I'm not sure this is board appropriate, but I think it's close. This is a video I edited, the third in a series of talk show wars. This one is about Joan and Johnny's falling out. The story starts in the '60s and ends in the '10s but the bulk of it takes place in the '80s, and is centered around the launch of Joan's Late Show in 1986.

https://youtu.be/PVyECyPYwaA

Did anyone watch this stuff at the time? My parents watched Carson so I was aware of it. I have vague memories of Joan's Late Show, I don't remember her on The Tonight Show. I have more vague memories of Arsenio hosting Late Show followed by Ross Schaeffer. I didn't really start watching Carson until about 1990, I think.

Joan Rivers was pals with Carson and she would appear on the show and occasionally guest host it......UNTIL she got her own show.

Apparently to Johnny Carson that was a betrayal in his eyes as she tried to compete with him, the KING of late night. Her show fizzled and failed but he never forgave her, never spoke to her and made it clear to all his staff including Doc Severenson and Ed McMahon that she was off limits.

However Ed would still speak with her when he could in defiance of Carson.

They never mended fences and even after Carson died, Rivers was furious with him to her final days.

Johnny Carson was funny and talented, yes. But his ego and arrogance was also pretty astounding as well. He was the KING of Late Night and he knew it and from what I gather if you got on his bad side, your career may have gotten derailed.

But if you were a comedian that caught his eye and could really make him laugh, he could open doors too.

Legend has it that he wanted and insisted that Letterman take over for him but NBC disagreed and Leno got the job, hence Letterman jumps networks.

I watched Carson as much as I could, mostly as an opening act for Letterman. Most of my high school clique was watching Letterman almost every night.

Even before she officially filled the role, she was a prolific guest host going back to the 60s.

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How were you watching Letterman every night in high school? Wasn't it on a little late? I think by high school I was watching Johnny's monologue and then going to bed. I watched the whole show and Letterman on Friday nights only. You must have been operating on no sleep!

Especially if you were in the Easter or Pacific time zone.
I lived in one of the few unique areas of the country where we were on Mountain time but got our TV from Central time zone stations, so Johnny Carson was on at 9:30 and Letterman at 10:30. But even with that earlier schedule, I would have had a hard time functioning at school the next day staying up until 11:30 each night to watch Letterman.

Well, I was operating on about 6 hours of sleep. Not my entire high school, but definitely the last two years. No big deal. Even less in college.

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Well, that was probably enough. I lived out in the sticks and had about a 45 minute bus ride to school (before I got a car) so I had to get up around 6am, as I recall ...

I lived in Pacific time, so Carson didn't start until 11:30. That's why I only watched the monologue and then went to bed.

That's sort of my story, as well. Wake up around 6:30. Bus ride from 7:30ish to 8:30ish. It wasn't until college that I got my first car.

City of Heroes is BACK!

I used to be the only member of my family who could understand the eternal mystery of setting the VCR to record a program in advance. I did record Letterman quite a bit, either for myself or my brother. He was funnier when you watched him late at night than after school, thought.

"It is not our abilities that show what we truly are. It is our choices." – Albus Dumbledore