Johnny Carson Was a Very Nervous Person Behind the Scenes: He Was So Socially Uncomfortable

“I felt sorry for Johnny in that he was so socially uncomfortable,” talk show host Dick Cavett once said. “I’ve hardly ever met anybody who had as hard of a time as he did.”

Johnny had a ritual that made him feel more comfortable in front of the cameras. “He never interacted with you before the show because he felt it would give away the energy,” Tom Dreesen, a stand-up comic who appeared on Johnny’s Tonight Show 50 times, tells Closer. “And he hated commercials because he didn’t have a lot to say. I would prepare things to talk about in between commercials so I could interact with him.”

However, once it was time to film, Johnny came alive. “He would let his guests be the star when it was their turn,” Tom explained. “Sometimes he would feed you lines to let you shine. That’s how gracious and generous he was.”

In 1992, his career came to an end once he retired as the host of The Tonight Show. Johnny spent his last days traveling to foreign places on his boat and by 2005, he died of emphysema at 79. “There will never be another Johnny,” former Tonight Show writer Andrew Nicholls tells Closer. “No one with that sense of decency, comedy, restraint and broad appeal.”

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