Johnny: Like Viewers' Family

Robert Klein was a guest on "The Tonight Show" 82 times. Fellow comedian Rich Little was on at least 20 times, and hosted the show about a dozen times.

And these "Tonight Show" regulars say Johnny Carson's greatest asset may have been a common touch that transcended his stardom.

"His image on the show was the kind of person you would have in your bedroom," Klein told The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith. "Don't forget, he was in the bedroom, not your living room. What he could say if he could see (viewers' bedrooms)! He was this sweet, American boy. Impertinent, wonderful to little old ladies and small children."

"Johnny was like a member of the family," Little agreed. "I can remember people, you'd go out to dinner and they'd say, 'We can't have dessert, we have to get home and watch "The Tonight Show."' It was just something everybody did. I don't think people do that today, but he was a household fixture. He was so personable and was really interested in the person he had on."

"He was generous," Klein observes, "in the sense that, if you did your job and worked very hard to be funny on each episode, he laughed you up; sometimes only he and the band (laughed). He also was generous in giving credit to Steve Allen, who sort of invented the forum, and he ran with it for all these years.

Klein adds that Carson "could let his hair down."

"I don't think he did it every night, but he lived hard, and in the old days, he used to go to Rodney (Dangerfield)'s club."

Klein says, "When he'd come out before the show and he'd come in and say hello, he had a tremendous aura about him. He used to have his Pall Mall cigarette burning there. In the old days, we all smoked. Once, I grabbed for my coffee cup with water and took a swig and it was vodka."

Little, an impressionist, told Smith he was the subject of one of Carson's favorite stories. Little does a great Jack Benny, and one morning, the real Benny called Carson, asking if he could come on "The Tonight Show" to plug a TV program he was appearing in.

Carson, thinking it was Little, "kind of fluffed him off," Little recalls, "and he said, 'Oh, you're not -- you're not fooling me one bit. You know, this is a great gag, but come on.' And he hung up on him."

Then, as Little tells it, Irving Fine, Benny's manager, called Carson back and said, 'Johnny, why did you do that to Jack for?' He said, 'What are you talking about? Wasn't that Rich Little putting me on?' Fine said, 'No, that was Jack Benny.' So Johnny called Jack back and apologized."