| 2012 | Parental Guidance | Diane Decker | To be released December 25, 2012 |
Television[link]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Vegetable Soup | Woody the Spoon | Voice role |
| 1976 | The Bette Midler Show | Herself | Television special |
| 1977 | Ol' Red Hair is Back | Herself | Television special Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Special Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program |
| 1984 | Art Or Bust | Herself/ Divine Miss M. |
Television special |
| 1984 | Video Music Awards | Herself/ co-host |
Awards Show |
| 1989 | Lottery, TheThe Lottery | Music teacher | Created to demonstrate special effects; shot entirely and shown only at Disney-MGM Studios in Florida |
| 1990 | Earth Day Special | Mother Nature | |
| 1993 | Simpsons, TheThe Simpsons | Herself | "Krusty Gets Kancelled" |
| 1995 | Seinfeld | Herself | "The Understudy" |
| 1997 | Diva Las Vegas | Herself/ Divine Miss M. |
Television special Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Special |
| 1997 | Nanny, TheThe Nanny | Herself | "You Bette Your Life" |
| 1998 | Murphy Brown | Herself | "Never Can Say Goodbye" |
| 1999 | Jackie's Back | Herself | |
| 2000–01 | Bette | Bette | 18 episodes TV Guide Award - Actress of the Year in a New Series Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy |
| 2008 | Strictly Come Dancing | Herself | Performed Wind Beneath My Wings |
| 2009 | Loose Women | Herself | Guest Host |
| 2009 | Dancing on Ice | Herself | Performed |
| 2009 | Strictly Come Dancing | Herself | Performed The Rose |
| 2009 | One Show, TheThe One Show | Herself | Guest |
| 2009 | Royal Variety Performance, TheThe Royal Variety Performance | Herself | Performed |
| 2009 | Marriage Ref, TheThe Marriage Ref | Herself | Guest |
| 2009 | Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List | Herself | Guest / toured Las Vegas nightlife w/Kathy |
| 2010 | Showgirl Must Go On, TheThe Showgirl Must Go On | Herself | HBO TV Special (December 31) |
| 2010 | Paul O'Grady's Christmas | Herself | Guest |
See also[link]
- List of number-one hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
- List of number-one dance hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart
References[link]
- ^ Sinead Garvan (26 November 2010). "Bette Midler: I wouldn't make it now". BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11842187. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- ^ [1] at las vegas sun
- ^ "The Religious Affiliation of Singer, Actress, Comedian Bette Midler". Adherents.com. 8 October 2005. http://www.adherents.com/people/pm/Bette_Midler.html. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- ^ "Bette Midler, Biography (1945-)". FilmReference.com. http://www.filmreference.com/film/58/Bette-Midler.html. Retrieved 2011-07-28.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Stated on Inside the Actors Studio, 2004
- ^ The Class of 1963! We're Radgrads![dead link]
- ^ High School Hoss Elections[dead link]
- ^ "Bette Midler: 62 and Heading for Vegas!". The Oprah Winfrey Show. 28 January 2008. Harpo Productions, Inc.
- ^ "Bette Midler". Jewish Women's Archive. http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/midler-bette. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- ^ a b Richard Corliss (17 March 2004). "That Old Feeling: Best Bette Yet". Time (Time.com). http://www.time.com/time/columnist/corliss/article/0,9565,601990,00.html. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- ^ "Bette Midler". BroadwayWorld.com. http://broadwayworld.com/people/Bette_Midler/. Retrieved 2011-07-28.
- ^ "Bette Midler". Houston Voice (DelveIntoTheDevine.com). 23 October 1998. http://delveintothedivine.com/bio/bettebathhouse.html. Retrieved 2011-07-28.
- ^ Melinda Bargreen (22 July 2005). "Glynn Ross, 90, turned Seattle into opera destination". The Seattle Times (Seattletimes.com). http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/entertainment/2002394625_ross22.html. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- ^ a b c d "Gold & Platinum Searchable database-Bette Midler". Recording Industry Association of America. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?content_selector=gold-platinum-searchable-database. Retrieved 2011-07-28.
- ^ a b c "Past Winners Search-Midler". Grammy.com. http://www.grammy.com/nominees/search?artist=midler&title=&year=All&genre=All. Retrieved 2011-07-28.
- ^ a b Sforza, John: "Swing It! The Andrews Sisters Story;" Univeristy Press of Kentucky, 2000; 289 pages.
- ^ Joel Whitburn (1 May 2002). Top Adult Contemporary 1961-2001. Menomonee Falls, WI: Record Research, Inc. 3rd edition. p. 170. ISBN 978-0-89820-149-9.
- ^ "Search Past Winners-1974". TonyAwards.com. http://www.tonyawards.com/p/tonys_search?start=15&year=1974&award=All&lname=&fname=&show=. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
- ^ Bette Midler Emmy Winner
- ^ a b c "Awards for Bette Midler". imdb. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000541/awards. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- ^ "Thighs and Wispers". betteontheboards.com. http://www.betteontheboards.com/boards/album-09.htm. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- ^ "'We Are The World' Tune Brings Out The Best of America's 46 Stars". Jet (Google Books): p. 16. February 18, 1985. http://books.google.com/books?id=CbMDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA16&dq=jackson+%22we+are+the+world%22&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&num=100&as_brr=3&ei=E4EmSvWKIZj2MPnR0ZUL#v=onepage&q=jackson%20%22we%20are%20the%20world%22&f=false. Retrieved 2011-07-28.
