The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

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• 1962-1992
• 31 Seasons
• NBC
• Comedy, Talk & Interview
• TV-14

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A long-running American American television talk show, broadcast by the NBC. It lasted from 1962 to 1992. The eponymous host was the comedian Johnny Carson, while Ed McMahon served as Carson's sidekick and the show's announcer. For its first decade, the show was based at the RCA Building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York City, with some episodes recorded at NBC Studios in Burbank, California. From May 1972 until its end, the show was based primarily in Burbank. The then-innovative show established the modern format of the American late-night talk show: a monologue sprinkled with a rapid-fire series of 16 to 22 one-liners, sometimes followed by sketch comedy, then moving on to guest interviews and performances by musicians and stand-up comedians. Carson at times interviewed then-prominent politicians such as Richard Nixon, Robert F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. As a rule, Carson refused to discuss his personal political views on the show out of concern of unintentionally alienating his audience. The show mostly avoided political satire, and had a reputation for avoiding some hot topic issues of its era.