NLP/nlp/submission/NLPFinalProject/test_data/surface_text/99970_surface_text.out at master · mayankkejriwal/NLP
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set :: In mathematics, a set is a collection of distinct objects, considered as an object in its own right. For example, the numbers 2, 4, and 6 are distinct objects when considered separately, but when they are considered collectively they form a single set of size three, written {2,4,6}. Sets are one of the most fundamental concepts in mathematics. Developed at the end of the 19th century, set theory is now a ubiquitous part of mathematics, and can be used as a foundation from which nearly all of mathematics can be derived. In mathematics education, elementary topics such as Venn diagrams are taught at a young age, while more advanced concepts are taught as part of a university degree. The German word Menge, rendered as "set" in English, was coined by Bernard Bolzano in his work The Paradoxes of the Infinite.

== Definition ==

A set is a well defined collection of distinct objects. The objects that make up a set (also known as the elements or members of a set) can be anything: numbers, people, letters of the alphabet, other sets, and so on. Georg Cantor, the founder of set theory, gave the following definition of a set at the beginning of his Beiträge zur Begründung der transfiniten Mengenlehre:

A set is a gathering together into a whole of definite, distinct objects of our perception [Anschauung] or of our thought—which are called elements of the set.

Sets are conventionally denoted with capital letters. Sets A and B are equal if and only if they have precisely the same elements.

Cantor's definition turned out to be inadequate for formal mathematics; instead, the notion of a "set" is taken as an undefined primitive in axiomatic set theory, and its properties are defined by the Zermelo–Fraenkel axioms. The most basic properties are that a set "has" elements, and that two sets are equal (one and the same) if and only if every element of one set is an element of the other.

== Describing sets ==

There are two ways of describing, or specifying the members of, a set. One way is by intensional definition, using a rule or semantic description:

A is the set whose members are the first four positive integers.

B is the set of colors of the French flag.

The second way is by extension – that is, listing each member of the set. An extensional definition is denoted by enclosing the list of members in curly brackets:

C = {4, 2, 1, 3}

D = {blue, white, red}.

There are two important points to note about sets. First, a set can have two or more members which are identical, for example, {11, 6, 6}. However, we say that two sets which differ only in that one has duplicate members are in fact exactly identical (see Axiom of extensionality). Hence, the set {11, 6, 6} is exactly identical to the set {11, 6}. The second important point is that the order in which the elements of a set are listed is irrelevant (unlike for a sequence or tuple). We can illustrate these two important points with an example:

{6, 11} = {11, 6} = {11, 6, 6, 11} .

For sets with many elements, the enumeration of members can be abbreviated. For instance, the set of the first thousand positive integers may be specified extensionally as:

{1, 2, 3, ..., 1000},

where the ellipsis ("...") indicates that the list continues in the obvious way. Ellipses may also be used where sets have infinitely many members. Thus the set of positive even numbers can be written as {2, 4, 6, 8, ... }.

The notation with braces may also be used in an intensional specification of a set. In this usage, the braces have the meaning "the set of all ...". So, E = {playing card suits} is the set whose four members are ♠, ♦, ♥, and ♣. A more general form of this is set-builder notation, through which, for instance, the set F of the twenty smallest integers that are four less than perfect squares can be denoted:

F = {n2 − 4 : n is an integer; and 0 ≤ n ≤ 19}.

In this notation, the colon (":") means "such that", and the description can be interpreted as "F is the set of all numbers of the form n2 − 4, such that n is a whole number in the range from 0 to 19 inclusive." Sometimes the vertical bar ("|") is used instead of the colon.

One often has the choice of specifying a set intensionally or extensionally. In the examples above, for instance, A = C and B = D.

== Membership ==

If a is a member of B, this is denoted a ∈ B, while if c is not a member of B then c ∉ B. For example, with respect to the sets A = {1,2,3,4}, B = {blue, white, red}, and F = {n2 − 4 : n is an integer; and 0 ≤ n ≤ 19} defined above,

4 ∈ A and 12 ∈ F; but

9 ∉ F and green ∉ B.

=== Subsets ===

If every member of set A is also a member of set B, then A is said to be a subset of B, written A ⊆ B (also pronounced A is contained in B). Equivalently, we can write B ⊇ A, read as B is a superset of A, B includes A, or B contains A. The relationship between sets established by ⊆ is called inclusion or containment.

If A is a subset of, but not equal to, B, then A is called a proper subset of B, written A ⊊ B (A is a proper subset of B) or B ⊋ A (B is a proper superset of A).

Note that the expressions A ⊂ B and B ⊃ A are used differently by different authors; some authors use them to mean the same as A ⊆ B (respectively B ⊇ A), whereas other use them to mean the same as A ⊊ B (respectively B ⊋ A).

Example:

The set of all men is a proper subset of the set of all people.

{1, 3} ⊆ {1, 2, 3, 4}.

{1, 2, 3, 4} ⊆ {1, 2, 3, 4}.

The empty set is a subset of every set and every set is a subset of itself:

∅ ⊆ A.

A ⊆ A.

An obvious but useful identity, which can often be used to show that two seemingly different sets are equal:

A = B if and only if A ⊆ B and B ⊆ A.

A partition of a set S is a set of nonempty subsets of S such that every element x in S is in exactly one of these subsets.

=== Power sets ===

The power set of a set S is the set of all subsets of S. Note that the power set contains S itself and the empty set because these are both subsets of S. For example, the power set of the set {1, 2, 3} is {{1, 2, 3}, {1, 2}, {1, 3}, {2, 3}, {1}, {2}, {3}, ∅}. The power set of a set S is usually written as P(S).

The power set of a finite set with n elements has 2n elements. This relationship is one of the reasons for the terminology power set[citation needed]. For example, the set {1, 2, 3} contains three elements, and the power set shown above contains 23 = 8 elements.

The power set of an infinite (either countable or uncountable) set is always uncountable. Moreover, the power set of a set is always strictly "bigger" than the original set in the sense that there is no way to pair every element of S with exactly one element of P(S). (There is never an onto map or surjection from S onto P(S).)

Every partition of a set S is a subset of the powerset of S.

== Cardinality ==

The cardinality | S | of a set S is "the number of members of S." For example, if B = {blue, white, red}, | B | = 3.

There is a unique set with no members and zero cardinality, which is called the empty set (or the null set) and is denoted by the symbol ∅ (other notations are used; see empty set). For example, the set of all three-sided squares has zero members and thus is the empty set. Though it may seem trivial, the empty set, like the number zero, is important in mathematics; indeed, the existence of this set is one of the fundamental concepts of axiomatic set theory.

Some sets have infinite cardinality. The set N of natural numbers, for instance, is infinite. Some infinite cardinalities are greater than others. For instance, the set of real numbers has greater cardinality than the set of natural numbers. However, it can be shown that the cardinality of (which is to say, the number of points on) a straight line is the same as the cardinality of any segment of that line, of the entire plane, and indeed of any finite-dimensional Euclidean space.

== Special sets ==

There are some sets that hold great mathematical importance and are referred to with such regularity that they have acquired special names and notational conventions to identify them. One of these is the empty set, denoted {} or ∅. Another is the unit set {x}, which contains exactly one element, namely x. Many of these sets are represented using blackboard bold or bold typeface. Special sets of numbers include:

P or ℙ, denoting the set of all primes: P = {2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, ...}.

N or ℕ, denoting the set of all natural numbers: N = {1, 2, 3, . . .} (sometimes defined containing 0).

Z or ℤ, denoting the set of all integers (whether positive, negative or zero): Z = {..., −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, ...}.

Q or ℚ, denoting the set of all rational numbers (that is, the set of all proper and improper fractions): Q = {a/b : a, b ∈ Z, b ≠ 0}. For example, 1/4 ∈ Q and 11/6 ∈ Q. All integers are in this set since every integer a can be expressed as the fraction a/1 (Z ⊊ Q).

R or ℝ, denoting the set of all real numbers. This set includes all rational numbers, together with all irrational numbers (that is, numbers that cannot be rewritten as fractions, such as √2, as well as transcendental numbers such as π, e and numbers that cannot be defined).

C or ℂ, denoting the set of all complex numbers: C = {a + bi : a, b ∈ R}. For example, 1 + 2i ∈ C.

H or ℍ, denoting the set of all quaternions: H = {a + bi + cj + dk : a, b, c, d ∈ R}. For example, 1 + i + 2j − k ∈ H.

Positive and negative sets are denoted by a superscript - or +, for example: ℚ+ represents the set of positive rational numbers.

Each of the above sets of numbers has an infinite number of elements, and each can be considered to be a proper subset of the sets listed below it. The primes are used less frequently than the others outside of number theory and related fields.

== Basic operations ==

There are several fundamental operations for constructing new sets from given sets.

=== Unions ===

Two sets can be "added" together. The union of A and B, denoted by A ∪ B, is the set of all things that are members of either A or B.

Examples:

{1, 2} ∪ {1, 2} = {1, 2}.

{1, 2} ∪ {2, 3} = {1, 2, 3}.

Some basic properties of unions:

A ∪ B = B ∪ A.

A ∪ (B ∪ C) = (A ∪ B) ∪ C.

A ⊆ (A ∪ B).

A ∪ A = A.

A ∪ ∅ = A.

A ⊆ B if and only if A ∪ B = B.

=== Intersections ===

A new set can also be constructed by determining which members two sets have "in common". The intersection of A and B, denoted by A ∩ B, is the set of all things that are members of both A and B. If A ∩ B = ∅, then A and B are said to be disjoint.

Examples:

{1, 2} ∩ {1, 2} = {1, 2}.

{1, 2} ∩ {2, 3} = {2}.

Some basic properties of intersections:

A ∩ B = B ∩ A.

A ∩ (B ∩ C) = (A ∩ B) ∩ C.

A ∩ B ⊆ A.

A ∩ A = A.

A ∩ ∅ = ∅.

A ⊆ B if and only if A ∩ B = A.

=== Complements ===

Two sets can also be "subtracted". The relative complement of B in A (also called the set-theoretic difference of A and B), denoted by A \ B (or A − B), is the set of all elements that are members of A but not members of B. Note that it is valid to "subtract" members of a set that are not in the set, such as removing the element green from the set {1, 2, 3}; doing so has no effect.

In certain settings all sets under discussion are considered to be subsets of a given universal set U. In such cases, U \ A is called the absolute complement or simply complement of A, and is denoted by A′.

Examples:

{1, 2} \ {1, 2} = ∅.

{1, 2, 3, 4} \ {1, 3} = {2, 4}.

If U is the set of integers, E is the set of even integers, and O is the set of odd integers, then U \ E = E′ = O.

Some basic properties of complements:

A \ B ≠ B \ A for A ≠ B.

A ∪ A′ = U.

