It’s been less than a year since the last big book about Johnny Carson—Carson the Magnificent, by Bill Zehme—hit bookstores. Who could possibly have more to say about one of the most talked-about figures in entertainment history?
Mark Malkoff can, and does, in Love Johnny Carson, a new portrait of the still-towering titan of late-night television, filled with fresh anecdotes and observations about the comic, the host, and the often elusive man.
Malkoff does not find Carson especially elusive because he’s spoken with so many guides to the star’s performing artistry and personality. The result, Malkoff says, is not precisely a biography, but rather “an inside look at the show, at Carson’s professional career, his friends, the people he loved and who loved him, and what he meant to them and to America.”
If that sounds like a literal labor of love—and surely it is, because there’s no comma in the book’s title—it’s because Malkoff has made capturing the essence of Carson the center of his career and a large portion of his life.
What’s most surprising about that is Carson left The Tonight Show in 1992, when Malkoff was all of 16 years old. To top that, his devoted fandom began, he says, “when I was about five or six.”
His dad had inspired his interest in comedy. Brief early glimpses of Carson at work led to regular tapings on the family VCR, and fascination bloomed—fascination with every aspect of the show.
“As a kid I wanted to know who was opening the curtains for Johnny,” he recalls, referring to Carson’s nightly monologue entrance.
Of course he found out: Irving Davis. And yes, Malkoff interviewed him—twice. Both interviews were for the Carson-centric podcast that served as the precursor to the book. He started that in 2013, and it ran weekly through 2022 with guests who had some Carson proximity, near or far (full disclosure: I was one of them on several occasions)—guests that Malkoff chased with indefatigable energy and insufficient funds.
For years he couldn’t monetize the podcast, leaving him deep in the hole on expenses until he asked listeners for contributions—and was thrilled with the response. That confirmed for him the enduring appeal of Carson.
In total, Malkoff compiled over 400 interviews. Many A-list Carson guests spoke to him, but the true “gets” for him were people like the show’s writers, talent bookers, segment producers, even Carson’s personal assistant. He overcame any potential reluctance to speak candidly about Carson by assuring them, “I have no agenda at all, other than to just talk about Johnny.”
The result is many backstage stories that often bring new light to familiar Carson tales. Ed Ames, for example—the participant in what’s said to be the biggest sustained laugh in TV history, thanks to his excruciatingly mis-aimed tomahawk throw—spoke with Malkoff about his memories of the incident. Ames was in his 90s at the time, and the moment essentially defined his show business career.
It turned out Ames had no idea how to throw a tomahawk and had barely figured it out before being thrust into action. He was convinced the bit would be cut by the censors. Carson, knowing a spectacular bit of comedy when he saw it, ensured it would air.
If you remember candidate Bill Clinton playing sax on Arsenio, you may be surprised to learn he played sax on The Tonight Show four years earlier.
Two infamous jokes involving Arnold Palmer and Zsa Zsa Gabor—about golf balls and a kitty cat—get debunked. Nothing like them ever appeared on the air. They were only allowed to grow into folklore because most of the New York years of Carson’s Tonight Show were incomprehensibly erased by NBC. Malkoff managed to find witnesses to do the debunking.
Malkoff concedes the book is “overwhelmingly positive” about Carson. At the same time, it does not sound like a Trump cabinet meeting. Carson’s problems with alcohol and staying married are addressed, as is his unrelenting competitiveness.
For example: NBC wanted to launch Tom Snyder’s new Tomorrow Show out of the annual, high-rated Carson anniversary clip show. Carson said no, and ensured that not only would he himself not host that night, he would turn the desk over to Joey Bishop.
And when David Letterman took over the hour after him—a move Carson supported and even took a small profit position in—he never once did the pro-forma “stay tuned for Letterman.”
He even banned his good friend Carl Sagan from the show after Sagan twice corrected Johnny on the air.
Criticism of any kind was likely to wound him, Malkoff says. “Johnny did not believe it when people said criticism doesn’t hurt. ‘It always hurts my feelings,’ he said.”
“It was very important to me that we told the truth,” Malkoff said. “I mean, I had people who loved Johnny who asked, ‘Are you writing a pro-Johnny or anti-Johnny book?’ I said, ‘I’m telling the truth,’ and they said, ‘Uh oh.’ I said, ‘To me, he comes off overwhelmingly positive.’”
Love Johnny Carson by Mark Malkoff with David Ritz is being published by Dutton and releases October 21, 2025, two days before what would have been Carson’s 100th birthday. Preorders are available now.
