Editing The Tonight Show (section)

===Johnny Carson (1962–1992)===
{{Main|The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson}}
[[File:Tonight Show cast New Years Eve 1962.JPG|right|thumb|[[New Year's Eve]] 1962, with (L-R) Skitch Henderson, Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon.]]
[[File:Johnny Carson Woody Allen The Tonight Show 1964.jpg|left|thumb|[[Woody Allen]] and Carson, 1964]]
Groucho Marx introduced Carson as the new host on October 1, 1962. [[Ed McMahon]] was Carson's announcer and on-screen side-kick, the same role he'd filled on ''Who Do You Trust?'' McMahon also introduced Carson with the drawn out catchphrase "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Johnny!" ''The Tonight Show'' orchestra was, for Carson's first four years, still led by [[Skitch Henderson]]. After a brief stint by [[Milton DeLugg]], beginning in 1967 the "NBC Orchestra" was then headed by trumpeter [[Doc Severinsen]] who had played in the band during the Henderson era. [See "Music and Announcers" below.] For all but a few months of its first decade on the air, Carson's ''Tonight Show'' was based in New York City. In 1972, the show moved to [[Burbank, California]] into Studio One of [[The Burbank Studios|NBC Studios]] West Coast (although it was announced as coming from nearby [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]]) for the remainder of his tenure.

Carson lacked the mercurial, electric personality of Paar, and his version of ''The Tonight Show'' never riveted the country's attention the way that Paar's had, but his more predictable approach eventually became part of the cultural landscape by virtue of the fact that the viewership, in a basically three-network paradigm, was infinitely more monolithic than it later became. Examples include when he played the game ''[[Twister (game)|Twister]]'' with [[Eva Gabor]] in 1966, which increased the sales of the relatively unknown game. In December 1973, when Carson joked about an [[Toilet paper panic of 1973|alleged shortage of toilet paper]], panic buying and hoarding ensued across the United States as consumers emptied stores, causing a real shortage that lasted for weeks. Stores and toilet paper manufacturers had to ration supplies until the panic ended.

Carson's ratings usually substantially led his timeslot, in spite of the fact that he intermittently faced many other late-night competitors including [[Les Crane]], [[Bill Dana]], [[David Frost]], [[Regis Philbin]], [[Alan Thicke]], [[Jerry Lewis]], [[Joan Rivers]], [[David Brenner]], [[Pat Sajak]], [[Ron Reagan]], [[Dennis Miller]], and most notably [[Steve Allen]], [[Arsenio Hall]], Joey Bishop, Merv Griffin, and [[Dick Cavett]] (Carson saw his friend Cavett as his real competition but Cavett was on ABC, a much smaller network at the time).

As primetime [[variety show]]s such as ''[[The Ed Sullivan Show]]'' faded in prominence over the course of the 1970s, Carson's ''Tonight Show'' emerged as a showcase for all kinds of talent, as well as continuing the tradition of a vaudeville-style variety show.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.ew.com/article/1992/05/08/johnny-carson-timeline |title=A Johnny Carson timeline |date=May 8, 1992 |magazine=Entertainment Weekly}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/05/20/arts/johnny-carson-s-two-new-rivals.html |title=Johnny Carson's Two New Rivals |first=John J. |last=O'Connor |date=May 20, 1986 |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> Carson's show continued Paar's tradition of launching the careers of a number of comedians, in Carson's case including [[Jerry Seinfeld]], [[David Letterman]], [[Joan Rivers]], [[Jeff Foxworthy]], [[Ellen DeGeneres]], [[Freddie Prinze]], [[David Brenner]], [[Tim Allen]], [[Drew Carey]], and [[Roseanne Barr]].

Carson also frequently used guest hosts, especially after 1981 when he negotiated a contract that gave him numerous weeks off every year, as well as Mondays.  Frequent guest hosts (over 50 episodes each) included Joey Bishop (177 times, mostly in the 1960s), Joan Rivers (93, during the 1970s and 1980s), John Davidson (87), Bob Newhart (87), David Brenner (70), McLean Stevenson (58), Jerry Lewis (52, mostly in the 1960s), David Letterman (51, mostly between 1980 and 1981), and [[Jay Leno]].  By the late 1980s, Leno was designated the permanent and only guest host, and consequently hosted several dozen episodes each year, totalling 333 "guest host" appearances during Carson's tenure.