Johnny Carson

Johnny Carson is considered to be one of the greatest and most popular people that contributed tremendously to the broadcasting industry. As a comedian, he is unquestionably a master. His name is associated with one of the most influential performers in the history of television. He has distilled the influences of Jack Benny, Jackie Gleason, Steve Allen, Jonathan Winters and Fred Allen into a style, which is perfectly calibrated to the scale of the video medium.

It all began on October 23, 1925 in Corning, Iowa. He is son of Homer "Kit" and Ruth Carson. Johnny has a brother Dick and a sister Catherine. When he was a toddler, the family moved to Clarinda, Iowa. Later came moves to Red Oak, Avoca, and finally, Norfolk Nebraska. As a youth he had an interest in magic. He performed on the side during high school and college. Additionally, he did ventriloquism.

Johnny served with the U.S. Navy from 1943 to 1946 on the USS Pennsylvania. After his service with the military, he continued his education at the University of Nebraska where he studied Radio Drama and graduated in 1949. He also worked at the college radio station (KFAB) as a disc jockey in Lincoln, Nebraska.

After college, he took a job as a disc jockey at Omaha radio station WOW, which offered television coverage. He received his first job on screen as the host of an afternoon talk show called the Squirrel's Nest. Johnny's success in Omaha led him to Los Angeles and he hosted a small time local show called Carson's Cellar, which only lasted for less than a year. However, he received attention of from several big-time entertainers, including Red Skeleton, who hired him to write for his television show. In a classic show business turn of events, one night the star was ill and Johnny substituted. As his reward, he hosted another show called "The Johnny Carson Show". The show again didn't last for a year, but it led to a game show called "Who Do You Trust". It became the ABC's top-rated daytime program, which eventually led to an offer to replace Jack Paar as host of the Tonight Show. With the public, Kenneth Tynan reported, "Johnny's triumph was immediate and nonpareil".

Since 1962, watching the tonight show was for millions of Americans a nightly ritual, particularly Johnny Carson's opening monologue that chronicled the events of our nation for three volatile decades. It's been described as a magnifying glass on American culture, the nations emotional barometer. The show