After weathering a week of blistering heat from the rest of the liberal media following the announcement that The Late Show and host Stephen Colbert were being kicked to the curb, CBS seemed to respond in the form of a love letter to Johnny Carson and reminiscing about what late night used to look like. CBS News Sunday Morning put together a piece remarking on how Carson brought people “peace,” “hope,” and laughter at the end of the day instead of being a divisive political silo.
“With so much talk about the future of late-night TV shows just now, we thought it was the perfect time for Jim Axelrod to take a look back to a time when late night was the place to be and ruled by a most singular man,” proclaimed fill-in host Tracy Smith as she introduced the segment.
Walking into the legendary Studio 1, Axelrod marveled at space. “It may not look like much now, but once upon a time, this was where the king of comedy held court,” he beamed. “As Johnny Carson presided over not just late night, but American popular culture.”
Something no current late night host could boast.
Despite the proliferation of televisions, none of them could hold a candle it to Carson’s draw. “Everybody who was anybody appeared on The Tonight Show and 17 million Americans tuned in, many from their beds,” Axelrod noted. “His audience, more than triple the size of all three current network late night shows combined, made him the national agenda setter of the 1960s, '70s, and '80s.”
On how Carson was able to pull off such a herculean feat, Carson biographer Mike Thomas proposed that, “Johnny brought a lot of people peace at the end of the day. People loved to laugh. But I think he gave them hope that the world would go on the next day, no matter what was happening.”
“Johnny would say things and do things that became water cooler conversation the next morning,” he added.
That didn’t sound like the bitter, angry rantings and lectures of the likes of Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel Americans had to deal with today. Instead, those post-show conversations were divided between those who were the target of the hate-fueled ‘jokes’ and those who reveled in the nastiness.
It’s also worth noting that today’s late night shows also had to deal with the internet and the massive amount of entertainment options inconceivable in Carson’s era.
CBS discovered that it was Carson’s ability to build an actual community that wanted to truly laugh and have fun that led to his success. Axelrod noted that there likely would never be anyone like him again:
AXELROD: Whoever Johnny Carson was, safe to say, in our deeply fragmented culture, there will never be another.
THOMAS: We’re all siloed. We’re all watching things that either confirm our own biases or that are attuned to our own specific sense of humor. There will never be that communal experience again where people watch the show at the same time and then talk about the show the next day.
AXELROD: Communal experience. He had a national community.
THOMAS: That was part of the magic of Carson: community.
Colbert had several months until his show was slated to be tossed into the dustbin of history. Maybe CBS was trying to give him (and everyone for that matter) a roadmap to what they expected to turn things around.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CBS News Sunday Morning
July 27, 2025
9:58:52 a.m. EasternTRACY SMITH: May of 1992, Johnny Carson's final good night on The Tonight Show, 55 million viewers tuned in so say goodbye.
With so much talk about the future of late-night TV shows just now, we thought it was the perfect time for Jim Axelrod to take a look back to a time when late night was the place to be and ruled by a most singular man.
[Cuts to video]
JIM AXELROD: It may not look like much now, but once upon a time, this was where the king of comedy held court.
ANNOUNCER: Here's Johnny!
[Cheers and applause]
AXELROD: Addressing his subjects at the end of each day.
JOHNNY CARSON: I think it's time we got off the president's back. I think everybody is entitled to make five to nine mistakes in a row.
AXELROD: As Johnny Carson presided over not just late night, but American popular culture.
(…)
9:59:54 a.m. Eastern
MIKE THOMAS: It's amazing to be in here. You can almost hear the sounds.
AXELROD: Author Mike Thomas' recent book is Carson the Magnificent, a biography of Carson his late friend Bill Zehme started.
THOMAS: Johnny Carson was the biggest star in America. Movie stars, rock stars, I don't think anybody was bigger than Johnny because he was on night after night after night.
AXELROD: Everybody who was anybody appeared on The Tonight Show and 17 million Americans tuned in, many from their beds.
It was Johnny Carson versus sleep and sleep usually lost.
THOMAS: It did. I think Johnny brought a lot of people peace at the end of the day. People loved to laugh. But I think he gave them hope that the world would go on the next day, no matter what was happening.
AXELROD: His audience, more than triple the size of all three current network late night shows combined, made him the national agenda setter of the 1960s, '70s, and '80s.
THOMAS: Johnny would say things and do things that became water cooler conversation the next morning.
AXELROD: It also made Johnny the preeminent Hollywood talent broker for several generations.
(…)
10:07:24 a.m. Eastern
AXELROD: Maybe Carson was just like so many of us: full of contradictions. Only ours aren't examined by millions under the brightest lights our culture has to offer.
Whoever Johnny Carson was, safe to say, in our deeply fragmented culture, there will never be another.
THOMAS: We’re all siloed. We’re all watching things that either confirm our own biases or that are attuned to our own specific sense of humor. There will never be that communal experience again where people watch the show at the same time and then talk about the show the next day.
AXELROD: Communal experience. He had a national community.
THOMAS: That was part of the magic of Carson: community.
