Here's Johnny!: My Memories of Johnny Carson, The Tonight Show, and 46 Years of Friendship (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Johnny," I said a few months before he died, "we've had so many wonderful memories, both on and off the show, that nobody knows about..." (more)
Key Phrases: hilarity ensues, two grown men, second banana, The Tonight Show, New York, Johnny Carson (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Here's Johnny is like sitting with Ed and Johnny over lunch:

The last time I saw Johnny, about a year before he died, we had chicken, a couple of glasses of red wine, and then we just sat there and reminisced, going back and forth the way we did on the show. We talked about our kids, and our careers and the state of America, just two lucky guys who loved each other and the good luck of our careers.

Ed McMahon is the only person who was with Johnny Carson, even before The Tonight Show, when they both first appeared on Who Do You Trust. Now, with Johnny's blessing before he died, McMahon can finally share all the stories that only he knows. From the sofa at Johnny's right, to backstage, to their personal relationship - McMahon will provide a real view of the man who was so careful to only show one side of himself to the public. Brilliant in front of the camera, but shy in person, Carson seldom gave interviews. Only McMahon can tell the stories and provide the insights into the personality that made Johnny Carson more of a friend we invited into our home than a television star.

This entertaining tribute will feature over 200 pictures, many never before published, from both McMahon's and Carson's private archives.

About the Author

Ed McMahon is an entertainment icon. In addition to 30 years on The Tonight Show, he is well-known as the presenter of the Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes and the host of TV's Star Search, and has appeared in numerous films. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson; First Edition ~1st Printing edition (October 18, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401602363
• ISBN-13: 978-1401602369
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #688,004 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ed writes a fitting tribute to a great comedian, October 26, 2005

By	Renaldo Rigatoni (Elkhart, IN USA) - See all my reviews

Ed McMahon has written a fitting tribute to a great comedian, Johnny Carson. Ed, who spent almost thirty years with Johnny on the "Tonight Show," gives readers his take on Johnny as a performer and a human being.

Johnny was a difficult man to get to know personally. Ed comments that Johnny felt more at home in front of a camera entertaining 10,000 people than going to a party attended by 10 people. Carson was an extremely private person. McMahon tries his hardest to give us a glimpse of the "real" Johnny.

I cut a star off the review because there are several minor mistakes and goofs in the text. Ed seems to have some trouble with chronological events. Names of individuals are mentioned in the context of the "Tonight Show" before these individuals were well-known. With the number of shows Ed and Johnny did, and the number of guests they had and famous folks they skewered, it's understandable.

I recommend this book to anybody who loved Johnny and misses him. Johnny was unique. At the end of the book, Ed discusses why we'll never see anybody like him again. Certainly none of the current crop of talk-show hosts holds a candle to Johnny. Johnny could be satiric without being mean-spirited. He could be likeable without asking to be liked. He could interview a lady with a collection of "potato chip" people and places, yet still interview a nuclear physicist or philosopher with equal ease and believablity. The only talk-show host in Johnny's league would be the late Steve Allen. Both men were great wits with insatiable curiousities. They were well-read and literate. They were gentlemen, who showed respect and civility to all who sat next to them at the desk. They are missed dearly.

30 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars For Laughing Out Loud (all the way to the bank), November 6, 2005

By	Hedley Lamarr (kentucky, United States) - See all my reviews

I bought this book within the first week of its release. I was (still am) a big Tonight Show fan when Johnny sat in the chair. This book is a fast read, and I did enjoy the new pictures I had neer seen before. I gave it one star because I bought Ed's first book on Johnny - For Laughing Out Loud. I'm sorry, but I felt like I was reading the same book over. The sad thing is, Ed (in both of his books) tells us all these stories on the tonight show, but it's like a retelling of the 4cd set of the tonight show Johnny put out in 1990's. It's like he can't remember any story besides what is in this cd collection. To make matters worse he repeats most of this info over in this, his second book. If you don't have either book, I would start out with Ed's - For Laughing Out Loud, as you can get this on Amazon for 1 cent.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Hate to say...was dissapointed, January 29, 2006

By	David L. Perry "Dave" (Grew up in Williamston, Michigan, now in Brunwick, GA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I loved Johnny Carson. However the book that Ed McMahon wrote just repeats itself over and over, i kept saying to myself "it has to get better" and it never did.

There are some funny spots in it, and it did make me laugh once in awhile.

Miss you JC.

Dave