A ∩ A′ = ∅.

(A′)′ = A.

A \ A = ∅.

U′ = ∅ and ∅′ = U.

A \ B = A ∩ B′.

An extension of the complement is the symmetric difference, defined for sets A, B as

For example, the symmetric difference of {7,8,9,10} and {9,10,11,12} is the set {7,8,11,12}.

=== Cartesian product ===

A new set can be constructed by associating every element of one set with every element of another set. The Cartesian product of two sets A and B, denoted by A × B is the set of all ordered pairs (a, b) such that a is a member of A and b is a member of B.

Examples:

{1, 2} × {red, white} = {(1, red), (1, white), (2, red), (2, white)}.

{1, 2} × {red, white, green} = {(1, red), (1, white), (1, green), (2, red), (2, white), (2, green) }.

{1, 2} × {1, 2} = {(1, 1), (1, 2), (2, 1), (2, 2)}.

Some basic properties of cartesian products:

A × ∅ = ∅.

A × (B ∪ C) = (A × B) ∪ (A × C).

(A ∪ B) × C = (A × C) ∪ (B × C).

Let A and B be finite sets. Then

| A × B | = | B × A | = | A | × | B |.

== Applications ==

Set theory is seen as the foundation from which virtually all of mathematics can be derived. For example, structures in abstract algebra, such as groups, fields and rings, are sets closed under one or more operations.

One of the main applications of naive set theory is constructing relations. A relation from a domain A to a codomain B is a subset of the Cartesian product A × B. Given this concept, we are quick to see that the set F of all ordered pairs (x, x2), where x is real, is quite familiar. It has a domain set R and a codomain set that is also R, because the set of all squares is subset of the set of all reals. If placed in functional notation, this relation becomes f(x) = x2. The reason these two are equivalent is for any given value, y that the function is defined for, its corresponding ordered pair, (y, y2) is a member of the set F.

== Axiomatic set theory ==

Although initially naive set theory, which defines a set merely as any well-defined collection, was well accepted, it soon ran into several obstacles. It was found that this definition spawned several paradoxes, most notably:

Russell's paradox—It shows that the "set of all sets that do not contain themselves," i.e. the "set" { x : x is a set and x ∉ x } does not exist.

Cantor's paradox—It shows that "the set of all sets" cannot exist.

The reason is that the phrase well-defined is not very well defined. It was important to free set theory of these paradoxes because nearly all of mathematics was being redefined in terms of set theory. In an attempt to avoid these paradoxes, set theory was axiomatized based on first-order logic, and thus axiomatic set theory was born.

For most purposes however, naive set theory is still useful.

== Principle of inclusion and exclusion ==

This principle gives us the cardinality of the union of sets.

== See also ==

== Notes ==

== References ==

Dauben, Joseph W., Georg Cantor: His Mathematics and Philosophy of the Infinite, Boston: Harvard University Press (1979) ISBN 978-0-691-02447-9.

Halmos, Paul R., Naive Set Theory, Princeton, N.J.: Van Nostrand (1960) ISBN 0-387-90092-6.

Stoll, Robert R., Set Theory and Logic, Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications (1979) ISBN 0-486-63829-4.

Velleman, Daniel, How To Prove It: A Structured Approach, Cambridge University Press (2006) ISBN 978-0-521-67599-4

== External links ==

C2 Wiki – Examples of set operations using English operators.

Mathematical Sets: Elements, Intersections & Unions, Education Portal Academy

Captain Kangaroo :: Captain Kangaroo is an American children's television series which aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for nearly 30 years, from October 3, 1955 until December 8, 1984, making it the longest-running nationally broadcast children's television program of its day. In 1986, the American Program Service (now American Public Television, Boston) integrated some newly produced segments into reruns of past episodes, distributing the newer version of the series until 1993.

The show was conceived and the title character played by Bob Keeshan, who based the show on "the warm relationship between grandparents and children." Keeshan had portrayed the original Clarabell the Clown on The Howdy Doody Show when it aired on NBC. Captain Kangaroo had a loose structure, built around life in the "Treasure House" where the Captain (the name "kangaroo" came from the big pockets in his coat) would tell stories, meet guests, and indulge in silly stunts with regular characters, both humans and puppets.

The show was telecast live to the East Coast and the Midwest for its first four years and broadcast on kinescope for the West Coast, as Keeshan would not perform the show live three times a day, and was in black-and-white until 1966. The May 17, 1971 episode saw two major changes on the show: The Treasure House was renovated and renamed "The Captain's Place" and the Captain replaced his navy blue coat with a red coat. In September 1981, CBS shortened the hour-long show to a half-hour, briefly retitled it Wake Up with the Captain, and moved it to an earlier time slot; it was later moved to weekends in September 1982, and returned to an hour-long format. It was canceled by CBS at the end of 1984.

In the early years of the series, Keeshan wore make-up in order to look suitably old for the character, but the show ran for so long that by the end, he was wearing make-up to look younger.[citation needed]

== Cast ==

Bob Keeshan as Captain Kangaroo and The Town Clown

Hugh "Lumpy" Brannum as Mr. Green Jeans, the New Old Folk Singer, Percy, Uncle Backwards, Mr. McGregor, and Mr. Bainter the Painter

Cosmo Allegretti as Mr. Bunny Rabbit and Mr. Moose (both of which he also created), Dennis the Apprentice, Miss Frog, Mr. Whispers, Dancing Bear, Grandfather Clock, Uncle Ralph. He was the voice of Aniforms puppet TV Fred (a live-action on-screen puppet that appeared behind the blackboard in the Treasure House), and was the artist behind the Magic Drawing Board.

Sam Levine as The Banana Man; the character was created by Adolph Proper (1886–1950).

Bill Cosby as himself, the host of the Picture Pages segment (1980–1984)

Debbie Weems as Debbie (1973–1977); she also provided the voice for the puppet character Baby Duck

James Wall as Mr. Baxter (1968–1978)

Carolyn Mignini as Kathy and other female roles (1981–1993)

Kevin Clash as the puppet character Artie (1980–1984) and as himself and acted in many of the sketches

John Burstein as Slim Goodbody (1976–1980)

Bill McCutcheon as Mr. Homan (1965–1966)

Dr. Joyce Brothers as herself for three seasons

=== Special guests ===

Among the special guests who made periodic appearances were:

== Format ==

The show did not really have a format, other than the entire program taking place in and around the Treasure House, and having the Captain interacting with puppets, guests or other members of the cast. Even the opening sequence could change. The show would generally begin with the theme music starting up, then the Captain would unlock and open the doors of the Treasure House from the inside, and viewers would catch their first glimpse of him. Then he would put the Treasure House keys on a nail, and the music would stop. However, sometimes the Captain could not get the keys to stay on the nail, and when they fell off, the theme music would begin playing again.

One never knew exactly what would happen from one episode to the next, although at certain times of the year, such as the Christmas season, paper cutout versions of such stories as The Littlest Snowman would be shown.

=== Cartoons ===

A cartoon starring a funnel-capped shape-shifting boy named Tom Terrific was part of the show in the 1950s and 1960s. Tom had a sidekick named Mighty Manfred the Wonder Dog, and a nemesis, Crabby Appleton. Other cartoons included Lariat Sam, which was developed by veteran game show announcer Gene Wood, then a show staffer (who also sang the cartoon's theme song).

The Canadian-British cartoon Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings appeared in the 1970s, featuring a child with magic chalk who could create all sorts of short-lived creations in short adventures (the original version featured a British narrator, but Keeshan's voice was dubbed onto the cartoons for their US airing).

The UK-produced cartoon Ludwig, about a magical egg-shaped robot, was also included about that time. The cartoon's musical score consisted of selections from the works of Beethoven.

Also appearing in the 1970s was The Most Important Person, a short series of five-minute segments on the importance of life; and The Kingdom of Could Be You, a short series of five-minute segments on the importance of careers and the work world.

There was also a cartoon series called The Toothbrush Family. Based on an extended family of hygiene utensils as the name suggests, they would embark on adventures based in the bathroom, like water skiing in the tub, or rescuing friends caught in the drain. Episodes were generally a couple of minutes each.

A silent cartoon in the 1970s named Crystal Tipps featured the adventures of a young girl. Later reruns were narrated by the voice of Mr. Moose. Another British favorite, The Wombles was also featured.

The Red & Blue shorts from Italy were also shown.

The Undersea Adventures of Captain Nemo, featuring a family of sea explorers, was featured as well.

Re-runs of the CB Bears and Undercover Elephant, as well as Motormouse and Autocat (of the Cattanooga Cats) were shown in the 1980s Saturday Morning run.[citation needed]

=== "Good morning, Captain!" ===

Beginning in 1974 and continuing through the decade, the show would open with different people wishing the Captain "good morning". Many of the openings featured non-celebrities, but some featured stars from TV shows, most of which broadcast over CBS, such as The Bob Newhart Show and One Day at a Time, as well as other characters with a connection to the network, including William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, dressed as Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock; characters from the Peanuts cartoons; and Fred Rogers from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. The montage of "good mornings" would always end with the Captain himself returning the greeting before the opening credits ran.

=== Regular features ===

Other regular features included The Magic Drawing Board and the Captain's "Reading Stories" sessions, which introduced kids to stories such as Curious George, Make Way for Ducklings, Stone Soup, Caps for Sale and Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. The Sweet Pickles books were also featured.

Songs included Little Mary Make Believe, Guess Who I Am, Little Black Frog, There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea, Erie Canal, Horse in Striped Pajamas, The Littlest Snowman, Daniel the Cocker Spaniel, and many more. On the first show of every month the Captain would have a birthday cake for all of the children with birthdays that month.

Keeshan also had a recurring role as "The Town Clown", a pantomime piece that took place in and around the exposed wagon home of a tramp-like circus clown. Like the character of Clarabelle that he played on Howdy Doody, the Town Clown never spoke.

Favorites on the show were Grandfather Clock (voiced by Cosmo Allegretti), Rollo the Hippo and Dancing Bear.

Dancing Bear was mute and only appeared in short subject features. He often danced waltzes to background music.

One of the show's long-running gags was the "Ping Pong Ball Drop", instigated by the telling of a joke (usually a Knock-Knock joke) by Mr. Moose in which the punchline would include the words "ping pong balls". At the mention of those three words, a shower of ping pong balls would be released from above on the Captain.

The show would very often have simple black light theatre segments utilizing paper or cardboard cutouts. A notable recording of a popular song, such as Judy Garland's Decca recording of Over the Rainbow (from The Wizard of Oz), Mary Martin singing Never Never Land (from the original cast recording of the musical Peter Pan), or Danny Kaye singing Inchworm (from the Decca recording of the songs from Hans Christian Andersen) would be heard while the cutouts played on the screen, animated by a concealed puppeteer. On other occasions, full-fledged hand puppets would "perform" to the song being played (as in the case when a hand puppet dressed in Spanish clothing performed to a recording of tenor Allan Jones singing The Donkey Serenade).

