# Would you watch old episodes of the Tonight Show? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 26, 2008, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-watch-old-episodes-of-the-tonight-show/454333 "2008-06-26T17:15:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Call_Me_Shirley)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-watch-old-episodes-of-the-tonight-show/454333/1 "2008-06-26T17:15:42Z")
Why doesn’t Nick at Nite or TV Land show old Carson shows? I think it would be very interesting. Sure, some of the episodes from the 60s or 70s would have all guests that have no relevance today, but they could screen those out. They would have a lot of shows to choose from. If they did that I would never miss it. Ditto for Ed Sullivan. Is there a particular reason they don’t show these? Like copyrights or something? Or is there just not that much interest? Frankly I’d much rather watch an old Tonight Show with Bob Newhart or John Wayne as a guest than the dumbasses that usually populate the current late night sets. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-watch-old-episodes-of-the-tonight-show/454333/2 "2008-06-26T17:24:37Z")
There was a syndicated package called _Carson’s Comedy Classics_ which featured highlights from _The Tonight Show_. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-watch-old-episodes-of-the-tonight-show/454333/3 "2008-06-26T17:26:46Z")
Yeah, that informercial ran for ever late at night a few years back, I’m sure Amazon has it. But I’d love a channel to run a long marathon of all the old Tonight shows just for the interest of seeing old entertainment. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-watch-old-episodes-of-the-tonight-show/454333/4 "2008-06-26T17:32:56Z")
I’d like to see all the old TV variety shows, like the Johnny Cash and Dean Martin shows. The Everly Brothers and Jim Stafford. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-watch-old-episodes-of-the-tonight-show/454333/5 "2008-06-26T17:38:58Z")
Most of the tapes pre-1970 or so are gone forever-recycled for other shows. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-watch-old-episodes-of-the-tonight-show/454333/6 "2008-06-26T17:52:05Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] Yeah, that informercial ran for ever late at night a few years back [/QUOTE] It wasn’t an infomercial- it was a half-hour series. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-watch-old-episodes-of-the-tonight-show/454333/7 "2008-06-26T18:45:29Z")
I’d love to see a “Best of The Ed Sullivan Show”, personally. All the Broadway performances especially. Plus there were some really interesting guests, if you like Hollywood or Broadway gossip and insider talk. Dinah Shore did a Salute to Broadway week, I think, with guests like Jack Cassidy, Ethel Merman, Michelle Lee, Phil Silvers and Robert Morse. Just listening to Ethel Merman and Phil Silvers, especially, as Broadway seniors, talk about old Broadway was fascinating. The whole thing is on YouTube. Hehe…the whole sequence on the Tonight Show with Dean Martin putting his cigar out in George Gobel’s old-fashioned is too funny, too. “Did you ever get the feeling that the world’s a tuxedo, Johnny, and you’re a pair of brown shoes?” ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-watch-old-episodes-of-the-tonight-show/454333/8 "2008-06-26T18:57:14Z")
We tried pledging around some Ed Sullivan’s at our local PBS station and it bombed. Don’t know why. Maybe the programs seemed too dated. By presenting what was hot on Broadway Sullivan preserved scenes and performances that would otherwise be lost forever. But that was between precision military marching units and REAL dog and pony shows. The last six months of Carson (when everyone who was anyone showed up) would be well worth the money…heck, the night Carson brought on Robin Williams and Johnathon Winters would be priceless. ---
**Author:** ![AlmondJoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@AlmondJoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlmondJoy)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-watch-old-episodes-of-the-tonight-show/454333/9 "2008-06-26T19:14:56Z")
whenever i go home my dad tivos old Tonight show episodes and we watch them ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-watch-old-episodes-of-the-tonight-show/454333/10 "2008-06-26T19:20:14Z")
