The Remote Island : Johnny Carson

Friday Flashback: Bette Midler Makes Johnny Carson Cry

Olivia Purnell — Fri, 15 May 2009 22:07:00 GMT

Although these days, Bette Midler is hanging with 50 Cent and giving Jennifer Aniston man advice (like ya do), there was a time in our young lives when Bette made us tear up on a regular basis. She was the wind beneath our wings. She was CC Bloom, the character in Beaches who had us crying the ugly cry as she said farewell to her cancer-ridden friend. Throughout the ninties, homegirl just kept tugging on our heart strings with that super-toothy grin on her face. Her most memorable moment might have been her Johnny Carson serenade. On Carson's last show, the Divine Miss M sang the perfect tribute to send him off.

Now our time with The Remote Island is coming to an end. And though we're no Johnny, we still want to hear Bette sing her sweet little goodbye.

Conan Hasn't Watched Jimmy Fallon

Jake Kalish — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 15:40:00 GMT

This despite appearing in the very first skit on the very first show. O'Brien said he didn't watch Fallon in an interview on Pittsburgh local TV. Conan's excuse for not watching Jimmy is pretty lame - "I've been traveling around and don't have Tivo with me or anything." Or perhaps he just didn't want to answer Fallon follow-up questions. Still, in answering a question about his first Tonight Show guest, he took what some could consider a veiled shot at his successor, considering Fallon's interview with his first guest, living legend Robert De Niro, was pretty much a disaster:

On his hopes for a first guest: "I don't need my first guest to be the biggest star in the world. ... I want my first guests to be people I'm comfortable with. People who I'll be funny with. Johnny Carson's greatest interviews and the ones that resonate were never with the big stars. It was always Johnny with Buddy Hackett, Johnny with Don Rickles, Johnny with the woman who collects potato chips shaped like the presidents."

Agreed. But also a question that easily could have been answered without that first sentence. O'Brien's no dummy, and he chooses his words carefully - one wonders what this is about...

PREVIOUSLY:

Who Is Jimmy Fallon's First Guest???

Jimmy Fallon Was Way More Lenoish Than We'd Expected

Sad News: Ed McMahon's In The Hospital

Lindy Parker — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:00:00 GMT

Veteran television personality, Ed McMahon, has been hospitalized with pnemonia (TMZ.com).

More sad news: There are no Ed McMahon videos on youtube that aren't depressing. And that's not even counting the Cash4Gold commercial. The good news: we've gained a new admiration for Ed McMahon's ability to laugh at himself. We're filing him under "good sport" in our rolodex.

All the best for a speedy recovery, Sir. We're thinking good thoughts for you.

Here's our top three Ed McMahon videos:

1. Ed McMahon tries to take back Publisher's Clearing House checks from winners...

2. Johnny Carson shows a past clip of the time Ed McMahon appeared on his show drunk...

3. Tom Green taunts a sober Ed McMahon with Johnny Walker Black; Ed McMahon flirts with disaster...

Wake Up And Smile: Sarah Palin Pinning Her 2012 Hopes On Tina Fey

Bryan Christian — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:28:00 GMT

Click through for the whole story, plus the latest on Joe the Plumber NOT making out with an SNL regular, whatever the heck's up with King of the Hill, whether Jennie Garth's visiting the new Melrose Place, the sad, funny life of Johnny Carson, and how Jimmy Kimmel and Sarah Silverman took their breakup semi-public.

-- If you guessed that Sarah Palin would be unhappy with her portrayal on this week's Saturday Night Live, you'd be partially right. She's at least pissed enough about it to essentially cede today's election to the Democrats and start talking about 2012, but she's not so pissed that she'll pass up on any free publicity that SNL or Tina Fey might give her between now and then. There's that dash of high-school bitchy!

-- While we're on weird election stuff, there was a rumor that Joe the Plumber got to make out with an unnamed SNL cast member at the afterparty this weekend, but a close examination of the original note on the subject seems to indicate that whoever broke the story wouldn't know an SNL cast member if they walked right up to them and called them "an ignorant slut." [via Videogum] UPDATED: This story gets even more ridiculous.

-- Fox has cancelled King of the Hill, but ABC still has creator Mike Judge's new animated family show, The Goode Family, on the burner for next year -- and they might even spring for a few more seasons of King of the Hill while they're at it, which would make King the second used sitcom they'd bought off another network after Scrubs. Come on, guys, was Cavemen really so bad that you've just given up?

-- We love how TV Guide asks whether Jennie Garth will be coming to the new Melrose Place reboot, even though the answer -- no -- is, like, a sentence into the article.

-- Sometimes we feel ancient because we remember how great Carson was. And now someone's gonna write a book about how much of a douche he actually was. Thanks.

-- And speaking of crying-on-the-inside talk show hosts, we missed this when it happened, but former couple Sarah Silverman and Jimmy Kimmel had a weird, awkward reunion on his show last week. Between this and Kimmel's kind of sadsack interview in GQ this month, we're sort of loving this guy a little.

Heroic Donald Trump To Save Ed McMahon's House

Ben Kallen — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:24:00 GMT

Donald Trump says he's planning to save Ed McMahon's home out of the goodness of his heart, with no thought whatsoever to the vast amounts of publicity it will bring him. The real-estate mogul and Apprentice host says he'll buy the Beverly Hills mansion and lease it back to McMahon, entirely because he's such a nice guy.

McMahon, who was Johnny Carson's longtime sidekick and the host of Star Search, had been trying to sell the house for two years, and faced foreclosure when a neck injury made it impossible for him to work. The house is now listed for millions of dollars less, although that in no way suggests that this a just first step in a plan by Trump to take advantage of the mortgage crisis, purchasing properties from cash-starved owners at fire-sale prices.

Trump said that helping McMahon would be "an honor," suggesting that this also isn't a ploy to garner goodwill in the press for his amazing future slate of advertiser-supported TV ventures, or his many huge, important and well-run businesses.

It seems unlikely that the new owner will make any changes to the property, especially not by adding a gigantic solid-gold "TRUMP" placard that can be seen from passing airplanes.

Photo: NBC

Previously:
Video Weekend: Top 7 Reality-Show Stars Who Weren't There To Make Friends

Video Weekend: Eight Great Standup Comics

Ben Kallen — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 21:00:00 GMT

One of the things TV does really well is to sponsor great comedy, and send it straight to your home. After all, not every town has its own comedy club -- and even if there is a local Chuckle Hut in your community, you usually have to sit through one or two lame, ancient or belligerent routines for every good one. TV, on the other hand, is full of comedians working at their best -- on Comedy Central, on HBO and on every late-night talk show, not to mention Comic Relief and Last Comic Standing.

We've selected footage from eight of the funniest comedians ever, performing at various times over the past 25 years. And we can pretty much guarantee that they'll make you laugh -- although the two-drink minimum is at your own discretion.

George Carlin on a Comic Relief benefit special in the '80s

Jerry Seinfeld returns to standup on Late Show With David Letterman

Richard Pryor on the '70s music show Midnight Special

Sarah Silverman on Evening at the Improv in 1992

Steve Martin performs "magic" on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show

Mitch Hedberg on The Late Show

Young Steven Wright on an unknown standup show

Jim Gaffigan on Comedy Central

Image: Fox

Previously:
Comedy Central Finally Lets Go of TV Funhouse
RIP: George Carlin
Gentlemen, Sarah Silverman Is Single Again