Sep 21, 2026 · 47 min · 11 segments
Mark Malkoff discusses his book LOVE JOHNNY CARSON, sharing untold stories about the King of Late Night and his legendary TV tenure. Book…
Mark MalkoffGuest
Pat StangoHost
Just got to ask you since you are the late night guy, you've got the late night podcast.
And, uh, It's such a weird time in TV and in Late Night Now and Colbert's show just ended.
Are you at all bullish on the future of Late Night? I guess I'll put it this way.
Is it possible that Jimmy Fallon is the last host of The Tonight Show? What would you say are the chances of that or the chances of someday someone else...
think if the Tonight Show keeps going, I think it's just, if there's another host, it's just going to get scaled back more.
The roots are unbelievable, but I don't know if they did that show now, if it was starting up, if they would be able to have a budget like that.
I mean, Johnny Carson, when he started four writers, and I think the most eight, Colbert had 20 writers.
I mean, Byron Allen, who I really do like, who I got to sat down with, and he was 18 when he did a Carson show.
I mean, I was in his office in L.A., He has the suit framed that he wore when he went on Carson.
I just can't imagine we're going to see a big production like Letterman or Carson again like that.
um i don't think i think netflix said they're not going to bring that back but i really do hope people that have the deep pockets like netflix will try stuff out like that so we'll see i'm crossing my fingers that the it's but you know it never occurred to me you could be number one like colbert and go away but um we'll see what happens hopefully the shows will still go in some form
yeah well there'll never be another johnny carson yeah for a lot of reasons but the He is probably always going to go down as the peak of this format.
Just got to ask you since you are the late night guy, you've got the late night podcast.
And, uh, It's such a weird time in TV and in Late Night Now and Colbert's show just ended.
Are you at all bullish on the future of Late Night? I guess I'll put it this way.
Is it possible that Jimmy Fallon is the last host of The Tonight Show? What would you say are the chances of that or the chances of someday someone else...
think if the Tonight Show keeps going, I think it's just, if there's another host, it's just going to get scaled back more.
The roots are unbelievable, but I don't know if they did that show now, if it was starting up, if they would be able to have a budget like that.
I mean, Johnny Carson, when he started four writers, and I think the most eight, Colbert had 20 writers.
I mean, Byron Allen, who I really do like, who I got to sat down with, and he was 18 when he did a Carson show.
I mean, I was in his office in L.A., He has the suit framed that he wore when he went on Carson.
I just can't imagine we're going to see a big production like Letterman or Carson again like that.
um i don't think i think netflix said they're not going to bring that back but i really do hope people that have the deep pockets like netflix will try stuff out like that so we'll see i'm crossing my fingers that the it's but you know it never occurred to me you could be number one like colbert and go away but um we'll see what happens hopefully the shows will still go in some form
yeah well there'll never be another johnny carson yeah for a lot of reasons but the He is probably always going to go down as the peak of this format.
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