Johnny Carson, Henry Bushkin
Johnny Carson, Henry Bushkin
List: $28.99
On Sale: $7.99

Johnny Carson

Author: Henry Bushkin

Narrator: Josh Bloomberg

Unabridged: 10 hr 9 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Mariner Books

Published: 05/14/2024


Synopsis

“A close look at how show business power corrupts . . . The dishiest read of the year.” – Janet Maslin, “Ten Favorite Books of the Year,” New York Times
“Here’s Johnny!” Probably everyone in America knows the phrase, whether they watched every episode of The Tonight Show or none because they had to go to bed early on school nights. From 1962 to 1992, Johnny Carson and his Tonight Show dominated the American consciousness.

Henry Bushkin was Carson’s best friend and lawyer during that period, and his book is a tautly rendered and remarkably nuanced portrait of Carson, revealing not only how he truly was, but why. Bushkin explains why Carson, a voracious (and very talented) womanizer, felt he always had to be married; why he couldn’t visit his son in the hospital and wouldn’t attend his mother’s funeral; and much more. Johnny Carson is by turns shocking, poignant, and uproarious — written with a novelist’s eye for detail, a screenwriter’s ear for dialogue, and a knack for comic timing that Carson himself would relish.

“A fascinating book about a complex man.” — Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“Like The Tonight Show, the book has many a merry moment . . . [Johnny Carson] was also one of a kind, and is missed. This book brings a bit of him back.” — St. Louis Post-Dispatch

A People magazine Top Ten Book of the Year

About Henry Bushkin

Henry Bushkin is a lawyer living in Los Angeles. For 18 years, he was Johnny Carson's personal legal adviser, fixer, confidant, and close friend.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Barbara on October 13, 2021

Johnny Carson is best known as a comedian and host of the 'The Tonight Show', which he emceed from 1962 to 1992. When I plucked this (audio) book off the library shelf I thought it was a biography of the entertainer. It's not. Rather it's a memoir written by Carson's lawyer Henry Bushkin, who worked......more

Goodreads review by Matt on November 04, 2013

Just know what you're getting here. While the book is titled "Johnny Carson," it more accurately would be called "Bombastic Bushkin: The True-Life Story of What It Was Like To Be Johnny Carson's Lawyer." In other words, there is little insight about Carson the icon, the entertainer, or the man. Learn......more

Goodreads review by Mac on December 26, 2013

Who wants to read about a demanding, difficult, and damaged person with a suave, confident persona on air and a shy, sad, isolated life when not before an audience? Who wants to read about such a mercurial personality who hurts others, fires people, and divorces wives with cruel, bitter remarks? Who......more

Goodreads review by Blaine on July 03, 2020

Book started out strong and ended poorly. I did not expect a book of Carson jokes or every inside detail but as the book went on it became more about the author. As Johnny got more tired of the show, the author seemed to get more tired of writing. OK, but not great.......more

Goodreads review by Una on February 06, 2015

While the book and information about Carson was mildly interesting, the repetitive back patting of this book forced me to scan more than read. I found one awesome quote by Carson: If things were fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead.......more