Johnny Carson's first real TV show was called Carson's Cellar and it ran on KNXT, the CBS affiliate in Los Angeles for not-that-long. The history on this is a bit murky. Most sources say it lasted 13 weeks commencing in January of 1953 but some say 26 weeks and some place it in 1951, 1952 or 1954. All agree that it was done for almost no money and that the show didn't last long. [UPDATE: This episode aired 11/23/52.]
Its most infamous moment came one time when Johnny announced that his guest was Red Skelton. Then he had a stagehand rush through the shot so you couldn't see who it was and Carson said, "That was Red Skelton." Not a bad joke. The next week, Johnny was getting ready to do his show and Red Skelton walked in and asked, "What time do we go on?" He appeared that week and perhaps another and that led to Johnny becoming a member of Skelton's writing crew for a while. He also filled in for the star one night when Skelton injured himself and couldn't do his program…and that led to bigger and better things for Mr. Carson.
Those episodes are apparently lost forever and it was once thought that no episodes existed anywhere of Carson's Cellar. Someone, however, found a kinescope of one and we have it here today for you. It features Jack Bailey, who was then a popular TV host with Queen for a Day and other shows…and Johnny had somehow found enough money in the budget to bring in the one and only June Foray as an occasional cast member. You'll see the two of them in the middle sketch…and if you stick around after that, you'll get to see Johnny get into drag and do the kind of routine that comedians only do when they're out of ideas and desperate to get laughs. You may also see a glimpse of the persistence and ability to ad-lib that eventually turned this guy into Johnny Carson…