May 22, 1992: Johnny Carson hosts The Tonight Show for the last time, after 30 years. Well, 29 years, 6 months and 21 days.
The show had begun on NBC in 1954, and Carson had hosted since 1962. His announcer and sidekick had been Ed McMahon from the start. His bandleader had been Carl "Doc" Severinsen since 1966. He started out broadcasting from NBC's headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York, and had taped from NBC's studios at Burbank, California since 1972.
He had scaled back from 90 to 60 minutes per show in 1980, and from 5 days a week to 4 and then to 3. Still, his influence, especially his ability to turn a young comedian from an unknown to a star by bringing him onto the show, was undimmed. In a special issue in 1989, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of broadcast television, People magazine named Johnny Carson the Number 1 TV personality of all time.
There were tributes and parodies. In the 1970s, DC Comics imagined The Midnight Show Starring Johnny Nevada -- the capital of Nevada is Carson City -- broadcasting from Superman's hometown of Metropolis, and they even poked fun at Johnny's propensity to go on vacation. (He did it himself: In the 1980s, noting that the President was at his ranch again, Johnny said, "Ronald Reagan spends more time in California than I do!")
In 1983, Jerry Lewis played a Carson-like figure in the film The King of Comedy, with Robert De Niro as a young comic who commits a crime in order to become a star on the show. In 2019, the film Joker had De Niro playing the Carson-like host, with Joaquin Phoenix taking the young comedian-criminal role. Both films gave the late-night show a multi-colored curtain, like Carson used.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, on Saturday Night Live, Dana Carvey played a naughtier-than-usual Carson, with Phil Hartman as an even harder-laughing, even more obsequious, McMahon.
People wondered when "The King of Late Night" would retire. Comedians who had guest-hosted for him jockeyed for position. Joan Rivers -- correctly, as it turned out -- became convinced he wasn't going to pick her, and left, getting her own late-night talk show on Fox, and it tanked. She never appeared on The Tonight Show again. Eventually, even before suggesting that he might retire, Carson anointed Jay Leno as his successor, leading David Letterman, whose show followed Tonight on NBC, to make a deal with CBS, to go head-to-head with Tonight once his NBC contract ran out in 1993.
In 1991, his Carson's son Ricky, a photographer, was killed in a car crash. At the age of 66, depressed over the loss of his son, hearing of Letterman's deal with CBS, seeing the success that The Arsenio Hall Show was having with younger viewers, and with his contract running out, he decided not to negotiate a new one, and retired.
Leading up to his last show, he showed one old clip a night, from fan balloting of his best moments. Number 3 was his 1968 "Copper Clapper Caper" with Dragnet star Jack Webb. Number 2 was his 1984 duet, impersonating Willie Nelson, with Julio Iglesias, on the song Willie and Julio then had on the charts, "To All the Girls I've Loved Before." Number 1 was the 1965 demonstration of Ed Ames, then playing Native American chief Mingo on the TV Western Daniel Boone, throwing a tomahawk at an outline of a cowboy, and having it land in an uproar-inducing position.
The night before his last show, he had his last guests. Comic actor Robin Williams congratulated Johnny on his timing: Two days before, the Dan Quayle-Murphy Brown controversy had happened. Three weeks before that was the South Central Riots in Los Angeles. Robin was his usual hopped-up self, cracking everybody up, including Johnny.
Johnny's last musical guest was Bette Midler. He had helped make her a star after her first album in 1973, and she had become a favorite of his. She sang "You Made Me Love You" while sitting next to him. And onstage, while the camera cut back and forth between her there and Johnny at his desk, both of them with tears in their eyes, she sang "One For My Baby (And One More for the Road)."
That was on Thursday night, May 21. On Friday, May 22, there were no guests. Johnny said some nice things and showed some old clips, including of long-gone legends. Among these were the last TV appearances of Judy Garland, Louis Armstrong and Jack Benny. At the close, he mentioned his children, including Ricky, and his 4th and last wife, Alexis. He thanked Doc and the band, he thanked Ed, and he thanked the fans, concluding with, "I bid you a heartfelt good night."
Johnny Carson died on January 23, 2005. He was 79 years old.
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May 22, 1992 was a Friday. Actress Anna Baryshnikov, daughter of dancers Mikhail Baryshnikov and Lisa Rinehart, was born on this day.
Football was out of season. One game was played in the NBA Playoffs: The Utah Jazz beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 97-89 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. Karl Malone scored 39 points.
One game was played in the Stanley Cup Playoffs: The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Edmonton Oilers, 5-1 at the Northlands Coliseum, completing a 4-game sweep of the Clarence Campbell Conference Finals. But they would be swept themselves in the Stanley Cup Finals, by the defending Champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins. This would be the Hawks' only Finals appearance between 1973 and 2010.
And these Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Milwaukee Brewers, 10-9 at Yankee Stadium. The Brewers scored 5 runs in the top of the 8th inning to tie the game. In the top of the 14th -- meaning they were still playing when Carson went on the air -- Greg Vaughn hit a home run to win the game.
Robin Yount went 0-for-2 before leaving the game due to an injury. Paul Molitor went 2-for-7. For the Yankees, Kevin Maas, Danny Tartabull and Charlie Hayes hit home runs, while Don Mattingly went 2-for-7 with 3 RBIs, and Matt Nokes went 0-for-3, but with 4 walks.
* The New York Mets lost to the San Francisco Giants, 7-6 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Anthony Young started for the Mets, and pitched well, but the bullpen blew it. This was early in a stretch where Young went 27 straight decisions without a win, including this game and several other no-decisions, many of which saw him pitch well but be betrayed by his defense or his bullpen.
* The Montreal Expos beat the Atlanta Braves, 7-1 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
* The Oakland Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Rickey Henderson went 3-for-4 with a stolen base and 2 RBIs.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cincinnati Reds, 8-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the California Angels, 5-3 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Cal Ripken went 1-for-3 with a walk.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 6-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-2 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago.
* The Houston Astros beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals, 10-7 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. George Brett went 0-for-4.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Chicago Cubs, 2-0 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Andy Benes pitched a 3-hit shutout, outpitching Greg Maddux. Tony Gwynn was injured, and did not play.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-4 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Barry Bonds went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.
* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Cleveland Indians, 2-1 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Randy Johnson outpitched Scott Scudder. Ken Griffey Jr. went 1-for-4.
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