KING OF THE NIGHT: THE LIFE OF JOHNNY CARSON
by Laurence Learner, New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1989, 448 pp., 39 black and white photographs.
Alcoholic, wife beater, tightwad, assorted marriages and business deals gone bust, here’s Johnny. In this tabloid that thinks it’s a book, Laurence Learner manages to unearth a few gems. Eternal sidekick Ed McMahon reveals an acute understanding of his role/relationship to the king: “I begin each show sitting on the chair next to Johnny . . . and then as the program progresses, I move on down the line until I’m completely out of the picture.”
—Jessica Diamond
