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Mark interviews author Mark Malkoff. · The Mark Simone Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You have to get It's the definitive best book ever
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: written about Johnny Carson. It's called Love Johnny Carson. Just
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: get this book, trust me, you love it. The book's
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: called Love Johnny Carson. It's by Mark Malkoff who for
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: the past few years has been doing the Carson Podcast,
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  Speaker 1: and he's had six hundred guests, everybody that was ever
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  Speaker 1: on the Tonight Show, everybody that ever worked at the
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  Speaker 1: Tonight Show. It's rivening. I've listened to every episode, each
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  Speaker 1: one two or three times. But get the new book
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  Speaker 1: called Love Johnny Carson. The author is we us right now,
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  Speaker 1: Mark Malkoff. How you doing, Mark, I'm doing great.
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  Speaker 2: Nice to talk to you, sir.
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  Speaker 1: Hey. Now here's the problem. You have a lot of
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  Speaker 1: TV people today, talk show hosts, but they're just kind
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  Speaker 1: of there. You don't have giants anymore. Back then, you
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  Speaker 1: have these giant, legendary TV figures. You will never see
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  Speaker 1: another Johnny Carson.
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  Speaker 2: Will we I don't think so. I mean everyone in
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  Speaker 2: the nation at eleven thirty would tune in for his
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  Speaker 2: take on the day. I mean it's been said that,
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  Speaker 2: you know, he really wasn't political because he didn't want
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  Speaker 2: to take size and alienate half his audience. He wanted
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  Speaker 2: to do an entertainment shown. Everybody passed through that show.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, now that's a good point. The reason you waited
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  Speaker 1: for that monologue. You wanted to get a funny take
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  Speaker 1: on the politicians, the president, whatever happened that day. But
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  Speaker 1: today's world, you hear forty seven talk radio shows and
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  Speaker 1: twelve cable news shows. So you've by the time it's
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  Speaker 1: eleven thirty, you've had eighty seven thousand takes on everything.
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  Speaker 1: What's the late thy wants to do?
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  Speaker 2: It's really different. He liked to not really take He
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  Speaker 2: didn't really want to take sides. But I will tell
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  Speaker 2: you something. George W. Herbert Walker Bush when he was president,
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  Speaker 2: it was a secret. He was all set to go
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  Speaker 2: on the show in nineteen ninety two and announced that
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  Speaker 2: he was going to present the Presidential Medal of Freedom
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  Speaker 2: to Carson, and Carson secretly told one of his writers
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  Speaker 2: that he was playing on and voting for Bush. But
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  Speaker 2: the Rodney King ryots happened, and President Bush Herbert Walker
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  Speaker 2: didn't think it was appropriate. But a few months later,
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  Speaker 2: after Johnny retired, he did go to the White House
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  Speaker 2: and slept over with Bush. And his son Corey actually
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  Speaker 2: played guitar in the Oval office for Bush.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, there were a lot of presidents. Was he was
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  Speaker 1: part of the Reagan inauguration? Wasn't he? Didn't he perform
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  Speaker 1: there for that? Yeah?
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  Speaker 2: That was actually produced by Frank Sinatra, And whatever Sinatra
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  Speaker 2: asked of Carson, Carson said yes. And Nancy Reagan. The
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  Speaker 2: Reagans loved Johnny. But Nancy Reagan did call up twice
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  Speaker 2: Johnny that she wasn't happy with some jokes, but overall
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  Speaker 2: they laughed.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. But getting back to the point of bigness, the
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  Speaker 1: Tonight's show was so big with Carson. You know, sometimes
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  Speaker 1: you're in a comedy club and they'll introduce the guy
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  Speaker 1: and they'll say, he's been on with Jimmy Fallon fourteen times,
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  Speaker 1: he's been on with Kimmel seventeen times, and you still
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  Speaker 1: never heard of this guy. But in the old days
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  Speaker 1: of Carson, he could make a star overnight. It was
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  Speaker 1: a major It was true.