Familiar props included a mockup of a talking cathedral-style radio that Keeshan simply called "Radio". Keeshan would turn the large knobs on "Radio" to get a conversation going. Reminiscent of the old Atwater Kent cathedrals, "Radio" had a rather interesting conversation with a smaller transistor radio in one show. Also featured was a huge Colgate toothpaste box with a large windup or clockwork key on the side. Keeshan turned the key to play a jingle ("Colgate Fluoride M-F-P/Helps Prevent the Cavity/And it Tastes Great, Naturally!") for the show's sponsor, Colgate Toothpaste.

== Theme song ==

The original theme song to Captain Kangaroo (titled "Puffin' Billy") was used from 1955 to 1974. It was an instrumental, written by Edward G. White. The track was from a British stock music production library known as the Chappell Recorded Music Library which was sold through a New York agency called Emil Ascher. The tune's original title referred to a British steam locomotive. This tune was used on other programs on both sides of the Atlantic. For example, two years before Captain Kangaroo, it served as the wrap-up music for an episode of the radio program Rocky Fortune called "Murder Among the Statues". In its native United Kingdom, it became famous as the theme to the weekly BBC radio program Children's Favourites from 1952 to 1966, and is still widely recognised by the post-war generation. It was later used in the Enid Blyton parody Five Go Mad in Dorset and in a number of British TV adverts, including a Captain Sensible spot. The "Puffin' Billy" theme played as the opening of each episode, with the music continuing until the Captain hung his large ring of keys on a nail (which seemed to act as a switch to turn off the music). If the Captain's keys ever slipped off the nail, the music would begin playing again.

In 1957, lyricist Mary Rogers penned lyrics to the tune, creating a newly titled Captain Kangaroo song.

In 1974, a new theme song titled "Good Morning, Captain" was composed for Captain Kangaroo, written by Robert L. Brush. As the new theme used similar melodic elements from the original theme, Edward G. White's name was added to the song credits. However, due to copyright issues, the song was later re-recorded without the portion of "Puffin' Billy" featured in the first version.

During the brief Wake Up With the Captain era, a theme titled "Wake Up" was used.

For the show's final two seasons and the later PBS run, Schoolhouse Rock mainstay Lynn Ahrens (who composed and performed a few Captain Kangaroo songs herself) wrote a new theme, entitled "Here Comes Captain Kangaroo".

The theme song for All New Captain Kangaroo used the opening notes and part of the melody of the original theme as its introduction.

== Schedule history ==

While Captain Kangaroo was still in planning stages, CBS executives had the idea of hiring Al Lewis, a kids' show host in Cincinnati (ABC was running Lewis's show at that time), to host their show, but Lewis's managers refused to release him from his contract. Lewis's local kids show went off the air in Cincinnati a year after Captain Kangaroo left CBS.

For the first three months, Captain Kangaroo was only seen on weekday mornings. From then until 1968, the show was also seen on Saturday mornings, except in the 1964-1965 season, when it was replaced by a Keeshan vehicle called Mr. Mayor. After 1968, the show was again seen only on weekdays. Except for pre-emption for news coverage, notably the three-day continuous coverage of the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, and a few shows that were 45 minutes, the show aired a full 60 minutes on weekday mornings until 1981. It was broadcast in color from September 9, 1966 onward. The time slot for the show was from 8:00 A.M. to 9:00 A.M., E.S.T., after which the networks would allow some affiliate stations to air local programming.

The audience of children could never compete in the ratings with such entertainment/news shows as The Today Show, although Captain Kangaroo won Emmy Awards three times as Outstanding Children's entertainment series in 1978–1979, 1982–1983 and 1983–1984. But in the fall of 1981, to make more room for the expansion of CBS Morning News, the Captain was moved to an earlier time slot of 7 a.m. and cut to 30 minutes, sporting the new title Wake Up with the Captain. In the fall of 1982, it returned to an hour format, but was moved to Saturday mornings at 7 a.m. Eastern Time and 6 a.m. in other time zones. Reruns from the previous season were offered to CBS affiliates to run Sunday morning in place of the cartoon reruns offered before, but most declined. One-third of affiliates no longer ran the show at all after 1982, and it was again reduced to a half-hour in the fall of 1984. Angered over the reduction of his program for the second time, Keeshan chose to step down at the end of 1984, after his contract with CBS expired.

Just over a year later, in 1986, Captain Kangaroo returned in reruns on PBS television stations, with funding from public television stations, School Zone Publishing Company and from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. American Public Television, then known as the "Interregional Program Service", distributed the show, along with Britder Associates (Keeshan's production company), and the Riehl Company, owned by former WPBT station manager Dale Riehl.

The show was on the air for 29 years, making it one of the longest-running network children's program series. Sesame Street, insulated from the Nielsen ratings wars, holds the record at over 40 years, and still airs. Several of the original Sesame Street writers and producers were hired from the Captain Kangaroo staff to help produce and direct the new program when it went on the air in 1969.

The original director of the program was Peter Birch, who helmed the program for its first 25 years. Producer Jim Hirschfeld took over as director following Birch's heart attack in 1980 and continued directing, as well as producing throughout the rest of the show's run, including the new segments inserted into the PBS reruns, until it went off the air in 1993.

The cast of Captain Kangaroo also hosted the CBS coverage of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for several years in the 1960s.

== Schwinn marketing ==

From the late 1950s, the Schwinn Bicycle Company made use of children's television programming to expand its dominance of the child and youth bicycle markets. The company was an early sponsor (from 1958) of Captain Kangaroo. The Captain himself was enlisted to sell Schwinn-brand bicycles to the show's audience, typically six years old and under. At the end of each live Schwinn marketing promotion, Bob Keeshan would intone, "Prices slightly higher in the South and in the West". The on-air marketing program was deemed successful by Schwinn, and the company increased its market share of child and youth bicycles throughout the 1960s.

The marketing program continued through the 1971 season, when the Federal Trade Commission's Staff Report, Guidelines on Advertising to Children, recommended against Schwinn's on-air marketing practices using the show's host. In response, Schwinn and the show's writers altered the format in 1972. The Captain no longer insisted that his viewers purchase a Schwinn, but instead made regular on-air consultations of a new character, Mr. Schwinn Dealer. A 1973 internal company news article concluded that the show's child audience had difficulty separating Schwinn's sales pitch from that of the show.

== Popular culture ==

Rock musician Frank Zappa wrote a composition named "Mr. Green Genes" on his album Uncle Meat and a sequel, "Son of Mr. Green Genes" on his album Hot Rats. This led to the urban legend that Zappa was the son of Hugh Brannum, who played Mr. Green Jeans, a myth Zappa officially dispelled in his 1989 autobiography, The Real Frank Zappa Book, as did Keeshan in his 1996 autobiography, Good Morning, Captain.

Many popular songs make reference to Captain Kangaroo, including the Statler Brothers' 1965 hit song "Flowers on the Wall", the "Weird Al" Yankovic song "The Brady Bunch", the Bloodhound Gang's "Your Only Friends Are Make Believe".

== Revival ==

In 1997–1998, a sequel revival series tentatively titled The All New Captain Kangaroo was attempted by Saban Entertainment. John McDonough played the Captain on this version, which was shot in Tampa, Florida. Keeshan was invited to appear as a special guest called "The Admiral," but after seeing sample episodes, he declined to appear or have any association with the new incarnation.[citation needed] It ran for one season and inspired a spin-off show, Mister Moose's Fun Time.

In 2011, the trademark for "Captain Kangaroo" was acquired by The Cashin Comedy Co. In a blog, the Captain is portrayed by Pat Cashin.

== References ==

== External links ==

Captain Kangaroo at the Internet Movie Database

Captain Kangaroo at TV.com

Captain Kangaroo/Cashin Comedy Co. website

Ingram, Billy. "The Good Captain", TVParty.com, n.d.

Zurawik, David. "TV's Captain Kangaroo, Bob Keeshan, dies at 76", The Baltimore Sun, January 24, 2004

McFadden, Kay. "Bob Keeshan, TV pioneer Captain Kangaroo, dies at 76", Seattle Times, February 3, 2004

Captain Kangaroo. [1], Classic TV

Captain Kangaroo scripts, 1959-1964, held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

Jack Lemmon :: John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was an Academy Award winning American actor and musician. He starred in more than 60 films, including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts (for which he won the 1955 Best Supporting Actor Academy Award), Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger (for which he won the 1973 Best Actor Academy Award), The Out-of-Towners, The China Syndrome, Missing (for which he won Best Actor at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival), Glengarry Glen Ross, Grumpy Old Men, and Grumpier Old Men.

== Early life ==

Lemmon was born in an elevator at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Newton, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. He was the only child of Mildred Burgess LaRue (née Noel) and John Uhler Lemmon, Jr., the president of a doughnut company. Lemmon attended John Ward Elementary School in Newton and The Rivers School in Weston, Massachusetts. He stated that he knew he wanted to be an actor from the age of eight. Lemmon attended Phillips Academy (Class of 1943) and Harvard University (Class of 1947), where he lived in Eliot House and was an active member of several Drama Clubs – and president of the Hasty Pudding Club – as well as a member of the Delphic Club for Gentleman, a final club at Harvard. After Harvard, Lemmon joined the Navy, receiving V-12 training and serving as an ensign. On being discharged, he took up acting professionally, working on radio, television and Broadway. He studied acting under coach Uta Hagen. He was enamored of the piano and learned to play it on his own. He could also play the harmonica, guitar, organ, and the double bass.

== Career ==

Lemmon's film debut was a bit part as a plasterer/painter in the 1949 film The Lady Takes a Sailor, but he went unnoticed until his debut, opposite Judy Holliday, in the 1954 comedy It Should Happen to You. Lemmon worked with legendary leading ladies, among them Marilyn Monroe, Natalie Wood, Betty Grable, Janet Leigh, Shirley MacLaine, Lee Remick, Romy Schneider, Doris Day, Kim Novak, Judy Holliday, Rita Hayworth, June Allyson, Virna Lisi, Ann-Margret, Sophia Loren, and many more. He was close friends with actors Tony Curtis, Ernie Kovacs, Walter Matthau, and Kevin Spacey. He made two films with Curtis, three films with Kovacs (Operation Mad Ball, Bell, Book and Candle, and It Happened to Jane), and eleven with Matthau.[citation needed]

Early in Lemmon's career he met comedian Ernie Kovacs while co-starring with him in Operation Mad Ball. Lemmon and Kovacs became close friends and appeared together in two subsequent films, Bell, Book and Candle and It Happened to Jane In 1977 PBS broadcast a compilation series of Kovacs's television work, and Lemmon served as the narrator of the series. Lemmon discussed his friendship with Kovacs in the documentary, Ernie Kovacs: Television's Original Genius.

