Henry Bushkin was Johnny Carson's attorney for eighteen years. You may recall Johnny's occasional on-air references to "Bombastic Bushkin," the guy who got him into great business deals like that tanning salon for Albinos. Anyway, Mr. Bushkin has now written a book about his famous client and all the personal and contractual squabbling that engulfed the Tonight Show host. It comes out next week and is currently available for pre-order on Amazon. Here's a link to pre-order.
And here's a little preview. One of the many interesting facets of Mr. Carson's long run as host of The Tonight Show is that he never intended or expected it to be like that. When he first took on the gig, it was like, "I hope this will last a few years and then I can go do a prime-time series like The Red Skelton Show." At that point, that seemed like it would have been a step up. Moreover, Johnny had once had a show like that, it had failed, and he had a nagging drive to go back and do it right.
As his Tonight Show got more popular, it less and less seemed like a stepping stone to anything else. Shows like Skelton's became passé and Carson realized that to leave his late night slot for one would be a big gamble, a lot more work and — as his Tonight Show money improved — not even a more lucrative job. So he stayed where he was on what was pretty much a year-to-year basis, always thinking he'd pack it in soon. Twenty years before he quit, he said there was no way he'd be doing that show in ten more years. But he was.
I'm eager to read Bushkin's account of all the battles and negotiations and decisions. I'll report back when I do.