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  Speaker 2: It was the dreams. I mean, there was unknown. Breddy
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  Speaker 2: Prince goes on the show. He's twenty years old. Within
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  Speaker 2: six months he has the number one to come in America.
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  Speaker 2: I talked to everybody from Drew Carrey to Louis Anderson
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  Speaker 2: and this was their dream. I mean they had some
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  Speaker 2: of them had tears in their eyes telling me this
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  Speaker 2: story about what Johnny meant to them the country. Not
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  Speaker 2: only that, but the young comedians in between commercials and
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  Speaker 2: after the show, Johnny sometimes would get them punch ups
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  Speaker 2: on their materials to improve their jokes into a young
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  Speaker 2: comic that is like Santa Claus. I mean that you
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  Speaker 2: can't ask for a gift better than that.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a big feature of the Tonight Show
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  Speaker 1: seeing the latest, newest best comics. Where did that stop?
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  Speaker 1: I guess it was Leno that stopped doing that on
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  Speaker 1: the Tonight Show.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Jay noticed that the ratings were going down when
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  Speaker 2: they had committe stand ups, so they really stopped doing it.
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  Speaker 2: It's I really feel like with Lem David Letterman on CBS,
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  Speaker 2: the Great Romano was the big person that got famous
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  Speaker 2: through that. But yeah, it's a shame that nothing like
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  Speaker 2: that exists. I really do miss Johnny Carson being in
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  Speaker 2: New York doing the Tonight Show. I mean, he loved
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  Speaker 2: the city. He'd be in Grand Central Station playing tennis
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  Speaker 2: with Mayor Lindsay. He'd be in the Bronx having lunch
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  Speaker 2: with George c. Scott because they were friends and New
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  Speaker 2: York was dear to him. And I'm obsessed with finding
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  Speaker 2: footage because we both know most of it was erased,
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  Speaker 2: and Carson was furious.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, the New York years, the first ten years of
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  Speaker 1: the Tonight Show, I thought that was the best period,
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  Speaker 1: because you're right, he was in Jilly's, he was in
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  Speaker 1: the Copa Cavana, he was all over New York. Once
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  Speaker 1: he got to California, he'd go home and that'd be it.
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  Speaker 1: He'd sit by his pool or play tennis. It wasn't
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  Speaker 1: the same car.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, New York was just I mean he had this
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  Speaker 2: green Cadillac and he had a driver and on Sixth
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  Speaker 2: Avenue he'd be waiting after the show, and around nine
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  Speaker 2: o'clock he'd come down and get into his cadillact and
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  Speaker 2: go back to the un Plaza, or go to Danny's hideaway,
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  Speaker 2: or meet Sinatra or Buddy Rich. He had a really
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  Speaker 2: amazing like one time his green Cadillac as his driver
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  Speaker 2: had an umbrella because it was raining over his head.
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  Speaker 2: Person watched his green Catalog be stolen by somebody and
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  Speaker 2: they're driving the guy's driving on Sixth Avenue and Carson
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  Speaker 2: is in disbelief. This guy just stole his car. So yeah,
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  Speaker 2: that was a low point for Carson, but he loved
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  Speaker 2: the city. He actually when he moved to California, he
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  Speaker 2: bought an apartment at the in the Pierre Hotel.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, hey, people, man, I realized the nineteen late nineteen
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  Speaker 1: sixties New York was a dangerous place, even the seventies.