He was a favorite of director Billy Wilder, starring in the films Some Like It Hot (for which he was awarded Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival), The Apartment, Irma la Douce, The Fortune Cookie, Avanti!, The Front Page, and Buddy Buddy. Wilder felt Lemmon had a natural tendency toward overacting that had to be tempered; the Wilder biography Nobody's Perfect quotes the director as saying, "Lemmon, I would describe him as a ham, a fine ham, and with ham you have to trim a little fat". The biography quotes Lemmon as saying, "I am particularly susceptible to the parts I play... If my character was having a nervous breakdown, I started to have one".

He enjoyed a longtime working relationship with director Blake Edwards, starring in My Sister Eileen (1955), Days of Wine and Roses (1962), The Great Race (1965) and That's Life! (1986).

Lemmon recorded an album in 1958 while filming Some Like It Hot with Marilyn Monroe. Twelve jazz tracks were created for Lemmon and another twelve were added. Lemmon played the piano and recorded his own renditions of Monroe's trademark songs, I Wanna Be Loved By You and I'm Through With Love, for the album which was released in 1959 as A Twist of Lemmon/Some Like It Hot.

Lemmon was awarded the Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1956 for Mister Roberts (1955) and the Best Actor Oscar for Save the Tiger (1973), becoming the first actor to achieve this rare double (the only other actors to achieve this are: Robert De Niro, Gene Hackman, Jack Nicholson, Kevin Spacey, and Denzel Washington). He was also nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his role in the controversial film Missing in 1982, and for his roles in Some Like It Hot (1959), The Apartment (1960), Days of Wine and Roses (1962), The China Syndrome (1979), and Tribute (1980). He won another Cannes award for his performance in Missing (which received the Palme d'Or). In 1988, the American Film Institute gave him its Lifetime Achievement Award.

Days of Wine and Roses (1962) was a favorite role. He portrayed Joe Clay, a young, fun-loving alcoholic businessman. In that film, Lemmon delivered the line, "My name is Joe Clay ... I'm an alcoholic." Three and a half decades later, he stated on the television program Inside the Actors Studio that he was a recovering alcoholic.

Lemmon's production company JML produced Cool Hand Luke in 1967. Paul Newman was grateful to Lemmon for his support and offered him the role of the Sundance Kid, later played by Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but Lemmon turned it down. He did not like riding horses and he felt he'd already played too many aspects of the Sundance Kid's character before.

Lemmon appeared in many films partnered with actor Walter Matthau. Among their pairings was 1968's The Odd Couple, as Felix Ungar (Lemmon) and Oscar Madison (Matthau). The first film they starred in together was The Fortune Cookie (for which Matthau won the 1966 Oscar for Best Supporting Actor), The Front Page and Buddy Buddy. In 1971, Lemmon directed Matthau in the comedy Kotch. It was the only movie that Lemmon directed and Matthau was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for his performance.

Additionally, Lemmon and Matthau had small parts in Oliver Stone's 1991 film, JFK (the only film in which both appeared without sharing screen time). In 1993, the duo teamed again to star in Grumpy Old Men. The film was a surprise hit, earning the two actors a new generation of young fans. During the rest of the decade, they would star together in Out to Sea, Grumpier Old Men and the widely panned The Odd Couple II. In 1996, Lemmon was awarded the Honorary Golden Bear award at the 46th Berlin International Film Festival. Lemmon was a guest voice on The Simpsons in 1997, playing the character Frank Ormand, owner of the pretzel business that Marge Simpson franchised. The recurring character Old Gil Gunderson, voiced by Dan Castellaneta, is an ongoing parody of Lemmon's character in Glengarry Glen Ross.

At the 1998 Golden Globe Awards, he was nominated for "Best Actor in a Made for TV Movie" for his role in Twelve Angry Men losing to Ving Rhames. After accepting the award, Rhames asked Lemmon to come on stage and, in a move that stunned the audience, gave his award to him. (The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which presents the Golden Globes, had a second award made and sent to Rhames.). He received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1988.

== Personal life ==

Actor Kevin Spacey recalled that Lemmon is remembered for always making time for other people. Already regarded as a legend, he met teenage Spacey backstage after a theater performance and spoke to him about pursuing an acting career. Spacey would later work with Lemmon in The Murder of Mary Phagan (1987), Dad (1989), the critically acclaimed film Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) and on stage in a revival of Long Day's Journey into Night. Lemmon was Spacey's mentor, and taught Spacey that people who do well in a business have an obligation to "send the elevator back down" to help lift people starting out on the ground floor. This metaphor is fitting given that Lemmon was born in an elevator.

In his autobiography, My Life, Burt Reynolds recalls Lemmon as the quintessential gentleman who never spoke ill of anyone, even if they deserved it. This kindness backfired for Reynolds: prior to accepting the lead in W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings (1975), directed by John G. Avildsen, Reynolds asked Lemmon, whom Avildsen had directed in Save the Tiger (1973) for an opinion of Avildsen as a director. Lemmon told Reynolds that Avildsen was "okay", and Reynolds accepted the role. After the film was released and his experiences in production proved unhappy, Reynolds complained to Lemmon and described Avildsen as an "asshole", whereupon Lemmon replied, "I guess you could say that."

Lemmon was married twice. His son Chris Lemmon (born 1954), was his first child by his first wife, actress Cynthia Stone. His second wife was actress Felicia Farr, with whom he had a daughter, Courtney (born 1966). Farr had a daughter from a previous relationship (her marriage to Lee Farr) named Denise. Lemmon was a Catholic, and publicly announced his alcoholism during a 1998 interview on Inside the Actors Studio.

== Death ==

Lemmon died of colon cancer and metastatic cancer of the bladder on June 27, 2001. He had been fighting the disease, privately, for two years before his death. He was interred at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, California, buried near his friend and co-star, Walter Matthau, who died almost exactly one year before Lemmon. His gravestone simply reads "JACK LEMMON in," a reference to how he was billed on film credits. After Matthau's death in 2000, Lemmon appeared with friends and relatives of the actor on a Larry King Live show in tribute. A year later, many of the same people appeared again on the show to pay tribute to Lemmon.[citation needed]

== Filmography ==

=== Film ===

=== Television ===

=== Discography ===

A Twist of Lemmon/Some Like It Hot (1959)

Piano Selections from Irma La Douce (1963)

Piano and Vocals (1990)

Peter and the Wolf (1991)

Songs and music from Some Like It Hot (2001)

== References ==

== Sources ==

Lemmon, Chris (2006). A Twist of Lemmon: A Tribute to My Father. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. ISBN 978-1-56512-480-6.

Baltake, Joe (1977). The Films of Jack Lemmon. Citadel Press. ISBN 0-8065-0560-5.

Freedland, Michael (2003). Some Like It Cool: The Charmed Life of Jack Lemmon. Robson Books. ISBN 978-1-86105-510-1.

Widener, Don (1975). Lemmon. Macmillan Books.

Wise, James. Stars in Blue: Movie Actors in America's Sea Services. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1997. ISBN 1557509379 OCLC 36824724

== External links ==

Jack Lemmon at the Internet Broadway Database

Jack Lemmon at the Internet Movie Database

Jack Lemmon at the TCM Movie Database

"The Films of Jack Lemmon" on YouTube, compilation of movie clips, 4 minutes

Actor Jack Lemmon dead at 76

Jack Lemmon at the Archive of American Television

Obituary in the Los Angeles Times

The Tonight Show :: The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. Currently recorded in New York City, it is the longest currently running, regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States and the third-longest-running show on NBC after Meet the Press and Today. It is the longest-running talk show in television history, surpassing Ireland's The Late Late Show by eight years. The show has undergone some minor title changes, having aired as Tonight for several of its early years, before settling on The Tonight Show in 1962. Aside from minor format changes, and a brief move to a more news-style format in 1957 before reverting back that same year, it has remained a talk show through-out its run.

The Tonight Show has been hosted by Steve Allen (1954–57), Jack Paar (1957–62), Johnny Carson (1962–92), Jay Leno (1992–2009, 2010–14), Conan O'Brien (2009–10), and Jimmy Fallon (2014–present). Several guest hosts have also appeared, particularly during the Paar and Carson eras. The current host is former Late Night host and Saturday Night Live cast member Jimmy Fallon.

The longest-serving host to date is Johnny Carson, who hosted The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 seasons from October 1962 through to May 1992, though Leno has hosted the most episodes over the course of his two tenures and guest-hosting for Carson. The most recent host of the show is Jimmy Fallon, who has hosted the show since February 17, 2014.

== Hosting history ==

NBC's Broadway Open House, which began in 1950, first demonstrated the potential for late-night network programming. The format for The Tonight Show can be traced to a nightly 40 minute local New York show hosted by Allen, originally titled The Knickerbocker Beer Show (after the sponsor) but quickly retitled The Steve Allen Show, which premiered in 1953 on WNBT. Beginning in September 1954, it was renamed Tonight! and shown on the full NBC network.

Notes for hosting history

=== Steve Allen (1954–57) ===

The first Tonight announcer was Gene Rayburn. Allen's version of the show originated talk show staples such as an opening monologue, celebrity interviews, audience participation, and comedy bits in which cameras were taken outside the studio, as well as music including guest performers and a house band under Lyle "Skitch" Henderson.

When the show became a success, Allen got a prime-time Sunday comedy/variety show in June 1956, leading him to share Tonight hosting duties with Ernie Kovacs during the 1956–57 season. To give Allen time to work on his Sunday evening show, Kovacs hosted Tonight on Monday and Tuesday nights with his own announcer (Bill Wendell) and bandleader.

During the later Steve Allen years, regular audience member Lillian Miller became such an integral part that she was forced to join American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the television/radio performers union.

Allen and Kovacs departed Tonight in January 1957 after NBC ordered Allen to concentrate all his efforts on his Sunday-night variety program, hoping to combat CBS's The Ed Sullivan Show's dominance of the Sunday night ratings.[citation needed]

Unlike the first installment of Johnny Carson's tenure, which is lost except for audio recordings, a kinescope recording of the opening monologue from the very first Tonight Show under Allen survives. In this recording, Allen states "this show is going to go on forever"; although in context (and as part of a series of jokes) Allen refers to the fact the program is scheduled to run late into the night, his statement has come to refer to the longevity of the franchise.

