-On July 11, 1977, Rob Reiner sat in for Johnny with guests including Albert Brooks, Harry Shearer and Billy Crystal; essentially the Spinal Tap/Hollywood brat pack of the 1970s. Here they do a spot-on "Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder" parody. It's not as cruel as the SNL version, and also not as weird as Dan Aykroyd's take (which, at this point, had only been on three SNL shows). It's been alternately reported that Snyder hated the SNL version -- because many NBC execs who never watched his show assumed it was like that -- and also that he was flattered. Either way, I have to think he would have enjoyed Harry Shearer's take, which seems more like an homage than ridicule. He and Crystal play off eachother well here, a contrast to their reported spat while they were both on SNL (1984-85), and producers favored Billy over Harry. This is also somewhat of poetic justice for Shearer, who was scheduled to appear on the Tonight Show in 1971 or so (in the NYC days) with his comedy troupe, The Credibility Gap. David L. Lander (who was also in the troupe) tells of them appearing for a camera blocking rehearsal in which the director asked them to literally walk through the sketch, dropping the punch lines, just so they could get blocking down. He assured "The Gap" that this wouldn't be seen by Johnny... but apparently it was, and he misunderstood, and the act was cut from that show. Some of the best Credibility Gap routines are their rock-and-roll "Who's On First," or their commercial for the (fake) movie "Kingpin," or their bouncy "Foreign Novelty Smash."
-Christopher Reeve's first appearance on "Tonight," January 31, 1979. How amazing that the first thing he does is compliment a fellow guest. So thoughtful. Also, so strange that everyone in this clip is dead, except Steve Lawrence.
-Don Rickles was a frequent guest host through 1980. Here's a clip from 1979, with guest Jack Klugman (partial, including much of a local newscast in Minnesota). Another 1979 Rickles episode used to be up with guest Carroll O'Connor, but that seems to be taken down at the moment.
-Charles Grodin -- in a rare non-testy moment -- discussing impotence on April 6, 1982, with Carson and Fred De Cordova. Incidentally, the other guests were Jerry Seinfeld and Victoria Principal.
-Dick Shawn died in 1987, but was a frequent guest through the early 1980s. Here he is on July 6, 1983, doing some standup, then panel with guest-host Joan Rivers. As a bonus, here's Shawn on a weird local NYC show (that I believe was syndicated), called "Celebrity Cabaret." The host's diction always bothered me. Incidentally, "Celebrity Cabaret" is the show on which Jerry Seinfeld made his debut in, I believe, 1976.
-Buddy Hackett's many appearances seem oddly slow when viewed today. But The Duck Joke builds well enough that it's worth watching.
-The introductory video to the final "Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson," May 22, 1992.
One last thing... I mentioned that the first decade of Johnny's "The Tonight Show" is missing, but I recently learned that many 1960s episodes were edited down and sent to Armed Forces Radio (i.e. audio-only), and reside in the Library of Congress.
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