Growing up, I was a huge fan of Johnny Carson and The Tonight Show—it was appointment viewing for my dad and me nearly every night. So I was eager to read Carson the Magnificent, but I ended up bitterly disappointed.
What should’ve been a thoughtful biography of a man who defined late-night television for decades came off more like a stream-of-consciousness love letter. Zehme’s writing is over-the-top and ostentatious, with paragraph-long tangents stuffed with trivia—some of it interesting, most of it repeated. The structure is a mess, and the organization, or lack thereof, makes it hard to follow. I slogged through overly long sections that felt more like filler than insight.
Worst of all, after 336 pages, I still don’t feel like I know Johnny Carson any better. For a man who mastered public charm while fiercely guarding his private life, this book doesn’t crack the surface—it just circles it in increasingly dramatic prose.
After Zehme’s death in 2023, Mike Thomas took over. The shift is stark—and welcome. The last quarter is more grounded, more focused, and frankly, more readable. I just wish Thomas had written the whole thing.
⭐⭐ (2 stars) — A missed opportunity to illuminate a true icon.
** Thanks to Edelweiss+ and Simon & Schuster for a comp. All opinions are my own.