[2] The show's house band, the NBC Orchestra, was led by Skitch Henderson, until 1966 when Milton Delugg took over, who was succeeded by Doc Severinsen less than a year later.

Occasionally, Carson interviewed prominent politicians such as Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Robert F. Kennedy, and Hubert Humphrey, however Carson refused to discuss his personal political views on the show out of concern it might alienate his audience[6] and resisted efforts from his writing staff, particularly head writer and admitted liberal Marshall Brickman, to include more political material in the show.

[9] When asked about intellectual conversation on The Tonight Show, Carson and his staff invariably cited "Carl Sagan, Paul Ehrlich, Margaret Mead, Gore Vidal, Shana Alexander, Madalyn Murray O'Hair" as guests;[8] one television critic stated, however, "he always presented them as if they were spinach for your diet when he did [feature such names].

"[10] Family therapist Carlfred Broderick appeared on the show ten times,[11] and psychologist Joyce Brothers was one of Carson's most frequent guests.

In contrast to the avuncular mien (Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas) and loquacious erudition (Dick Cavett) evinced by his contemporaries, Carson was a comparatively "cool" host who only laughed when genuinely amused; additionally, it was not uncommon for him to abruptly cut short monotonous or embarrassingly inept interviewees.

The catchphrase was heard nightly for 30 years, and ranked top of the TV Land poll of U.S. TV catchphrases and quotes in 2006;[13] it has been referenced in lots of media going from The Shining to Johnny Bravo to a "Weird Al" Yankovic album cut; it was even used for the character Johnny Cage in the video game series Mortal Kombat.

[16] During shows when Newsom filled in for Severinsen, the band played a slightly truncated version of the theme that transitioned from the bridge to the closing phrase without reprising the first few notes of the main melody.

Unlike many people of his position, de Cordova often appeared on the show, bantering with Carson from his chair off-camera (though occasionally a camera would be pointed in his direction).

[17][18] If the laughter fell short when a line bombed (as it often did), "Carnac" would face the audience with mock seriousness and bestow a comic curse: "May a diseased yak befriend your sister!"

To rectify this situation, Ed McMahon and Skitch Henderson co-hosted the first fifteen minutes of the show between February 1965 and December 1966 without Carson, who then took over at 11:30.

Finally, because he wanted the show to start when he came on, at the beginning of January 1967 Carson insisted the 11:15 segment be eliminated (which, he claimed in a monologue at the time, "no one actually watched except the Armed Forces and four Navajos in Gallup, New Mexico").

In May 1991, following positive viewer reception during tests in St. Louis (KSDK) and Dallas–Fort Worth (KXAS), NBC reached an agreement with Carson Productions to delay the show's start time by five minutes beginning September 2, allowing its stations to include more commercials during their local newscasts.

[33] In 1979, when Fred Silverman was the head of NBC, Carson took the network to court, claiming that he had been a free agent since April of that year because his most recent contract had been signed in 1972.

NBC, in turn, was ready to offer The Tonight Show to Carson's most frequent guest host at the time, Richard Dawson.

[42] Other surviving material from the era has been found on kinescopes held in the archives of the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service, or in the personal collections of guests of the program, while a few moments such as Tiny Tim's wedding, were preserved.

[citation needed] The later shows that exist in full were stored by Carson in a bomb-proof underground salt mine outside Hutchinson, Kansas.

In 2014, Turner Classic Movies would begin rerunning select interviews from the program for a new series called "Carson on TCM" presented by Conan O'Brien, who himself hosted The Tonight Show briefly.

Factory launched a 24/7 streaming channel devoted to the series in August 2020, which is distributed through various free over-the-top platforms, including Stirr, Xumo and Pluto TV.

Many guest hosts were already large names in their own right, among them Frank Sinatra, Burt Reynolds, Don Rickles, Tony Danza, and Steve Martin.

Richard Dawson guest hosted 14 times during 1979 and 1980, and was being considered as a full-time replacement should Carson have retired during his 1980 contract dispute with NBC.

Due to the frequent need for substitutes, starting in 1983 permanent guest hosts were hired in order to give the program more stability.

In September 1983, Joan Rivers was designated Carson's permanent guest host, a role she had been essentially filling for the previous year.

[63][64]: 8:10  According to Adam Higginbotham's Nov. 7, 2014 article in the New York Times: The result was a legendary immolation, in which Geller offered up flustered excuses to his host as his abilities failed him again and again.

To an enthusiastically trusting public, his failure only made his gifts seem more real: If he were performing magic tricks, they would surely work every time.

[68] This show was immediately recognized as a television classic that Midler considered one of the most emotional moments of her life and eventually won an Emmy for her role in it.

[66][67] More than fifty million people tuned in for this finale, which ended with Carson sitting on a stool alone at center stage, similar to Jack Paar's last show.

I bid you a very heartfelt good night.A few weeks after the final show aired, it was announced that NBC and Carson had struck a deal to develop a new series.

He rarely appeared elsewhere after retiring, providing only a guest voice on an episode of The Simpsons, which included him performing feats of strength and featured Bette Midler as well.

Carson's final television appearance was a cameo on the May 13, 1994, Late Show with David Letterman where he handed over a copy of a Top 10 List and sat in Dave's chair for a minute.

He was prepared to say a few words, but the crowd's cheering was so loud and so sustained, that he humorously decided to leave without saying anything—although as he exited, he could be heard saying "Thank you, good night!"