Johnny Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, writer, producer, actor, and musician known for thirty years as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962–1992). Johnny Carson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992 and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1993. Although his show was already successful by the end of the 1960’s, during the 1970’s Carson became an American icon and remained so until his retirement in 1992. He adopted a casual, conversational approach with extensive interaction with guests. Late-night host David Letterman has cited Carson’s influence. (More from Wikipedia)
Tiny Tim continued to make periodic appearances on Laugh-In and later on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, where he became known for endearingly addressing the host as “Mr. Carson”. His shyness around women was a frequent topic of his interviews with Carson, and the wedding of Tiny Tim with Victoria Mae Budinger (known as “Miss Vicki”) on the Tonight Show was viewed by 21.4 million viewers, one of the largest American television audiences for many years, particularly in late night.
I saw Tiny Tim once in a while in later years, but he seemed a little dissipated and had put on weight. It was also sad to see that he had lost that seemingly permanent twinkle in his eye – the marriage didn’t work out for one thing, though they did have one daughter, who naturally was named Tulip (married name: Tulip Victoria Khaury Stewart).
WPTF had a late-night country music show back then that was aimed at truckers, called Interstate 68 (the station is at 680 on the AM dial); it was hosted by Hap Hansen. They took requests, so most of the songs were charming oldies, but there were also other recordings that were unusual to say the least. Besides “Here Come the Rattlesnakes” by Wendy Bagwell and the Sunliters, they played numerous routines by legendary country comedian Jerry Clower that often featured the crew of Ledbetters that he hung with back in the day; “Telephone Call from God” by Jerry Jordan about a man picking up the phone and finding God on the other end (you never actually hear God, but Johnny Carson can be heard briefly in the background – a newer hit version came out later that mentions Jay Leno instead); and a 1948 monologue by Tex Ritter called “Deck of Cards” about a soldier caught spreading out cards in church (sample dialogue: “The Marshal said to the sergeant, ‘Why have you brought this man here?’ ‘For playing cards in church, Sir.’ ‘And what do you have to say for yourself son?’ ‘Much, Sir’, replied the soldier. The Marshal said, ‘I hope so, for if not, I shall punish you more than any man was ever punished.’”) – I don’t have Tex Ritter’s version, but I do have the one by Rusty Draper.
(November 2014)
