| Jay Leno replaced Johnny Carson as host of the Tonight Show in May of 1992. Harry Nilsson wrote "Tonight Song" as a new theme song for the show and sent a demo of it to Leno.
John William Carson was born on October 23, 1925, in Corning, Iowa.
Carson began his show business career at age 14 with a magic act called "The Great Carsoni."
During 1943 to 1946, Carson was an officer in the US Navy and participated in shows to entertain the enlisted men.
After the Navy, Carson attended the University of Nebraska and worked at a local radio station. Carson wrote comedy and announced commercials during a daily 15-minute program.
In 1950, Carson moved to California and began working as an announcer for KNXT. He soon began hosting his own show, "Carson's Cellar" which aired until mid 1953 when Carson became a writer for "The Red Skelton Show."
In August of 1954, Red Skelton was injured during a rehearsal just before airtime. With little time to prepare, Carson went on in Skelton's place and opened the show with a monologue he had thought of while driving to the studio.
The performance led to Carson hosting his own show, "The Johnny Carson Show," on CBS. The show lasted just 39 weeks.
Carson moved to New York, New York, and was hired to host a game show, "Earn Your Vacation." He also filled in occasionally
for Jack Paar, on CBS's "The Morning Show".
In 1957, Carson switched channels, to ABC, and became the host of "Who Do You Trust?" The announcer for the game show was Ed McMahon.
The show ran for several years, until, in 1962, Carson accepted NBC's offer to replace Jack Paar as host of "The Tonight Show."
In May of 1992, Carson retired and Jay Leno became the host of "The Tonight Show." Visitor Comments:Connections:Johnny Carson ... | 
