Here's one of those clips that I'm amazed exists. Between the time Jack Paar departed as host of The Tonight Show and Johnny Carson took over, there was a six month gap. Mr. Carson was still under contract to host the afternoon game show Who Do You Trust? over on ABC and couldn't assume command of NBC's late night program until the contract expired. Some reports say that ABC was refusing to let him out early but my understanding is that the real obstacle was Don Fedderson, producer of Who Do You Trust?
So for six months, guest hosts vamped in Johnny's place. Art Linkletter hosted a week or two. Merv Griffin hosted a week or two. Steve Lawrence hosted a week or two. Even Soupy Sales hosted a week or two…and so did Jerry Lewis. You may wonder why from this clip but Jerry was said to have done a very good job and that led to him wanting to do a regular show of this type, and that wanting led to his infamous two-hour live prime-time talk show for ABC the following year. Here's a little less than eight minutes of one of those nights Jerry hosted The Tonight Show before Johnny took over. It includes one of Jerry's patented overpraise-the-guest introductions followed by Jack Carter and Jerry conducting a conversation with their usual dignity…
