King of the Night: The Life of Johnny Carson

Rating:
Summary: Who Cares?
Review: For all those Carson groupies who enjoy reading uninteresting anecdotes about a boring, arrogant, cliche-spewing, polyester-clad windbag, this will be a fascinating read; for everyone else, it is a total waste of time.

Rating:
Summary: Great Information on Johnny's Childhood and Rise To Stardom
Review: Surprisingly little material is available concerning the life and times of America's greatest stand-up comic genius Johnny Carson. This book (a former Book-of-the-Month Club selection) offers up a wealth of illuminating information, particularly strong as it relates to Johnny's childhood and his first steps towards embracing the idea of a life in entertainment. A magic set he received as a youngster allowed Johhny to put on funny shows for his friends and family (wouldn't THAT have been something to behold!), and some years later in college, Johhny was the toast of the campus where he performed stand-up and emceed many events for the student body. Eventually the engaging Carson earned his legendary status as the 3rd host of the Tonight Show: 1. Steve Allen, 2. Jack Paar, 3. Johnny Carson, 4. Jay Leno. Until Johnny's own long-promised autobiography comes into print (which seems to be a big if at this point, unfortunately) we must make do with the scarce resources that are available, and this book does a good job with the Carson roots, and rise to prominence. Enjoy it!