Carson: The Unauthorized Biography

by Paul Corkery

Profiles the soft-spoken humorist whose phenomenal popularity has made him one of the wealthiest and most influential men in America

Genres: Biography

239 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1987

Reviews

[Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually only read autobiographies. I just happened to own this so was curious. As with most biographies the author is making a lot of guesses as to the mind of the person in question. This book stuck to the facts about 1/2 way through. There were parts where some of his 4 wives were interviewed. They were not giving too many details out about why their marriages failed.

No one wanted to upset Johnny since the book came out in 1987 and he was at the peak of his power.

The last part of the book repeated what the wife’s had been quoted earlier in the book and other seconds seemed to repeat what the author had written earlier so I’m curious if this was rushed to press before an editor could read it.

Anyway I learned Johnny was very talented and highly paid but was a bit of a sour man and an angry drunk. He seemed to dump his wife’s whenever he felt he needed an upgrade, or got bored. Did not sound like he was around much for his kids. They should of been interviewed for the book?

Johnny was a shrewd businessman and was great at getting everything he wanted in his contracts, eventually.

[Matt Pilgrim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Johnny Carson is one of my personal heroes, but I know enough about him to know that he was a complex man to put it lightly. This book glosses over some of his less desirable traits to paint a portrait of a man who is universally beloved. That is not the complete truth based on what I know about Carson. Johnny burned a lot of bridges because he was a stubborn narcissist. However, his comedic timing and skills as an entertainer are unquestionably top notch. I'm inspired to read more biographies on Carson to rekindle my love of his work but this book was biased and poorly written.

[Dollie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started watching The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson when I was 9 years old (with insomnia) and enjoyed his personality so much that I continued watching until his last show. I loved laughing at his jokes and watching him smile. I always enjoyed the animal segments. Those days are long gone and if I watch any late night programming at all these days, it’s Stephen Colbert or Conan O’Brien. But Johnny Carson was the man and even though I watched him for years, I didn’t know a lot about him, so when I saw this biography in our lending library at work, I grabbed it. This was a rather short book, but it did tell a lot about how he got started and who his influences were, as well as who his friends were. I wasn’t surprised to learn that he wasn’t into a lot of partying. Although he was a television star, I always felt that he was a private person and this biography seems to confirm that he was. This book also makes it sound as though The Tonight Show was Johnny Carson’s whole world. Also, even though I knew he’d been married a few times, I knew nothing about his ex-wives. So, I’m glad I read this because, although it's pretty outdated, having been written when Carson was still alive, I thought he was a great late night host and I miss him. I never once watched Jay Leno after Johnny left the show.

[Darla Ebert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Throughout my reading of this very tame book, I could only just imagine J. Carson and the author high fiving one another over just such a fluffy book about his life. Not that we all NEED the dirt but somehow I just do not think the man was THAT perfect.

[Valerie Curtis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish I had read some reviews before reading this. It's so topical! And I really don't care about his marriages as much as this author does.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

No person has dominated the American entertainment scene like Johnny Carson did. He projected a Midwestern everyman image when in front of the camera while having major difficulties in his personal life. As Corkery and others point out, specifically his good buddy Ed McMahon, Carson was basically a shy person. He was very uncomfortable within groups of people, especially at parties where he was expected to be actively involved.
Born in Iowa and raised in a small town in Nebraska, Carson was the very definition of a self-made man. While he did have a few lucky breaks in his rise to the top, his success was largely due to his efforts. His personal life was full of difficulties, with multiple marriages and very high profile and expensive divorces.
Corkery does an excellent job in describing Carson’s success and how good he was at what he did. Corkery also explains the fundamental dichotomy between marriage and being the star of a demanding television show. One of Carson’s ex-wives states that if Carson had been as driven to his marriage as he was to his show, then he would have not had the marital difficulties that he experienced. Of course, had he followed that path, he would not have been Johnny Carson, the television star.
One of the most interesting points made is the reference to Carson’s wife revealing some of his business pursuits to others that made a profit in buying and selling stock. That wife and her cohorts were eventually charged with insider trading.
Like all people that rise to a high level of success and wealth, Johnny Carson was a complicated person. To some he was a nasty man that held deep grudges, yet to others he was a man that went out of his way to express simple kindness. This book illuminates both sides and explains how he made it to the top and managed to stay there for long. He hosted over 4,500 episodes of the Tonight Show, beating all the competition hands down until he retired.

[Craig Beam · Rating 3 out of 5]

“He is grouchy in the morning at Malibu when he awakes; indeed ‘ grump hour’ is what his new wife calls those first moments at Johnny Carson’s home. To himself, as well as to many others, this seems odd. After all, when Johnny Carson awakes each morning, he not only awakes on one of the most stunning beachfronts in North America, he is also about $50,000 richer than when he went to bed.

So begins the first major biography of Johnny Carson, the soft-spoken humorist, whose tremendous popularity has made him one of the wealthiest and most influential men in America. Carson, whose shoe is regularly watched by between 5,000,000 to 9,000,000 million people, now warns in excess of $18,000,000 a year, and according to the New York Times he is “perhaps the nation’s most prominent political commentator.”