Johnny Carson’s Centennial Inspires a List of 100 Classic Tonight Show Moments

October 23, 2025, marked the birthday of the undisputed King of Late Night, Johnny Carson, who would have turned 100 this year. Latenighter.com, a website devoted to all things late night, has commemorated this milestone with the Carson 100, a chronological guide to 100 moments that represent what made The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and its host the gold standard for its unprecedented 30-year run.

The list was curated by Dan Pasternack, comedy preservationist and Peabody Award-winning producer; Mark Malkoff, host of The Carson Podcast and author of the definitive book Love Johnny Carson; and Jed Rosenzweig, founder of Latenighter.com.

“We got on a Zoom and started pitching the most memorable moments from the history of The Tonight Show,” Pasternack says. “We went through all the aspects and eras of the show to represent everything that was great about Johnny.”

“No one was as likeable, as curious, or had the skill set to really connect with middle America,” Malkoff says. “He could talk to A-list movie stars as well as children, senior citizens — ordinary people who did extraordinary things.”

The Carson 100 is a time capsule of the way we were, and, to quote the song of the same name, it’s the laughter we will remember. “There is something uniquely intimate and personal about late night,” says Pasternack. “These moments are woven into the fabric of our cultural consciousness.”

You’ll find the entire list here. We’ve chosen 10 of the most memorable entries.

1. Ed Ames Tomahawk Throw (April 27, 1965)

Uploaded to YouTube by Johnny Carson

Singer-actor Ed Ames shared with Mark Malkoff that when he came home after taping his Tonight Show appearance to promote his role as Mingo on the TV series Daniel Boone, he told his wife that the funniest thing happened on the show, but the network would never let it run. At Johnny’s insistence, the network did indeed air it, and Ames’s errant throw became one of the show’s most requested clips. On the few times it was not included in one of the show’s anniversary broadcasts, NBC would be flooded with mail from outraged viewers. “It was the most magical moment,” Malkoff says. “That was quintessential Johnny in the way he milked the audience’s laughter before he delivered the perfect ad-lib: ‘I didn’t even know you were Jewish.’”

2. Tiny Tim Marries Miss Vicki (Dec. 17, 1969)

Uploaded to YouTube by Johnny Carson

Falsetto-voiced ukulele-strumming novelty act Tiny Tim parlayed his one hit, “Tip-Toe Through the Tulips,” into several memorable variety show appearances. He made late night history when he married his bride, Victoria Lombardi, aka Miss Vicki, on The Tonight Show stage. Forty-five million tuned in. The marriage lasted eight years. Today, they would have their own reality TV series and probably a podcast.

3. Sis Boom Bah (Aug. 5, 1981)

Uploaded to YouTube by Rick OnTheDrums

Johnny was the consummate pro, but when his iconic character, Carnac, who divined the answers to enveloped questions, described the sound made when a sheep explodes, he lost it as never before. In the bit, he’s already stifling laughter before setting up the joke by Tonight Show co-writer Kevin Mulholland.

4. Freddie Prinze’s Debut (Dec. 5, 1973)

Uploaded to YouTube by Johnny Carson

Johnny loved comedians, and The Tonight Show was the platform to which fledgling comics aspired. A successful first appearance could make a career. Freddie Prinze was only 19 when he made his star-making debut, during which Johnny called him over to sit on the couch, a comic’s ultimate validation. For a look at other before-they-were-famous sets, check out the home video release, The Comedians: “Good Stuff!,” which includes first appearances by Jerry Seinfeld, Drew Carey, Garry Shandling, and others.

5. Joan Embery’s Cheetahs Are Not Fans of Johnny (Sept. 13, 1974)

Uploaded to YouTube by Johnny Carson

Joan Embery of the San Diego Zoo was one of Johnny’s most popular guests. The menagerie of creatures she brought to the show provided the quick-witted Johnny ample opportunities for classic unscripted moments, such as when he tried in vain to bond with a cheetah, who was not having it.

6. Johnny Confronts Rickles on the Set of CPO Sharkey (Dec. 14, 1976)

Uploaded to YouTube by Johnny Carson

According to Dan Pasternack, one challenge in choosing 100 of the most representative Tonight Show moments was limiting themselves to the number of Don Rickles appearances (“likewise Albert Brooks, Steve Martin, and Jonathan Winters,” he adds). For comedy buffs, these guest spots were must-see television. Anything could happen, as on the night when Johnny spontaneously left his desk and told the cameras to follow him to the studio next door, where he interrupted Rickles taping an episode of CPO Sharkey to confront him about breaking Johnny’s cigarette box during Rickles’ Tonight Show appearance the night before. For once, Rickles was at a loss for words.

7. Johnny Does Magic Trick for 4-Year-Old Spelling Bee Champ Rohan Varavadekar (March 12, 1987)

Uploaded to YouTube by Johnny Carson

A less obvious, but thoroughly charming entry on the list is “an illustration of what was so uniquely wonderful about Johnny. He was a great listener, and this little boy wound up getting huge laughs just because Johnny made it safe for his beautiful personality to come out,” Pasternack says. The boy’s request for Johnny to do a magic trick inspired him to ask Johnny how to make a quarter really disappear. “You get married,” Johnny deadpanned. “That’s the ultimate mic drop,” Pasternack says.

8. Jane Fonda Asks Johnny About Zsa Zsa Gabor (Sept. 15, 1989)

Uploaded to YouTube by Johnny Carson

This Jane Fonda guest spot instantly earned classic status when she went there and point-blank asked Johnny to confirm the show’s most persistent urban legend that Zsa Zsa Gabor, with a cat on her lap, asked Johnny if he would like to pet her pussy. Johnny gives a masterful impeccably-timed comic take worthy of his idol Jack Benny before responding, “I think I would recall that.”

9. Steve Martin’s The Great Flydini (May 6, 1992)

Uploaded to YouTube by Johnny Carson

Steve Martin primarily reserved this brilliant routine featuring a magician whose tricks are performed through his trouser fly for charity events, but when Johnny, whose last show was just weeks away, asked him to perform it on The Tonight Show, it was an offer he could not refuse.

10. Bette Midler Sings ‘One for My Baby’ (May 21, 1992)

Uploaded to YouTube by Citiprime

Johnny saved the best for almost last. His penultimate Tonight Show broadcast with Robin Williams and Bette Midler is one for the ages. Midler herself won an Emmy for her virtuoso appearance, which, to this day, she says she has never watched. Midler clearly moved Johnny with her rendition of “One for My Baby (and One More for the Road),” but she brings down the house with the Marc Shaiman-Bruce Vilanch-penned novelty number, “You Made Me Watch You.”

What are your favorite Tonight Show moments with Johnny? Share your comments below.