=== Tonight! America After Dark (1957) ===

Rather than continuing with the same format after Allen and Kovacs' departure from Tonight, NBC changed the show's format to a news and features show, similar to that of the network's popular morning program Today. The new show, renamed Tonight! America After Dark, was hosted first by Jack Lescoulie and then by Al "Jazzbo" Collins, with interviews conducted by Hy Gardner, and music provided by the Lou Stein Trio (later replaced by the Mort Lindsey Quartet, then the Johnny Guarnieri Quartet). This new version of the show was unpopular, resulting in a significant number of NBC affiliates dropping the show.

=== Jack Paar (1957–62) ===

In July 1957, NBC returned the program to a talk/variety show format once again, with Jack Paar becoming the new solo host of the show. Under Paar, most of the NBC affiliates which had dropped the show during the ill-fated run of America After Dark began airing the show once again. Paar's era began the practice of branding the series after the host, and as such the program, though officially still called The Tonight Show, was marketed as The Jack Paar Show. A combo band conducted by Paar's Army buddy pianist Jose Melis filled commercial breaks and backed musical entertainers. [See music and announcers below.] Paar also introduced the idea of having guest hosts; one of these early hosts was Johnny Carson. It was one of the first regularly scheduled shows to be videotaped in color.

On February 11, 1960, Jack Paar walked off his show – an absence which lasted almost a month – after NBC censors edited out a segment taped the night before about a joke involving a "WC" (water closet, a polite term for a flush toilet) being confused for a "wayside chapel". As he left his desk, he said, "I am leaving The Tonight Show. There must be a better way of making a living than this". Paar's abrupt departure left his startled announcer to finish the broadcast himself.

Paar returned to the show on March 7, 1960, strolled on stage, struck a pose, and said, "As I was saying before I was interrupted ..." After the audience erupted in applause, Paar continued: "when I walked off, I said there must be a better way of making a living. Well, I've looked – and there isn't."

=== Transition from Paar to Carson (1962) ===

Citing that he would prefer to do one prime-time show per week rather than five late-night installments, Paar left the show in March 1962. The guests on the last show were Jack E. Leonard, Alexander King, Robert Merrill and Buddy Hackett. Among those appearing in taped farewell messages were Richard Nixon, Robert Kennedy, Billy Graham, Bob Hope and Jack Benny. Hugh Downs was the announcer, and Jose Melis led the band.The Jack Paar Show moved to prime time (as The Jack Paar Program) and aired weekly on Friday nights through 1965. The final show, on Friday March 30, 1962 was a "Best Of Paar" rerun.

Johnny Carson was chosen as Paar's successor. Carson was host at the time of the weekday afternoon quiz show Who Do You Trust? on ABC. Because Carson was under contract through September to ABC and producer Don Fedderson (who held him to his contract until the day it expired) he could not take over as host until October 1, 1962. The months between Paar and Carson were filled by a series of guest hosts including Groucho Marx, Merv Griffin, Bill Cullen, Jerry Lewis, and Mort Sahl, some of whom later noted they were being led to believe they were auditioning for the job. Griffin was so well received as a guest host that NBC gave him his own daytime talk show, the first of three he would host in his broadcasting career, which debuted the same day Carson took over the late night show.

The show was broadcast under the title The Tonight Show during this interim, with Skitch Henderson returning as bandleader. Hugh Downs remained as announcer/sidekick until taking over hosting duties on Today in September, at which point he was replaced by Ed Herlihy.

=== Johnny Carson (1962–92) ===

Marx introduced Carson as the new host on October 1, 1962. Ed McMahon was Carson's announcer. The Tonight Show orchestra was for several years still led by Skitch Henderson. After a brief stint by Milton DeLugg, beginning in 1967 the "NBC Orchestra" was then headed by trumpeter Doc Severinsen who played in the band during the Henderson era. [See "Music and Announcers" below.] For all but a few months of its first decade on the air, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City. In May 1972, the show moved to Burbank, California into Studio One of NBC Studios West Coast (although it was announced as coming from nearby Hollywood) for the remainder of his tenure. Carson often utilized guest hosts in his absence (and regularly on Friday nights, late in his tenure), notably Leno, Garry Shandling, and Joan Rivers, who all (at one time or another) served under the designation of "Permanent Guest Host".

=== Jay Leno (1992–2009) ===

Johnny Carson retired on May 22, 1992, and was replaced by Jay Leno amid controversy. David Letterman not only wanted to move into that earlier time slot from his Late Night spot after The Tonight Show, but was considered by Carson and others as the natural successor (despite Leno having been Carson's permanent guest host for several years). Letterman, having had his heart set on the earlier time slot, (on Carson's advice) left NBC and joined CBS. Late Show with David Letterman, airing in the same slot, has been competing head to head against The Tonight Show ever since. After Leno's first run as host of The Tonight Show, Conan O'Brien took over as host.

=== Conan O'Brien (2009–10) ===

On September 27, 2004, the 50th anniversary of the show's premiere, NBC announced that Jay Leno would be succeeded by Conan O'Brien in 2009. Leno explained that in yielding to Conan, he wanted to avoid repeating the hard feelings that developed between him and David Letterman, and called O'Brien "certainly the most deserving person for the job." What was to be the final episode of The Tonight Show with Leno as host aired on Friday, May 29, 2009. O'Brien replaced Leno as host on The Tonight Show on Monday, June 1 from a new studio in Stage 1 of the Universal Studios Hollywood back lot, ending an era (since 1972) of recording the show in Burbank. Leno, meanwhile, went on to host The Jay Leno Show, a prime-time talk show which aired before O'Brien's Tonight Show.

==== 2010 Timeslot conflict and Leno's return ====

After a strong start, O'Brien's audience tailed off significantly within a few months; at one point he attracted two million fewer viewers than Letterman. Furthermore, Leno's 10 p.m. show, while it did fairly well, was unpopular with NBC affiliates since it reduced the lead-in audience to their 11 p.m. local newscasts.

On January 7, 2010, multiple media outlets reported that beginning March 1, 2010, Leno would move from his 10 p.m. weeknight time slot to 11:35 p.m. due to Leno and O'Brien's sagging ratings, as well as pressure from NBC affiliates. Leno's show would be shortened from an hour to 30 minutes. This would move The Tonight Show to 12:05 a.m., a post-midnight time slot for the first time in its history.

On January 10, NBC confirmed they would be moving Jay Leno out of primetime as of February 12 and intended to move him to late-night as soon as possible. TMZ reported that O'Brien was given no advance notice of this change, and that NBC offered him a choice: an hour-long 12:05 a.m. time slot, or the option to leave the network. On January 12, O'Brien issued a press release that stated he would not continue with Tonight if it was moved to a 12:05 a.m. time slot, saying, "I believe that delaying The Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn't The Tonight Show."

On January 21, it was announced that NBC had struck a deal with O'Brien in which he would leave The Tonight Show and receive a $33 million payout. His staff of almost 200 would receive $12 million in their departure. O'Brien's final episode aired on Friday, January 22, ending his relationship with NBC after 22 years. Leno resumed hosting The Tonight Show on March 1, 2010. O'Brien returned to late-night television on November 8, 2010 (after his non-compete clause expired) hosting Conan on cable channel TBS.

=== Leno's second tenure (2010–14) ===

On March 1, 2010, Jay Leno returned to The Tonight Show, with Wally Wingert as his announcer. On April 12, 2010, bandleader Kevin Eubanks announced his departure after 18 years on May 28. He was replaced as bandleader by Rickey Minor on June 7. On July 1, 2010, Variety reported that only six months into its second life, Jay Leno's Tonight Show posted its lowest ratings since 1992. By September 2010, Leno's ratings had fallen below those of Conan O'Brien when he had hosted The Tonight Show. NBC ratings specialist Tom Bierbaum commented that due to the host being out of late-night television for a period of time and the subsequent 2010 Tonight Show conflict, Leno's ratings fall was "not a surprise at all." In October 2010, David Letterman beat Leno's program in the ratings, for the first time since Leno returned to hosting The Tonight Show. By May 2011, however, Leno regained the lead over Letterman and held it ever since. In August 2012, The Los Angeles Times reported that The Tonight Show was in trouble for a number of reasons, notably that NBC was losing money. The Times later elaborated, noting that advertising revenue from The Tonight Show had dropped more than 40% since 2007, from $255.9 million annually to $146.1 million. Still, despite these problems, during 2012–13, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno was consistently the highest-ranking late-night show, regularly achieving audiences of over 3.5 million, according to Nielsen ratings. Leno's audience became considerably smaller after its peak 2002–03 season, when it routinely attracted 5.8 million viewers a night. This was partly due to the continuing fragmentation of the TV audience, with an increasing number of cable shows, such as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report and Conan O'Brien's new show on TBS, in addition to competition with Letterman on CBS and since January 8, 2013, Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC.

=== Jimmy Fallon (2014–present) ===

On April 3, 2013, NBC announced that Jay Leno would retire in 2014, with Jimmy Fallon taking over The Tonight Show after the conclusion of NBC's coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics. It was Leno's suggestion to use NBC's coverage of the Olympics as a springboard for Fallon's tenure. The date was later moved up a week to February 17, midway through the Olympics.

NBC also confirmed that The Tonight Show would be brought back to New York City after 42 years in Southern California, including O'Brien's tenure at Universal Studios Hollywood. Approximately $5 million was budgeted to renovate Studio 6B, where Fallon recorded Late Night, for The Tonight Show's return to New York City when Fallon becomes host in 2014. The move also enabled NBC to take advantage of a newly enacted New York state tax credit for talk shows that are "filmed before a studio audience of at least 200, as long as they carry a production budget of at least $30 million and have been shot outside New York for at least five seasons." Studio 6B is also where Jack Paar hosted The Tonight Show.[citation needed] Johnny Carson hosted The Tonight Show there for ten years before the show was moved to Burbank in 1972.[citation needed]

On September 3, 2013, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon moved from Studio 6B to Studio 6A (where David Letterman and Conan O'Brien hosted their respective versions of Late Night) to accommodate a studio renovation in preparation of Fallon's assent to The Tonight Show. Studio 6B now seats 240 people, up from its Late Night capacity of 189 seats. NBC also confirmed that Lorne Michaels (also known as the producer of Saturday Night Live, in which Fallon appeared prior to hosting Late Night) would become executive producer of The Tonight Show. On June 11, 2013, NBC announced that The Tonight Show will be renamed The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, returning the usage of the word "starring" in the show title not seen since 1992, with former The Daily Show executive producer Josh Lieb joining the The Tonight Show in the role of producer.

With Fallon's debut, the Tonight and Late Night franchises are based in the same city for the first time. Fallon's first broadcast aired as scheduled on Feb. 17, 2014, with his initial guests being Will Smith and the rock band U2, plus an assortment of celebrity cameos, including an appearance by one of Fallon's direct broadcast competitors, Stephen Colbert, and another by former permanent guest host Joan Rivers, making her first appearance on Tonight since cutting ties with Carson in 1986. The show's opening sequence was directed by filmmaker Spike Lee.

