Carson the Magnificent

De: Bill Zehme, Mike Thomas

Narrado por: Johnny Heller

A much-anticipated biography—twenty years in the making—of the entertainer who redefined late-night television and reshaped American culture.

In 2002, Bill Zehme landed one of the most coveted assignments for a magazine writer: an interview with Johnny Carson—the only one he’d granted since retiring from hosting The Tonight Show a decade earlier. Zehme was tapped for the Esquire feature story thanks to his years of legendary celebrity profiles, and the resulting piece portrayed Carson as more human being than showbiz legend. Shortly after Carson’s death in 2005 and urged on by many of those closest to Carson, Zehme signed a contract to do an expansive biography. He toiled on the book for nearly a decade—interviewing dozens of Carson’s colleagues and friends and filling up a storage locker with his voluminous research—before a cancer diagnosis and ongoing treatments halted his progress. When he died in 2023 his obituaries mentioned the Carson book, with New York Times comedy critic Jason Zinoman calling it “one of the great unfinished biographies.”

Yet the hundreds of pages Zehme managed to complete are astounding both for the caliber of their writing and how they illuminate one of the most inscrutable figures in entertainment history: A man who brought so much joy and laughter to so many millions but was himself exceedingly shy and private. Zehme traces Carson’s rise from a magic-obsessed Nebraska boy to a Navy ensign in World War II to a burgeoning radio and TV personality to, eventually, host of The Tonight Show—which he transformed, along with the entirety of American popular culture, over the next three decades. Without Carson, there would be no late-night television as we know it. On a much more intimate level, Zehme also captures the turmoil and anguish that accompanied the success: four marriages, troubles with alcohol, and the devastating loss of a child.

In one passage, Zehme notes that when asked by an interviewer in the mid-80s for the secret to his success, Carson replied simply, “Be yourself and tell the truth.” Completed with help from journalist and Zehme’s former research assistant Mike Thomas, Carson the Magnificent offers just that: an honest assessment of who Johnny Carson really was.

©2024 Bill Zehme (P)2024 Simon & Schuster Audio

Good story and great material.

Good story and the material was overall excellent. However, the narrator chosen could have been better chosen to bring out a more lively narration.

Overall Good Listen

Enjoyable overall. Many of the Carson stories I'd heard already but this book added to the background and follow up. Performance by reader was at times clipped and corny but not too bad.

True and accurate

Excellent as the book ran to its end. And at the end, it was very sad. But true.

the completeness

Loved the frankness and honesty. Details of why there will never be another Kohnny Carson

Magnificent

I love Johnny Carson! I grew up with him. This book lets me know him better. Thanks.

A new Johnny Carson is possible

Young people have no idea of the staggering talent of Johnny Carson.
What I miss the most is Johnny Carson‘s ability to interview a young child. And his opening monologue.
The Gutfeld show has opened the door for a possible new Johnny Carson show on network TV. He has two of the things I like the most about Johnny Carson show. Sometimes all the people on the couch on the Johnny Carson show would join in and it would be a comedy riff of jokes. Johnny Carson was not afraid to be politically incorrect. The current nighttime comedy shows have to compromise and hire someone who is less talented and woke.

A money grab?

Fans of comedy and/or Carson may enjoy the book despite its weakness. The book seems a strong of entries that would be at home in an article rather than a cohesive book with something to say. Little to nothing new about Carson -and very little insight that flows from one or another piece of research or thought. There is reason why the author did not publish it when alive -and unfortunately those who took over on the project did not do enough. Money grab might be a bit strong, but this disappointing book struck me as not far off that.

Hate the voice of that reader.

This book was somewhat disappointing. Did not break much new ground. At times it was like a compilation of previous articles.

Nothing new regarding “Here’s Johnny”!

Really nothing new under the sun when it comes to this book. There’s been multiple books written about the life of Johnny Carson and the Tonight Show. This book in particular provide a lot of insight to many of the periodical and newspaper articles filled with factoids about Johnny and the Tonight Show. Henry Bushkin book was probably better than this one. That was the last one that I read and probably will stick to that book as the main stay of anything about Johnny. This was a very fair book and nothing more than that. Nothing new to define “Here’s Johnny”

An inside look at a man we all thought we knew

For those of us who grew up with The Johnny Carson Show (we NEVER called it the Tonight Show) this is a great look at the man we thought we knew. But, Johnny made everyone feel like they knew him—that was a special talent.

When this is in its 100th printing decades from now, there still won’t have been another like him.