Carson the Magnificent

After biographer Zehme (The Way You Wear Your Hat) died in 2023, journalist Thomas (The Second City Unscripted) stepped in to finish his long-gestating account of the life of Tonight Show host Johnny Carson (1925–2005), with splendid results. Eschewing a chronological approach, Zehme opens with a detailed recap of a 1973 Tonight Show episode featuring Carson at the height of his popularity. The narrative also describes the fracas within NBC caused by Carson’s abrupt decision to leave the show in the early 1990s, and covers his low-profile retirement, during which he turned down NBC’s frequent entreaties for him to host various specials. Such seclusion was typical for the intensely private Carson, Zehme suggests, noting that the host often demurred when asked about his adolescent stint in the Navy during WWII’s final months and feigned nonchalance in the lead-up to his 1962 debut as Tonight Show host (according to his second wife, Carson was restless in anticipation of his first show, constantly “pacing like a caged animal”). Though the tone is mostly laudatory, Zehme’s nuanced portrait presents Carson as plagued by a bottomless need for “validation, most any damned kind of it,” which fueled his workaholism and frequent marital infidelities. Carson’s fans will appreciate the glimpse behind the curtain. Agent: Chris Calhoun, Chris Calhoun Agency. (Nov.)