- ^ Lynn Hirschburg (October 8, 2000). "Meta-Midler". New York Times: p. 14. http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/08/magazine/meta-midler.html?scp=4&sq=johnny%20carson%20midler&st=nyt&pagewanted=1. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- ^ "Hocus Pocus (1993)". IMDb. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107120/. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- ^ "Past Recipients". wif.org. http://wif.org/past-recipients. Retrieved May 9, 2011.
- ^ Bill Saporito (31 March 2003). "Great Performances to Savor". Time (Time.com). http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1004565-1,00.html. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- ^ "To Deserve You – Bette Midler". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/#/song/bette-midler/to-deserve-you/426769. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- ^ "I'm Beautiful – Bette Midler". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/#/song/bette-midler/i-m-beautiful/1373627. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- ^ "search results" Grammy.com
- ^ "Complete list of 46th annual Grammy winners and nominees". Chicago Tribune. Associated Press. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-grammys-nominees,0,3626237.story. Retrieved February 11, 2012.
- ^ "Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook-Bette Midler". Billboard.com. http://www.billboard.com/#/album/bette-midler/sings-the-peggy-lee-songbook/736948. Retrieved 2011-07-28.
- ^ "49th Annual Grammy Awards Winners List". National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on March 5, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070305201811/http://www.grammy.com/GRAMMY_Awards/49th_Show/list.aspx. Retrieved February 11, 2012.
- ^ "Bette Midler's Array of Awards". Bootleg Betty. http://www.bootlegbetty.com/awardsandnominations.htm. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- ^ John Katsilometes (5 November 2009). "Bette Midler’s residency at Caesars Palace to end Jan. 31". Las Vegas Sun (lasvegassun.com). http://www.lasvegassun.com/blogs/kats-report/2009/nov/05/midlers-residency-caesars-palace-end-jan-31/. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- ^ [2] at Emmys official site
- ^ "Bette Midler - Jackpot: The Best Bette". charts.us. http://acharts.us/album/38034. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- ^ Robin Duke (December 8, 2009). "The Royal Variety Performance". The Stage. http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/26531/the-royal-variety-performance. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- ^ [3] at box office mojo
- ^ Andrew Gans (28 February 2011). "Priscilla Queen of the Desert Kicks Up Its Heels on Broadway Starting Feb. 28". Playbill (Playbill.com). http://www.playbill.com/events/event_detail/21056-Priscilla-Queen-of-the-Desert-at-Palace-Theatre. Retrieved 2011-07-28.
- ^ Midler net worth. CelebrityNetWorth.com
- ^ "Bette Midler to receive Songwriter Hall Of Fame award". BBC. March 8, 2012.
- ^ a b "About NYRP". New York Restoration Project. http://www.nyrp.org/About/our_mission_and_strategic_plan_. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
Further reading[link]
- A View From A Broad 1981
- The Saga of Baby Divine (Crown Publishers, 1984), ISBN 978-0-517-55040-3
- Bette: An Intimate Biography of Bette Midler by George Mair (Birch Lane Press, 1995), ISBN 1-55972-272-X
External links[link]
|
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bette Midler |
|
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Bette Midler |
- Official Website
- Bette Midler: Bootleg Betty
- Bette Midler: Fan-Forum
- Bette on the Boards
- Bette Midler at the Internet Movie Database
- Bette Midler at the Internet Broadway Database
- Bette Midler at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
- Bette Midler at TVGuide.com
- Bette Midler bio, photos, stories and blogs in the Las Vegas Sun
- Bette Midler on Muppet Wiki
- Bette Midler at Emmys.com
| Preceded by none |
MTV Video Music Awards host 1984 (co-host with Dan Aykroyd) |
Succeeded by Eddie Murphy |
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Midler, Bette |
| Alternative names | Midler, Bette Davis |
| Short description | Singer, actress |
| Date of birth | December 1, 1945 |
| Place of birth | Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Bette_Midler
Related pages:
http://it.wn.com/Bette Midler
http://es.wn.com/Bette Midler
http://ru.wn.com/Мидлер, Бетт
http://fr.wn.com/Bette Midler
http://de.wn.com/Bette Midler
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bette_Midler
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
3:11
Johnny Eats a Chip
johnnycarson
Johnny Eats a Chip
Johnny Carson gives potato chip collector Myrtle Young the shock of her life on "The Tonight Show" in 1987. Visit www.facebook.com to like "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" on Facebook. And visit www.JohnnyCarson.com Follow Johnny Carson on Twitter at http
3:08
Johnny Carson's last TV appearance
UklaTheMokk
Johnny Carson's last TV appearance
I had to upload this because the other one on YouTube had the comments disabled and I had to say that Johnny will be missed and is by far my favorite celebrity of all time. CLASS ACT!! His leaving The Tonight Show was truly the end of an era...his passing made obviously dashed any hopes of any further appearances, and in no small way, I'll never be able to laugh that hard or be entertained that much as when he was the host of The Tonight Show.
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