== Music and announcers ==

Music during the show's introduction and commercial segues is supplied by The Tonight Show Band. This ensemble was a jazz big band until the end of Johnny Carson's tenure. Skitch Henderson was the bandleader during the Steve Allen and early Carson years, followed briefly by Milton DeLugg (who had previously led the band on Broadway Open House and later became the musical director of The Gong Show). Gene Rayburn served as Allen's announcer and sidekick and also guest-hosted some episodes. The Lou Stein Trio originally provided musical accompaniment during the short run of Tonight! America After Dark, which ran for six months between the Steve Allen/Ernie Kovacs and Jack Paar eras of The Tonight Show, but was later replaced by the Mort Lindsey Quartet, which in turn, was replaced by the Johnny Guarnieri Quartet. José Melis led the band for Jack Paar, and, after a short while of using comic actor Franklin Pangborn, Hugh Downs was Paar's announcer. For most of Johnny Carson's run on the show, the Tonight Show's band, then called "The NBC Orchestra" was led by Doc Severinsen, former trumpet soloist in Henderson's band for Steve Allen.

When McMahon was away from the show, Severinsen was the substitute announcer and Tommy Newsom would lead the band. On the rare occasions that both McMahon and Severinsen were away, Newsom would take the announcer's chair and the band would be led by assistant musical director Shelly Cohen.

Severinsen's big band featured several accomplished sidemen in addition to saxophonist Newsom, including trumpeter Snooky Young, pianist Ross Tompkins, drummer Ed Shaughnessy, trumpeter John Audino, trumpeter Conte Candoli, saxophonist Pete Christlieb, and jazz trumpet legend Clark Terry. The band frequently appeared on camera in the "Stump the Band" segments, where an audience member would dare the band to play some obscure song title, and the band would comically improvise something appropriate. The routine was played for full comedy value and the band was not really expected to know the songs, but on two occasions the band did answer correctly, much to the maestro's surprise. Severinsen was heard to ask incredulously, "You mean we actually...?"

When Carson's tenure ended in 1992, the orchestra was axed and replaced by a smaller ensemble. The first bandleader during Leno's tenure was Branford Marsalis. In 1992, The Tonight Show Band also welcomed its first female member, Vicki Randle. In 1995, Marsalis was replaced by Kevin Eubanks, though the Marsalis-written theme was used throughout the show's run. On March 29, 2004, Leno's long-time announcer Edd Hall was replaced by John Melendez from The Howard Stern Show.

Conan O'Brien announced on the February 18, 2009 episode of Late Night that The Max Weinberg 7 (rechristened as The Tonight Show Band, and adding a second percussionist), the house band on that program, would be accompanying him to The Tonight Show as his version's house band. It was announced February 23, 2009 that former Late Night sidekick Andy Richter would be O'Brien's announcer. Richter replaced O'Brien's former long-time announcer Joel Godard (who stayed behind in New York) when his rendition of The Tonight Show began.

For the second incarnation of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, a new bandleader was selected, though original bandleader Kevin Eubanks returned for a few weeks in the transition. He officially announced his departure after 18 years on April 12, 2010, with his final episode airing May 28. Rickey Minor was announced as his replacement, and took over on June 7.

With the return of Leno's Tonight Show in March 2010, Melendez continued in the writing role, which he was assigned to on the prime-time The Jay Leno Show. Melendez did not return as announcer on the second incarnation of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (the job went to Wally Wingert), and is now employed as a staff writer and occasional on-air segment host.

Jimmy Fallon began hosting The Tonight Show on February 17, 2014; his house band on Late Night, The Roots, joined him, as did announcer Steve Higgins.

== Broadcasting milestones ==

The Tonight Show began its broadcast at 11:15 p.m. ET, following an affiliate's 15-minute news broadcast. As more affiliates lengthened their local news programs to 30 minutes, the show began doing two openings, one for the affiliates that began at 11:15 and another for those who joined at 11:30. By early 1965, only 43 of the 190 affiliated stations carried the entire show. After February 1965, Johnny Carson refused to appear until 11:30, and Ed McMahon "hosted" the 11:15 segment. Carson was not happy with this arrangement, and he finally insisted that the show's start time be changed to 11:30. As a result, the two-opening practice was eliminated in December 1966.

When the show began it was broadcast live. On January 12, 1959, the show began to be videotaped for broadcast later on the same day, although initially the Thursday night programs were kept live. Color broadcasts began on September 19, 1960.

The Tonight Show became the first American television show to broadcast with MTS stereo sound in 1984, although sporadically. Regular use of MTS began in 1985. In September 1991, the show postponed its starting time by five minutes to 11:35, to give network affiliates the opportunity to sell more advertising on their local news. On April 26, 1999, the show started broadcasting in 1080i HDTV, becoming the first American nightly talk show to be shot in that format.

On March 19, 2009, The Tonight Show became the first late-night talk show in history to have the sitting President of the United States as a guest, when President Barack Obama visited.

=== Schedule ===

Throughout the years, the time at which The Tonight Show aired and the length has changed multiple times.

==== First run episodes ====

§Note that many NBC affiliates chose not to carry the first fifteen minutes of the show during this period, instead preferring to air a local newscast from 11 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. As of February 1965, Carson refused to host the first 15 minutes of the program, preferring to wait until the full network was in place before delivering his opening monologue. For nearly two years, until the show's start time was adjusted to 11:30 p.m. in January 1967, the host for the opening 15 minutes of The Tonight Show was announcer Ed McMahon.

==== Weekend repeats ====

From 1965 to 1975, until the advent of Saturday Night Live, weekend repeats of The Tonight Show were staples of the NBC schedule. These repeats ran in the following time slots:

== Gags, sketches, and segments ==

Allen

Man on the street interviews: Frequently featured actors as recurring characters, most notably Don Knotts, Louis Nye and Tom Poston, though Allen also performed impromptu bits with non-professional civilians.

Crazy Shots: Later known as *"Wild Pictures". Allen's supporting cast and guest stars would participate in quick visual gags while Allen played piano accompaniment.

Paar

Candid Camera: The off-again, on-again show, hosted by Allen Funt since radio's heyday, was a segment on The Tonight Show in 1958.

Stump the Band: Audience members are asked to name an obscure song and the band tries to play it. If the band doesn't know the song, it usually breaks into a comical piece of music. This segment went on to become part of Carson's Tonight Show.

Carson

Carnac the Magnificent: Carson plays a psychic who is given sealed envelopes (that McMahon invariably states, with a flourish, have been kept "hermetically sealed inside a mayonnaise jar underneath Funk & Wagnalls' porch since noon today"). Carnac holds an envelope to his head and recites the punchline to a joke contained within the envelope, he then rips open the envelope and reads the matching question inside. Sample: "Saucepan... Who was Peter Pan's wino brother?" If a joke falls flat with the audience, Carnac invariably passes a comedic curse upon them (e.g., "May a bloated yak change the temperature of your jacuzzi!"). Carnac appears to be modeled after one of Allen's earlier gags, "The Question Man," in which Allen is given an answer to which he then provides the punchline in the form of a question.

The Tea Time Movie:, with "Art Fern" and the Matinée Lady (originally Paula Prentiss, then a parade of one shots including Edy Williams, Juliet Prowse and Lee Meredith, then for many years Carol Wayne, then Danuta Wesley, and finally Teresa Ganzel). Carson once said that Art Fern was his favorite character: "He's so sleazy!" Huckster Art usually wore a loud suit, lavish toupee, and pencil mustache, and spoke in the high, nasal approximation of Jackie Gleason's "Reginald van Gleason III" character. A parody of 1950s-style, fast-talking advertising pitchmen, the Tea Time Movie consists of a rapid-fire series of fake advertisements for products and companies supposedly sponsoring a mid-afternoon movie. Invariably the jokes refer to his buxom Matinée Lady assistant, and at least once in every skit a variation of the "Slauson Cutoff" joke is made (e.g., "You can find our store by heading down Hwy. 101 until you get to the Slauson Cutoff. Get out of the car, cut off your slauson, get back in the car."), as is a reference to "Drive until you get to... (a map is unfolded to reveal a table fork) the fork in the road!" Art would then return us to today's movie (like "Tarzan and Cheetah Have to Get Married" or "Rin Tin Tin Gets Fixed Fixed Fixed," etc.), followed by an antique, four-second film clip. Back to Art, caught necking with the Matinée Lady before announcing another movie and another commercial.

Leno

Headlines (Monday): Humorous print items sent in by viewers. These real-life headlines usually contain typographical errors or unintentionally inappropriate items. The segment usually starts out with a fake, humorous Headline during the introduction for the segment, such as Arabs Wish Bush "A Happy Shoe Year!", usually reflecting some current event. Reflecting Jay's moving of this segment to a 10 p.m. ET/PT time slot, the lead Headline on the final broadcasting of this segment was 4 Out Of 5 Scientists Say "Headlines" Funnier at 10 p.m. Than 11:30 p.m.

Jaywalking: A prerecorded segment, "Jaywalking" is a play on the host's name and the illegal practice of jaywalking. Leno asks people questions about current news and other topics in public areas around Los Angeles (usually Hollywood Boulevard, Melrose Avenue or Universal Studios). Most responses are outrageously incorrect; for example, one person believed that Abraham Lincoln was the first president, and another could not identify a picture of Hillary Clinton. Sometimes the questions are of the "What color is the White House?" level, such as asking in what country the Panama Canal is located. Up to 15 people are interviewed in an hour or less for each segment, with about nine interviews used on the air.

Stuff We Found on eBay: Outrageous, real-life items available on the auction Web site E-Bay are shown, with the audience asked to guess whether or not the item was sold.

Unusual Mother's Day, Father's Day, Christmas gifts: Gift items appropriate for holidays are shown; some real, some phony, but all unusual

O'Brien

Twitter Tracker: In this sketch, Conan is interrupted by an overzealous announcer (voiced by show writer Brian McCann) while lamenting the increasing number of celebrities who are using Twitter. The announcer attempts to prove to Conan that celebrity tweets are exciting by reading some of his favorites, which all describe mundane activities. The sketch is always accompanied by increasingly elaborate animations in which the bird from the Twitter logo is repeatedly killed. It also includes the announcer trying to persuade Conan to play a game by using a rhyming sentence in which he refers to him as CoCo.

Wax Fonzie/Wax Tom Cruise: While visiting a warehouse full of poor quality celebrity wax figures, Conan identified two as his favorite and purchased them. One was of Henry Winkler as his Happy Days character Arthur Fonzarelli (whose hand positioning caused Conan to comment that he had just finished up at the urinal), and the other was a creepy-looking figure of Tom Cruise. Both wax figures made several appearances on the show, most notably by both being shot out of a cannon used for a bit. Wax Tom Cruise for the most part survived, while Wax Fonzie's face became irreplaceable. Wax Fonzie ultimately met its final fate when it was obliterated in an explosion, part of a contest involving blowing up the contest winner's old car.

