Late Night Time Machine: Leno & Letterman’s Johnny Carson Tribute Episodes

“You get the feeling in the case of Johnny’s show, people actually watched it,” David Letterman told his audience on January 31, 2005. “In the case of our show, you get the feeling people are just kinda putting up with it.”

It was eight days earlier—on January 23, 2005—that Johnny Carson had passed away. Twenty years later, he remains the subject of both reverence and fascination.

Letterman’s Late Show had been dark the week Carson died, but he dedicated an entire episode upon his return to the legendary Tonight Show host.  

He opened the show with a monologue. But it wasn’t until he returned to the desk that he revealed a secret: all of his monologue jokes that night had been written and sent to him by Carson in his final months. There was one about scientific inquiry into an airplane that could fly 50 miles above the Earth. There were only two objects one could see at that distance: “One is the Great Wall of China, and the other is Donald Trump’s hair.” Some things never change.

Jay Leno, Carson’s successor on The Tonight Show, was not on vacation when the news hit. He came out on his January 24th broadcast and immediately addressed the news. Leno said he had been searching for something new to say about Carson. “After a couple hours, I realized that was impossible,” he said. “And maybe that was the greatest thing about Johnny. Imagine getting to the end of your life and there’s no compliment you haven’t been paid.”

Leno then dipped into biography, giving Carson’s history in show business and sharing his impact. “We trusted Johnny,” he said. “We trusted him to make us laugh, to entertain us, to speak for us with what was truly an American voice.” He added: “For thirty years, he was hip. But he was smart enough not to be so hip that next year he was out of style.”

Leno and Letterman’s tributes that week were a work in perfect symbiosis, each embodying their unique approaches and tone, their own relationships with Carson, and the contrast that made them such disparate hosts. 

Both Leno and Letterman aired montages in tribute to Carson, and welcomed to their shows people who knew and worked with Carson. Leno’s first guest was none other than Ed McMahon, who, in his words, “had one of those days where I was crying  [and] laughing all day long.”

McMahon then shared a story. He recounted watching clips of Carson’s Tonight Show with his son and granddaughter after Carson’s death. “She’s watching some of these clips and she says, grandaddy lost his best friend,” he said. “She says, who in the world is still going to replace him. Isn’t that something? Because she thinks the show is still on, and he’s gone.” He added: “There’s a chance you could come in,” pointing to Leno and eliciting a big laugh from the audience.

Leno also welcomed Bob Newhart, Don Rickles, and Drew Carey, who were each able to speak to Carson’s influence on comedy. “You know when you die,” Carey said immediately after sitting down on the chair, “they’re not going to do this for you.” Leno squealed.

Carey then reflected on his first appearance on The Tonight Show. “That was the greatest day of my whole life, I think,” Carey said. Leno played a montage of first Tonight Show appearances

On his broadcast, Letterman welcomed longtime Carson producer Peter Lassally, who also worked on Late Night and Late Show, to the program. Letterman began by thanking Lassally, who he revealed he’d had to essentially beg to come on the program. The show had just played clips from Carson’s final appearances on Letterman. Letterman asked Lassally why Carson chose to retire, when it was so clear he still had it.

“He always felt he should not stay too long at the fair,” Lassally said. He added that Carson felt that there were two big stars in particular, Bob Hope and Jack Benny, who did just that. “He said, please tell me if I stay too long that it’s time to go,” Lassally remembered. “And once I do retire, remind me not to go back. And I didn’t have to do that.”  

He went on to describe how he’d not really become friends with Carson until after his retirement. In those years, he said, the shyness and the heavy load Carson had carried seemed to slip away. He was content. But, Lassally added, the one bit he missed was doing the monologue each night, so much so that he would continue to read the paper and write jokes, “for his own amusement.” He would then call Lassally and read them over the phone.

Lassally went on to reveal that, after some serious convincing, Carson sent some of his jokes to Letterman to use. “And he was delighted that you did them, and he was delighted that the audience laughed at them,” Lassally said. Letterman said receiving the jokes was like opening presents on Christmas morning.

Later, Letterman was joined by longtime Tonight Show bandleader Doc Severinsen, who, along with drummer Ed Shaughnessy and saxophone player, Tommy Newsom, paid musical tribute to Carson, playing his favorite song, “One for My Baby.” It was the song Bette Midler famously sang on the second-to-last episode of Carson’s Tonight Show.

Severinsen then joined Letterman at the desk. “When you were doing the show, I was upstairs watching on television, and I was laughing. And I thought, wait a minute, is it okay to laugh?” Severinsen said, the grief palpable. “I feel like sometimes I don’t want to eat anymore. I don’t want to laugh anymore.”

“But you know Johnny’s laughing,” Letterman replied. Severinsen smiles. “Oh, by all means,” he says. “Is he ever.”

Both Letterman and Leno’s tribute shows to Carson can be viewed in their entirety below:

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