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  Speaker 1: So it was worse than today. The movie Death, which
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  Speaker 1: that was New York.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a tough place. I mean, Johnny would
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  Speaker 2: have loved to have walked to work, but he definitely
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  Speaker 2: would be a target just being famous in money. So
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  Speaker 2: we both know Mark occasionally he would put on a
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  Speaker 2: disguise and walk around the city. He said he would
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  Speaker 2: feel ridiculous, but the costume people at NBC gave him
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  Speaker 2: this so he could go out with his sons.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, so we're talking of this before. When I was
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  Speaker 1: a kid, he watched like Leave It to Beaver and
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  Speaker 1: there was the father Ward Cleaver, and you didn't want
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  Speaker 1: to be anything like that guy. That's not what you
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  Speaker 1: wanted to be in life. But then you see as
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  Speaker 1: a little kid, you'd see Johnny Carson's that's the kind
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  Speaker 1: of adult I'd like to be that kind of personality
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  Speaker 1: that So he probably inspired a lot of people, didn't he.
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  Speaker 2: I think he absolutely did. I mean especially you know
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  Speaker 2: during the New York days. I mean he was pitching
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  Speaker 2: to Mickey Mannle and Roger Maris at Yankee Stady. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: he was jumping out of an airplane, playing with the
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  Speaker 2: jets at Polo Grounds. I mean it was really fun.
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  Speaker 2: And then you know he was at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
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  Speaker 2: with Parnelli Jones, going hundreds of miles an hour. But
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  Speaker 2: there was just something cool about him. I mean his dress.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, he made so much money. People all across America,
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  Speaker 2: young men would save up their money to buy a
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  Speaker 2: Johnny Carson suit. He made the turtlenecks popular. They were
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  Speaker 2: selling out all over the place because of Carson.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, like James Bond would come in and
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  Speaker 1: he'd have one great line, a funny line, one line.
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  Speaker 1: But then you watch Carson. He could keep that up
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  Speaker 1: for an hour and a half the interview a guests
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  Speaker 1: and have fifty funny lines.
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  Speaker 2: So he had this ability where his brain there was
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  Speaker 2: this joke file and he would admit that a lot
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  Speaker 2: of those ad libes were things he had used in
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  Speaker 2: the past or had heard, but there was just nobody
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  Speaker 2: that was quicker than Johnny Carson. I mean, the Jack
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  Speaker 2: influence with the pauses when he would have animals on
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  Speaker 2: was something else. He was absolutely brilliant. You have a
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  Speaker 2: marsupial on his head relieving itself, and Carson look into
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  Speaker 2: the spider going up to his arm. I mean, the
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  Speaker 2: guy could do anything.
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  Speaker 1: So here's the big question. Now, the Tonight show was enormous.
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  Speaker 1: You'd be a star overnight if you're on there. Letterman
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  Speaker 1: was really a big show, and the late night shows
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  Speaker 1: today are nothing like that. And you got to think
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  Speaker 1: at some point they're going to disappear because network audiences
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  Speaker 1: are getting smaller, budgets are getting smaller. Are we going
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  Speaker 1: to see the end of late night TV at some
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  Speaker 1: point in the next couple of years.
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  Speaker 2: It really looks that way unfortunately. I mean they took
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  Speaker 2: away seth Meyer's ban. Col Bear is going off in May.
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  Speaker 2: It's tough. Johnny had eight writers at the most, sometimes
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  Speaker 2: only four writers, and all these shows have you know,
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  Speaker 2: twenty plus writers that they have banned. So I think
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  Speaker 2: if the shows do continue, we'll come back. They're just
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  Speaker 2: going to be really scaled down. I don't think we're
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  Speaker 2: ever going to see an amazing doc seference in twenty
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  Speaker 2: piece orchestra ever again, which is a shame.
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  Speaker 1: Well. Yeah, and like I said, with talk radio, with
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  Speaker 1: cable news, by the time it's eleven thirty, you've probably
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  Speaker 1: seen fourteen talk shows already that day, So you really don't.
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  Speaker 2: It's really true. I mean, it's where we are. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: it's it's something that I didn't foresee happening. But it's
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  Speaker 2: just network television.
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  Speaker 1: In a while back when they took Jimmy Kimmel off
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  Speaker 1: here for about a week and during that week they
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  Speaker 1: ran game show reruns and it got triple the ratings.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm sure it costs nothing to run the reruns.