Ridiculously Expensive Sketches: As an act of mock revenge for NBC forcing him out of The Tonight Show's traditional time slot, O'Brien spent the last few episodes debuting sketches that ostensibly would cost NBC an extremely large amount of money. The sketches used rare and expensive props (usually on loan) and contained media with unusually high licensing fees.

Fallon

Many of Fallon's sketches moved over from Late Night.

== Time slots and International broadcasts ==

The Tonight Show is also seen around the world. It is broadcast on CNBC Europe, usually three nights after it has been shown in the U.S. The show is screened at 10.30 p.m. AEDST weeknights on The Comedy Channel in Australia, where new episodes are shown hours after its American broadcast. In Sweden, Kanal 5 has shown The Tonight Show (as Jay Leno Show) since the late 1990s with one week's delay. Since October, 2006, it is also being aired in India on Zee Cafe 12 hours after the show is shown in the USA.

An early attempt at airing the show in the United Kingdom during the 1980s was unsuccessful, sparking jokes by Carson. On the October 23, 1984, broadcast, guest Paul McCartney had this to say of the show's British run:

Carson: (throwing to commercial) OK, we're gonna have to cut away. We're just gonna see a commercial. We sell things occasionally. It's not like the British telly, you know. You just go forever, ten or twelve [minutes]. British television ends when they – you know, when they want to.McCartney: (jokingly) Yeah, you're just mad because they didn't like your show.

== See also ==

List of late-night American network TV programs

The Late Shift, a made-for-cable film about Leno and Letterman's vying for host duties on The Tonight Show

== References ==

== External links ==

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon official page

The Tonight Show from the Museum of Broadcast Communications Web site

fourth wall :: The fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play. The idea of the fourth wall was made explicit by philosopher and critic Denis Diderot and spread in 19th-century theatre with the advent of theatrical realism, which extended the idea to the imaginary boundary between any fictional work and its audience.

Speaking directly to or otherwise acknowledging the audience through a camera in a film or television program, or through this imaginary wall in a play, is referred to as "breaking the fourth wall" and is considered a technique of metafiction, as it penetrates the boundaries normally set up by works of fiction. This can also occur in literature and video games when a character acknowledges the reader or player.

The fourth wall should not be confused with the aside or the soliloquy, dramatic devices often used by playwrights where the character on stage is delivering an inner monologue, giving the audience insight into their thoughts.

== Convention of modern theatre ==

The presence of the fourth wall is an established convention of modern realistic theatre, which has led some artists to draw direct attention to it for dramatic or comedic effect when a boundary is "broken", for example by an actor onstage speaking to the audience directly. It is common in children's theatre where, for example, a character might ask the children for help. One play that uses the fourth wall extensively is The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), which uses it for comedic effect.

The acceptance of the transparency of the fourth wall is part of the suspension of disbelief between a fictional work and an audience, allowing them to enjoy the fiction as if they were observing real events. Although the critic Vincent Canby described it in 1987 as "that invisible scrim that forever separates the audience from the stage".

== Outside theatre ==

The metaphor of the fourth wall has been used by the actor Sir Ian McKellen with regard to the work of the painter L. S. Lowry:

Lowry ... stood across the road from his subjects and observed. Often enough there are a number of individuals in a crowd peering back at him. They invite us momentarily into their world, like characters on a stage sometimes do, breaking the fourth-wall illusion.

McKellen justifies this application of the theatre term to Lowry's art by explaining that "Lowry’s mid-air viewpoint is like a view from the dress circle", looking down as if to a stage. And, McKellen argues, Lowry "often marks the limits of the street scene with curbstones or a pavement that feel like the edge of the stage where the footlights illuminate the action."

The metaphor of the fourth wall has been applied by literary critic David Barnett to The Harvard Lampoon's parody of The Lord of the Rings when a character breaks the conventions of storytelling by referring to the text itself. The character Frodo observes "it was going to be a long epic", which in Barnett's view "breaks the 'fourth wall'".

Woody Allen broke the fourth wall several times in his movie Annie Hall, as he explained, "because I felt many of the people in the audience had the same feelings and the same problems. I wanted to talk to them directly and confront them."

On television, breaking the fourth wall is rare, though it has been done throughout the history of the medium. George Burns did it numerous times on the 1950s sitcom he starred in with his real-life wife Gracie Allen. A regular proponent of it is the main character of the Irish sitcom Mrs Brown's Boys. Mrs Brown, regularly breaks the fourth wall, talking to the audience, and will run from set to set (for instance to retrieve a prop needed from a scene, left in another set). Mrs Brown will also drop character to comment on a situation, or wish a happy holiday to the viewing audience. Another television character who regularly breaks the fourth wall is Francis Urquhart in the British TV drama series House of Cards, To Play the King and The Final Cut. Urquhart addresses the audience several times during each episode, giving the viewer comments on his own actions on the show. The same technique is also used in the American adaptation of House of Cards.

== Fifth wall ==

The term "fifth wall" is often used by analogy with the "fourth wall" for a metaphorical barrier in engagement with a medium. It has been used as an extension of the fourth wall concept to refer to the "invisible wall between critics or readers and theatre practitioners." This conception led to a series of workshops at the Globe Theatre in 2004 designed to help break the fifth wall. The term has also been used to refer to "that semi-porous membrane that stands between individual audience members during a shared experience." In media, the television set has been described metaphorically as a fifth wall because of how it allows a person to see beyond the traditional four walls of a room. In shadow theatre the term "fifth wall" has been used to describe the screen onto which images are projected.

== References ==

== External links ==

List of films that break the fourth wall (The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopædia)

Separation between the characters' world and the audience is the Fourth Wall (tvtropes)

Johnny Carson :: John William "Johnny" Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, and musician known for thirty years as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962–1992). Carson received six Emmy Awards, the Governor's Award, and a 1985 Peabody Award. He was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987. Johnny Carson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992 and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1993.

Although his show was already successful by the end of the 1960s, during the 1970s Carson became an American icon and remained so until his retirement in 1992. He adopted a casual, conversational approach with extensive interaction with guests, an approach pioneered by Arthur Godfrey and previous Tonight Show hosts Steve Allen and Jack Paar. Late-night hosts David Letterman, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Kimmel, and current Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon have all cited Carson's influence on their late-night talk shows, which resemble his in format and tone.

== Early life and career ==

Carson was born in Corning, Iowa, in 1925, to Homer Lloyd "Kit" Carson, a power company manager, and Ruth (Hook) Carson, who was of Irish descent. He grew up in the nearby towns of Avoca, Clarinda, and Red Oak in southwest Iowa before moving to Norfolk, Nebraska, at the age of eight. At the age of twelve, Carson found a book on magic at a friend's house and immediately purchased a mail-order magician's kit. He debuted as "The Great Carsoni" at age 14 and he was paid $3; many other performances at local picnics and country fairs followed.

Carson joined the U.S. Navy on June 8, 1943, received V-12 officer training at Columbia University and Millsaps College, and continued to perform magic. Commissioned an ensign late in the war, Carson was assigned to the USS Pennsylvania in the Pacific. While in the Navy, Carson posted a 10–0 amateur boxing record, with most of his bouts fought on board the USS Pennsylvania. He was en route to the combat zone aboard a troop ship when the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended the war. Carson served as a communications officer in charge of decoding encrypted messages and he said that the high point of his military career was performing a magic trick for United States Secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal.

Carson attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, where he joined The Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta, continued performing magic (now paid $25 per appearance), wrote a thesis on the structure of Jack Benny's comedy routines, and graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in radio and speech with a minor in physics in 1949.

He began his broadcasting career in 1950 at WOW radio and television in Omaha, Nebraska. Carson soon hosted a morning television program called The Squirrel's Nest. One of his routines involved interviewing pigeons on the roof of the local courthouse that would allegedly report on the political corruption they had seen. Carson supplemented his income by serving as master of ceremonies at local church dinners, attended by some of the same politicians and civic leaders that he had lampooned on the radio.

In 1951 Carson visited California and unsuccessfully sought work. The wife of one of the Omaha political figures he spoofed owned stock in a radio station in Los Angeles and referred Carson to her brother, who was influential in the emerging television market in southern California. Later that year Carson went to work at CBS-owned Los Angeles television station KNXT. He would later joke that he owed his success to the birds of Omaha. In 1953 comic Red Skelton—a fan of Carson's "cult success" low-budget sketch comedy show, Carson's Cellar (1951 to 1953) on KNXT—asked Carson to join his show as a writer. In 1954 Skelton during rehearsal accidentally knocked himself unconscious an hour before his live show began, and Carson successfully filled in for him. In 1955, Jack Benny invited Carson to appear on one of his programs during the opening and closing segments. Carson imitated Benny and claimed that Benny had copied his gestures. Benny, however, predicted that Carson would have a successful career as a comedian.

Carson hosted several shows besides Carson's Cellar, including the game show Earn Your Vacation (1954) and the variety show The Johnny Carson Show (1955–1956). He was a regular panelist on the original To Tell the Truth until 1962. After the prime time The Johnny Carson Show failed, he moved to New York City to host Who Do You Trust? (1957–1962), formerly known as Do You Trust Your Wife?. In 1958 he appeared as a guest star in an episode entitled "Do You Trust Your Wife" on NBC's short-lived variety show, The Polly Bergen Show. It was on Who Do You Trust? that Carson met his future sidekick, Ed McMahon. Although he believed moving to daytime would hurt his career, Who Do You Trust? was a success. It was the first show where he could ad lib and interview guests, and because of Carson's on-camera wit, the show became "the hottest item on daytime television" during his five years there.

== The Tonight Show ==

NBC's Tonight was the late-night counterpart to its early-morning show Today. Originating in 1953 with host Steve Allen, Tonight was somewhat experimental at the time, as the only previous network late-night program was NBC's "Broadway Open House". Tonight was successful, and when Allen moved on to prime-time comedy-variety shows in 1956, Jack Paar replaced him as host of Tonight. Paar left the show in 1962.

Johnny Carson's success on Who Do You Trust? led NBC to invite him to take over Tonight a few months before Paar's departure. Carson declined the offer because he feared the difficulty of interviewing celebrities for 1 3/4 hours (105 minutes) daily, but NBC asked him again after Bob Newhart, Jackie Gleason, Groucho Marx, and Joey Bishop all declined. Carson accepted in March 1962, but had six months left on his ABC contract, during which NBC used multiple guest hosts, including Merv Griffin.

