More Than Laughter: My Days on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson [Paperback]

Sy Kasoff (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Authorhouse (October 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587210851
• ISBN-13: 978-1587210853
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 4.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,243,334 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars For Carson Fans, May 31, 2002

By 

C. James Cook (Westborough, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: More Than Laughter: My Days on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (Paperback)

"More Than Laughter" gives an insider's look at how guests were lined up in the early days of The Tonight Show. The author, Sy Kasoff, was the Head Talent Coordinator, and later Associate Producer for the first four years of Johnny Carson's reign, starting in 1962.

Kasoff's book is a collection of anecdotes of booking various guests and what they were really like. Henny Youngman was a nice guy, Bob Hope did not have an entourage, Tommy Smothers worked without a net, Buddy Hackett was surprisingly professional, and so on. Along the way, there are enough stories and reactions of Carson and McMahon as to provide personal perspectives on these men the drier ones offered by other biographies out there.

Why the three star rating? First, the book needs the help of an editor, as some things we may say verbally just don't work in print as sentence fragments. Second, it is of most interest to Carson fans and less so to outsiders. While it is not a deep, analytical work, it is a pleasant light read, and I do recommend to Carson/Tonight Show fans.

3 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars More Than Nausea, May 20, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: More Than Laughter: My Days on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (Paperback)

This hodgepodge of anecdotes will undoubtedly prove fascinating to the legion of Carson worshippers, but for those who are somewhat less enamored of Carson, it will serve to confirm that most of Carson's guests were as stale, uninteresting, and boorish as the great Carson himself - this one is for rabid Carson groupies only.