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  Speaker 1: So when Colbert goes off, I would assume it's not
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  Speaker 1: going to be another late night show.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's hard to say. You're an al and the mogul.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe a billionaire has been buy an ad time to
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  Speaker 2: the twelve thirty slot and doing his own comedy show
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  Speaker 2: comics on leash. So I mean I could see Byron
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  Speaker 2: Allens being he's such an amazing business man taking that
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  Speaker 2: slot and just buying it from CBS. But we'll see
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  Speaker 2: what happens.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, everybody, get this book. It's the greatest book
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  Speaker 1: ever written on Late Night on Johnny Carson. It's called
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  Speaker 1: Love Johnny Carson. Just trust me, you'll thank me. Go
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: order it right now, Love Johnny Carson. You can get
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: it at Amazon. Mark Malkoff is the author. And you're
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: doing a book tour, right You're all over the country
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  Speaker 1: talking about it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. I got to go to Johnny's hometown of Norfolk.
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  Speaker 2: I thought, ah, it's called nor Fork, nor Folk. They
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: said it's north Fork. But I got to go. Being
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  Speaker 2: Johnny's boyhood home. They asked me to autograph the wall
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  Speaker 2: next to the Smothers brothers and Paul Riser and all
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  Speaker 2: these people like Dick have It. It was an honor to
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  Speaker 2: be there and talk to people and sign books. I
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  Speaker 2: did something in Chicago at the Broadcast Museum of Communications,
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: and I'm going to be doing more events in New York.
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  Speaker 2: So stay tuned.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Well, let's know, we'll promote him. So when
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  Speaker 1: you do all these events, all these audience, what do
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  Speaker 1: they ask you the most about Carson?
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  Speaker 2: Just people just ask me what he was like off camera,
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  Speaker 2: and the people that I talked to his best friends
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  Speaker 2: consistently would say he was almost the same Johnny on
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  Speaker 2: and off camera, which was shocking because the media would
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  Speaker 2: make him out to be cold in a loof, and
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  Speaker 2: his friends constantly would say he was not, like he
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  Speaker 2: was very shy and reserved when people didn't know him.
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  Speaker 2: But if not, if he knew you, he was the
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  Speaker 2: same Johnny. And constantly people when they come up to me,
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  Speaker 2: just tell me how much they missed the man.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, he was the same Johnny. But and he
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  Speaker 1: explained this once, when he goes to work, he would
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  Speaker 1: get kind of cold on the loof because you're there
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  Speaker 1: to work. It's not a party. You're not there to
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  Speaker 1: have fun on the air.
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  Speaker 2: You're right, he would. Yeah, he would save his energy.
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  Speaker 2: That was a big thing with him. He wouldn't get
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: to the studio until he'd been working all day, but
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: he would conserve his energy. So it might really look
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: like it's tense, and I think he might have liked
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: it a little. At ten, everyone wanted everyone to be
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: excellent and really be on on notice and put everything
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  Speaker 2: into it.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, you'll love this book. Go order it right now.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: The book's called Love Johnny Carson by Mark Malcoff, and
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: get it on Amazon. Love Johnny Carson. Get the book
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: and start listening to the Carson Podcast. It's it's great. Hey,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: Mark Malcoff, thanks for being with us. We'll do it
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: again soon.
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  Speaker 2: I'd love that.
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  Speaker 1: Mark.
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  Speaker 2: It's still good in your voice, good talking you take.
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  Speaker 1: Care, take care. Yeah, thanks, Yeah, you'll love this book.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: And listen to the Carson Podcast, six hundred amazing episodes. Hey,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: don't forget Buck and Clay Noon Today excellent show. Sean
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: Hannity the most listened to radio show in America at three,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: Jesse Kelly at six, and Jimmy Fayala. Who's the closest
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: you'll get to Johnny Carson Now his Saturday night show
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: on Fox, but he does a great radio show every
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: night here every weeknight, nine o'clock on seven to ten
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: wor