I’ve often wondered why the Food Network didn’t buy the rights to Julia Child’s shows and air them during the weekdays. After all, hom much _Diners, Drive-ins and Dives_ can you watch? StG ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Call_Me_Shirley)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-watch-old-episodes-of-the-tonight-show/454333/11 "2008-06-26T19:38:01Z")
[QUOTE=AlmondJoy] whenever i go home my dad tivos old Tonight show episodes and we watch them [/QUOTE] What channel? ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-watch-old-episodes-of-the-tonight-show/454333/12 "2008-06-26T20:24:15Z")
Not to put down Letterman or Ferguson, both of whom I watch nightly, but I miss the old days of Carson when the guests would hang around on the couch for the whole show and joke with each other as well as Johnny and Ed. It always seemed more festive. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-watch-old-episodes-of-the-tonight-show/454333/13 "2008-06-26T20:29:27Z")
[QUOTE=photopat] Not to put down Letterman or Ferguson, both of whom I watch nightly, but I miss the old days of Carson when the guests would hang around on the couch for the whole show and joke with each other as well as Johnny and Ed. It always seemed more festive. [/QUOTE] I think that was greatly assisted by the alcohol… ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-watch-old-episodes-of-the-tonight-show/454333/14 "2008-06-26T21:07:00Z")
I wouldn’t necessarily want to watch entire 90 minute episodes but there are definitely guests and sketches I’d like to see. Amarillo Slim and Minnesota Fats’ appearances, Liberace’s last interview when his face was so lifted he looked like Mr. Sardonicus, and of course Carnak the Magnificent. Just thinking about “sis-boom-bah” has me giggling. ETA: Oh, and the interview with Martin Short where he started imitating Bette Davis to her face, and her awesome response. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-watch-old-episodes-of-the-tonight-show/454333/15 "2008-06-26T21:08:47Z")
I’d watch, especially for the comedians. Carlin, Seinfeld, Williams, Alan King, Henny Youngman, Rodney Dangerfield, Andy Kaufman, Roseanne when she was the Domestic Goddess, Totie Fields, Joan Rivers, Phyllis Diller, etc. And Brother Theodore – whatever happened to him? I never quite got him but he was fun. I’d rather watch whole shows than highlights. One person’s highlight is another person’s meh. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-watch-old-episodes-of-the-tonight-show/454333/16 "2008-06-26T21:31:48Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] I think that was greatly assisted by the alcohol… [/QUOTE] Further support to my contention that Betty Ford ruined modern show biz. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-watch-old-episodes-of-the-tonight-show/454333/17 "2008-06-26T21:41:29Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] I think that was greatly assisted by the alcohol… [/QUOTE] Hiyoooo… ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-watch-old-episodes-of-the-tonight-show/454333/18 "2008-06-26T22:13:45Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] ETA: Oh, and the interview with Martin Short where he started imitating Bette Davis to her face, and her awesome response. [/QUOTE] Do tell! ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-watch-old-episodes-of-the-tonight-show/454333/19 "2008-06-26T23:24:39Z")
[QUOTE=StGermain] I’ve often wondered why the Food Network didn’t buy the rights to Julia Child’s shows and air them during the weekdays. After all, hom much _Diners, Drive-ins and Dives_ can you watch? StG [/QUOTE] IIRC, they did do that for awhile. Late at night, they would run the old Julia Child and Galloping Gourmet shows. ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-watch-old-episodes-of-the-tonight-show/454333/20 "2008-06-26T23:30:08Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] ETA: Oh, and the interview with Martin Short where he started imitating Bette Davis to her face, and her awesome response. [/QUOTE] Never saw that, but it can’t be half as funny as the night Ms. Davis appeared with the Smothers Brothers. Tommy started gushing over Bette, saying what a great star and legend she was and how she carried herself “like a princess”–just compliment after compliment. He then paused and asked her, “So, do you mess around?” The audience _and_ Ms. Davis absolutely lost it! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-watch-old-episodes-of-the-tonight-show/454333.md?page=2)