Let's go way, way back to December 27, 2001 on this blog, which is when I posted this. The one thing I need to update should be obvious. Not only are none of the gentlemen in the photo still performing today but none of them is still breathing today…
This isn't particularly timely but I just came across this terrific photo, taken at a televised Friars' Roast of Jack Benny that ran on the Kraft Music Hall TV show in (I'm guessing) 1970. It was definitely before Johnny Carson moved The Tonight Show to Burbank, which he did in 1972. The folks depicted — just in case anyone's puzzled — are, left to right: Carson, Alan King, Ed Sullivan, Dennis Day, Phil Harris, Benny, George Burns and Milton Berle. It is perhaps significant of something that the only one of these men who is still performing is Alan King, who was recently seen on Comedy Central's airing of the Friars' Roast of Hugh Hefner.
The photo reminds me of one of the funniest ad-libs I ever heard on a TV show…and it was also, perhaps, the last time anyone ever did a "surprise walk-on" on a talk show that the host didn't know about in advance. I suspect Mssrs. Leno and Letterman would fire their entire staffs if anything ever happened for which they did not have adequate preparation, including a few pre-scripted lines. It's a shame since one of the great appeals of the talk show was, once upon a time, the spontaneity and the joy of seeing witty men working without a net.
The line I loved was uttered by David Steinberg. He was guest-hosting The Tonight Show that evening while Mr. Carson was elsewhere in the building (Rockefeller Center in New York) taping the above roast.
So what happened was that Steinberg was interviewing some guest and, all of a sudden, Milton Berle walked out on stage — absolutely unannounced and apparently a complete surprise to Steinberg. The audience, of course, went berserk. Berle ousted the guest from the guest chair, sat down and said a few words before Jack Benny walked out. Again, the audience went nuts.
Benny displaced Berle in the chair next to the desk and muttered a few words. The audience was cheering and howling with glee, and I thought they couldn't get any more excited.
Then Johnny Carson walked out from the wings.
That's right: Johnny Carson did a surprise walk-on on The Tonight Show. I have never heard an audience get as excited, as utterly apoplectic as they did at that moment. Finally, the ruckus died down and Carson — now seated in the guest chair — explained how they could only stay a minute since they were on a break from taping The Kraft Music Hall. For some odd reason, Steinberg chuckled.
"What are you laughing at?" Johnny asked him.
Steinberg grinned and replied, "I was just thinking about how wonderful the rest of this show's going to go after you all leave."