About this season
While working as a staff writer on The Red Skelton Show, local Los Angeles television comedian Carson filled in as host when Skelton was injured during a show rehearsal. As a result of Carson’s performance, CBS created the primetime variety program: The Johnny Carson Show, a traditional potpourri of comedy, music, dance, skits and monologues. The short-lived 1955-56 series served as a precursor of what would come later for Carson, planting the seeds for sketches he would perform on the later The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson such as "Mighty Carson Art Players".
Episodes (9)
1. Catch Up With the News
Aired 30 June 1955 • 30 min
In the series premiere, Johnny imitates Edward R. Murrow in a spoof of Murrow's Person to Person program featuring Johnny's first wife Jody and their three children. In Catch Up With the News, Johnny plays a roving reporter.
4. Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Aired 21 July 1955 • 30 min
Johnny imitates Walter Cronkite, takes a look at the pitfalls of marriage, and parodies Goldilocks And The Three Bears and You Are There.
9. Life in the 80's
Aired 25 August 1955 • 30 min
Sketches include a spoof of the Russian ballet, Catch Up With The News and a 1950s-style look at the future, as Johnny imagines what life will be like in 1980.
10. Dillinger, The Mental Wizard
Aired 1 September 1955 • 30 min
Johnny plays Dillinger, The Mental Wizard, in a parody of Joseph Dunniger, the famous mind reader (This sketch is the early inspiration for Carson's most famous character from his Tonight Show years, Carnac The Magnificent). Another sketch finds Johnny playing tourist in Paris; we also get an idea of what might happen to your television reception near an airport.
11. James Arness
Aired 8 September 1955 • 30 min
James Arness visits the show to promote his new series, Gunsmoke, Jack Albertson appears in a grocery store sketch and Johnny plays Colonel John J. Carson in a military sketch.
16. Jack Albertson
Aired 13 October 1955 • 30 min
Johnny takes care of unfinished business; Jack Albertson appears in sketches about Johnny's fan club and bachelor life. Then Johnny plays violinist Yasha Carson.
19. Dimitri Tiomkin
Aired 3 November 1955 • 30 min
Legendary movie composer Dimitri Tiomkin appears in the Johnny's Record Collection sketch. Then Johnny salutes old time Vaudeville, and stars in an epic Greek-Trojan war sketch.
20. Ed Sullivan Impersonation
Aired 10 November 1955 • 30 min
25. Stay-at-Home Husband
Aired 15 December 1955 • 30 min
Johnny plays a stay-at-home husband whose wife has a very unusual job. Other sketches include the Giveaway Pet Parade, a precursor to the numerous segments Johnny would do with animals later in his career, and a look at what the detective show Dragnet might have been like during the time of Alexander the Great.