Although he continued to have doubts about his new job, Carson became host of Tonight (later becoming The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson) on October 1, 1962, and, after a difficult first year, overcame his fears. While Tonight under its previous hosts had been successful, especially under Paar, Carson's version eventually did very well in the ratings. Billy Wilder said of Carson:

By the simple law of survival, Carson is the best. He enchants the invalids and the insomniacs as well as the people who have to get up at dawn. He is the Valium and the Nembutal of a nation. No matter what kind of dead-asses are on the show, he has to make them funny and exciting. He has to be their nurse and their surgeon. He has no conceit. He does his work and he comes prepared. If he's talking to an author, he has read the book. Even his rehearsed routines sound improvised. He's the cream of middle-class elegance, yet he's not a mannequin. He has captivated the American bourgeoisie without ever offending the highbrows, and he has never said anything that wasn't liberal or progressive. Every night, in front of millions of people, he has to do the salto mortale [a circus parlance for an aerial somersault performed on the tightrope]. What's more, he does it without a net. No rewrites. No retakes. The jokes must work tonight.

McMahon followed Carson from Who Do You Trust? as his announcer and sidekick. McMahon's opening line, "Heeeere's Johnny" was followed by a brief monologue by Carson. This was often followed by comedy sketches, interviews, and music. Carson's trademark was a phantom golf swing at the end of his monologues, aimed stage left toward the studio orchestra. (Guest hosts sometimes parodied that gesture. Bob Newhart rolled an imaginary bowling ball toward the audience.) Johnny enjoyed what he called the "Carson Kits," or beautiful girls, to adorn his show. Theona Bryant, a favorite, was a model. The other "Carson Cuties" were Phyllis Applegate, Norma Brooks, and Sally Todd.

Paul Anka wrote the theme song, ("Johnny's Theme"), a reworking of his "Toot Sweet"; given lyrics, it was renamed, "It's Really Love," and recorded by Annette Funicello in 1959. Before taking over The Tonight Show, Carson wrote lyrics for the song and thus claimed 50% of the song's performance royalties (even though the lyrics were never used). The theme is heard being played on sound recordings of Carson's first Tonight Show and it was used without interruption through to his very last broadcast in 1992.

The show was originally produced in New York City, with occasional stints in California. It was not live in its early years, although during the 1970s, NBC fed the live taping from Burbank to New York via satellite for editing (see below). The program had been done "live on tape" (uninterrupted unless a problem occurred) since the Jack Paar days. Carson had a talent for quick quips to deal with problems. If the opening monologue fared poorly, the band would start playing "Tea for Two" and Carson danced, to laughs from the studio audience. Alternatively, Carson might pull the boom mic close to his face and announce "Attention K-Mart shoppers!"

=== Move to Burbank ===

In May 1972, the show moved from New York to Burbank, California. Carson often joked about "beautiful downtown Burbank" and referred to "beautiful downtown Bakersfield," which prompted Bakersfield Mayor Mary K. Shell to chide Carson and invite him to her city to see improvements made during the early 1980s.[citation needed]

After July 1971, Carson stopped hosting shows five days a week. Instead, on Monday nights there was a guest host, leaving Carson to host the other four each week. Shows were taped in Burbank at 5:30 p.m. (8:30 p.m. Eastern time) to be shown that evening at 11:30 p.m. Eastern time. On September 8, 1980, at Carson's request, the show cut its 90-minute format to 60 minutes; Tom Snyder's Tomorrow added a half hour to fill the vacant time. Joan Rivers became the "permanent" guest host from September 1983 until 1986. The Tonight Show returned to using rotating guest hosts, including comic George Carlin. Jay Leno then became the exclusive guest host in fall 1987. Leno joked that although other guest hosts had upped their fees, he had kept his low, assuring himself more bookings. Eventually, Monday night was for Leno, Tuesday for The Best of Carson—rebroadcasts usually dating from a year earlier but occasionally from the 1970s.

Although Carson's work schedule became more attenuated, Tonight remained so successful that his compensation from NBC continued to rise; by the mid-1970s he had become the highest-paid personality on television, earning about $4 million a year ($14,463,000 today), not including nightclub appearances and his other businesses. He refused many offers to appear in films, including title roles in The Thomas Crown Affair and Gene Wilder's role in Blazing Saddles.

In recognition of his 25th anniversary on The Tonight Show, Carson received a personal Peabody Award, the Board saying he had "become an American institution, a household word, [and] the most widely quoted American"; they also said they "felt the time had come to recognize the contributions that Johnny has made to television, to humor, and to America."

=== Comic characters ===

Carson played several continuing characters on sketches during the show, including

Art Fern, the "Tea Time Movie" announcer, whose theme song was "Hooray for Hollywood". Carson once admitted on camera that this was his favorite character, based on late-afternoon TV hosts who would deliver commercials throughout the movie. Each sketch usually featured three long commercials interrupted by silent, four-second clips from antique films. When the camera returned from each clip, Art was always caught off-guard and immediately reminded viewers that they were watching a film favorite. The movies always had unlikely casts and even less likely titles: "Slim Pickens, Patti Page, Duke Wayne, and Charlton Heston in another classic Western: 'Kiss My Saddle Horn'!" Carson originally played the fast-talking huckster in his own voice (as Honest Bernie Schlock or Ralph Willie), and finally settled on a nasal, high-pitched, smarmy drone, reminiscent of Jackie Gleason's "Reginald Van Gleason III" character. The character, now permanently known as Art Fern, wore a lavish toupee, loud jackets, and a pencil mustache. Actress Carol Wayne became famous for her 100-plus appearances (1971–1982) as Art's buxom assistant, the Matinée Lady. While Art gave his spiel, she would enter the stage behind him. Art would react to her attractive body, wincing loudly: "Ho — leeeee!" After Carol Wayne's death in 1985, Carson kept Art Fern off the air for most of the next year, and finally hired Danuta Wesley and then Teresa Ganzel to play the Matinée Lady. Carson also used these sketches to poke fun at the intricate Los Angeles interstate system, using a pointer and map to give confusing directions to shoppers, often including points where he would unfold the cardboard map to point out, via the appropriate picture, when the shopper would arrive at "the fork in the road". Another freeway routine in the same theme centered around the "Slauson Cutoff", a slang term Carson popularized to describe the truncated Marina Freeway (which ended abrubtly at Slauson Avenue in Culver City). Art Fern would advise drivers to take a series of freeways until they reached the Slauson Cutoff, and would then advise them to "Get out of your car, cut off your slauson, get back in your car," often followed by peals of laughter from the audience, led by McMahon.

Carnac the Magnificent, a turbaned psychic who could answer questions before seeing them. (This same routine had been done by Carson's predecessor, Steve Allen, as "The Answer Man". The Carnac character and routine also closely resembled Ernie Kovacs' character "Mr. Question Man".) Carnac had a trademark entrance in which he always turned the wrong direction when coming onto stage and then "tripped" on the step up to Carson's desk. (In one episode, technicians rigged Carson's desk to fall apart when Carnac fell into it.) These comedic missteps were an indication of Carnac's true prescient abilities. Ed McMahon would hand Carnac a series of envelopes containing questions, said to have been "hermetically sealed in a mayonnaise jar and left on Funk & Wagnall's porch since noon today". Carnac would place each envelope against his forehead and predict the answer, such as "Gatorade". Then he would read the question: "What does an alligator get on welfare?" Some of the jokes were feeble, and McMahon used pauses after terrible puns and audience groans to make light of Carnac's lack of comic success ("Carnac must be used to quiet surroundings"), prompting Carson to return an equal insult. Pat McCormick wrote some of the zaniest Carnac material. The one that had Ed and Carnac nearly rolling on the floor with sustained laughter was "Siss, boom, bah" Answer - "Describe the sound made when a sheep explodes". McMahon would always announce near the end, "I hold in my hand the last envelope," at which the audience would applaud wildly, prompting Carnac to pronounce a comedic "curse" on the audience, such as "May your sister elope with a camel!", "May a diseased yak take a liking to your sister", or the most famous: "May the bird of paradise fly up your nose!"[citation needed]

Floyd R. Turbo, American (with no pause between words). A stereotypical common working man, wearing a plaid hunting coat and cap, who offered "editorial responses" to left-leaning causes or news events. Railing against women's rights in the workplace, for example, Turbo would shout: "This raises the question: kiss my Dictaphone!"

Aunt Blabby, a cantankerous and sometimes amorous old lady, invariably being interviewed by straight man Ed McMahon about elder affairs. McMahon would innocently use a common expression like "check out", only to have Aunt Blabby warn him: "Don't say 'check out' to an old person!" Aunt Blabby was an obvious copy of Jonathan Winters' most famous creation, Maude Frickert, including her black spinster dress and wig.

El Mouldo, a mentalist, who would attempt to perform mind-reading and mind-over-matter feats, all of which failed. Often his tricks would include an attempt to bilk money from Ed McMahon or would end with him begging the audience for a dollar, or at least bus fare.

The Maharishi, whose theme song was "Song of India". This frizzy-haired "holy man" spoke in a high-pitched, tranquil tone, greeted announcer McMahon with a flower, and answered philosophical questions.[citation needed]

=== Carson uncensored on satellite ===

Even though Carson's program was based in Burbank beginning in 1972, NBC's editing and production services for the program were located in New York, resulting in the requirement that Carson's program be transmitted from Burbank to New York. In 1976, NBC used the Satcom 2 satellite to do this, feeding the live taping (which usually took place in the early evening) directly to New York, where it would be edited prior to the normal broadcast. This live feed lasted usually from two to two-and-a-half hours a night, and was uncensored and commercial-free. During the commercial breaks the audio and picture would be left on, capturing at times risque language and other events that would certainly be edited out later going out over the feed.

At the same time, satellite ground stations owned by individuals began appearing, and some found the live feed. Satellite dish owners began to document their sightings in technical journals, giving viewers knowledge of things they were not meant to see. Carson and his production staff grew concerned about this, and pressured NBC into ceasing the satellite transmissions of the live taping in the early 1980s. The satellite link was replaced by microwave landline transmission until the show's editing facilities were moved to Burbank.

== Effect on popular culture ==

Carson's show launched the careers of many performers, especially comedians. For a comedian appearing on the show, getting him to laugh and being invited to the guest chair was considered the highest honor. Most notable among these were David Letterman, Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, Jeff Foxworthy, Ellen DeGeneres, Joan Rivers, David Brenner, Tim Allen, Drew Carey, and Roseanne Barr. Carson was successor to The Ed Sullivan Show as a showcase for all kinds of talent, as well as continuing a vaudeville-style variety show.

In 1966, Carson popularized Milton Bradley's game Twister when he played it with actress Eva Gabor. Not widely known at the time, the game skyrocketed in popularity after the broadcast.

=== Controversies and feuds ===

Carson often made jokes at the expense of other celebrities. In 1980, Carson backed out of a d