Johnny Carson behind his "Tonight Show" desk.The numbers are impressive. Johnny Carson ruled as the king of late-night television for 30 years. He made 4,531 appearances as star of NBC's "The Tonight Show." He welcomed 23,000 guests.
The numbers certainly define a legendary show business career, but they don't tell us much about the legend.
Who was the person behind those numbers and behind that incredibly durable "Heeeere's Johnny!" public persona? What was Carson like away from "The Tonight Show" set?
Friends who knew him for decades confess they were baffled. As confident, outgoing and poised as he was before the television cameras, the enigmatic Carson was painfully shy, notoriously private and surprisingly insecure when the studio lights were shut down.
He was terrific at telling jokes to millions of people, not so good with one-on-one relationships. This makes him a particularly challenging subject for a documentary filmmaker.
Two-time Emmy winner Peter Jones tackles this challenge, making a mighty effort to get behind the numbers with the "American Masters" portrait "Johnny Carson: King of Late Night." It premieres at 9 p.m. Monday on WVIZ Channel 25 and WEAO Channel 49.
Carson was a master of comic timing, and this ambitious PBS presentation is well-timed. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Carson taking over "The Tonight Show" from Canton native Jack Paar. It marks the 20th anniversary of Carson's retirement.
Putting such a life in perspective should be a fascinating process, and the "American Masters" entry does not fail to fascinate. Carson, who died at 79 in 2005, remains a bit of a mystery, and Jones displays the zeal of a detective in trying to solve the personality puzzle.
He has no shortage of witnesses. Two of the first people you hear talking about Carson are funny guys from Cleveland: Drew Carey, who describes his memorable first appearance on "The Tonight Show," and Arsenio Hall, who competed against Carson with a youth-appeal Fox show.
"Day in, day out, Mr. Reliable," Carey says of Carson.
"As familiar as a bedtime story," says Hall, who goes into Sunday night's penultimate episode of NBC's "The Celebrity Apprentice 5" as one of the three finalists.
REVIEW
American Masters
What: A look at the life and career of "Johnny Carson: King of Late Night."
When: 9 p.m. Monday, May 14.
Where: PBS (WVIZ Channel 25 and WEAO Channel 49).
Those observations speak to Carson's popularity and durability. They underscore those numbers, all right, as do the thoughts expressed by such expert observers as David Letterman, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen DeGeneres, Jimmy Fallon, Steve Martin, Garry Shandling, Ray Romano, Joan Rivers, Bob Newhart, Don Rickles and Mel Brooks.
This is where the documentary shines. It puts Carson the performer in perspective. It explains the dimensions of his success. It energetically recalls those heady times, albeit often in wistful ways.
Yet Carson may have again ended up with the last laugh, even if it's a clown's laugh, tinged with sadness. That's because "King of Late Night" leaves you with the realization that, no matter how insightful the witnesses are, many aspects of the off-camera Carson remain a tantalizing mystery.
Carl Reiner cuts closest to this truth when he talks about how guarded and reclusive Carson was. Johnny, we hardly knew ye? Well, he was, in so many ways, unknowable, and that's a Carson-constructed barrier Jones can't quite get over.
Once he established himself as the late-night monarch, the "Tonight Show" host granted few interviews and withdrew when things threatened to get too personal. He turned down many requests by the persistent Jones.
Still, Jones does follow the most intriguing of clues provided by biographers, associates, "Tonight Show" executive producer Peter Lassally, bandleader Doc Severinsen and the second of Carson's four wives, Joanne.
Perhaps the most telling revelation is that Carson was denied any semblance of approval by his ever-critical mother, Ruth. It's pop-psychology 101, but is it any wonder that he sought love and approval from the American people? He wasn't the first comedian to find a sense of self-worth and validation on stage.
This need could have been a driving force behind the career so admirably documented by Jones. Carson sure didn't leave an answer, and, if he had, it probably would have possessed all the seriousness of one of those joke answers given by his turbaned Carnac character.
Rich in clips and narrated by Kevin Spacey, the "American Masters" profile does serve as stirring reminder of how big a pop-culture force Carson was for so many years. When he left "The Tonight Show" in 1992, there was much debate about who would inherit his crown.
Funny thing -- there was no successor. Instead, the kingdom was divided among several pretenders to the throne, and that's how it remains. Here, too, Carson got the last laugh. He took the crown with him.