Johnny Carson Quotes & Trivia

Quotes

Anytime four New Yorkers get into a cab together without arguing, a bank robbery has just taken place.

Democracy means that anyone can grow up to be president, and anyone who doesn't grow up can be vice president.

For days after death hair and fingernails continue to grow, but phone calls taper off.

For three days after death, hair and fingernails continue to grow but phone calls taper off.

Happiness is your dentist telling you it won't hurt and then having him catch his hand in the drill.

I know a man who gave up smoking, drinking, sex, and rich food. He was healthy right up to the day he killed himself.

I know you've been married to the same woman for 69 years. That is marvelous. It must be very inexpensive.

I was so naive as a kid I used to sneak behind the barn and do nothing.

If it weren't for Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor of television, we'd still be eating frozen radio dinners.

If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead.

If life were fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead.

If variety is the spice of life, marriage is the big can of leftover Spam.

Mail your packages early so the post office can lose them in time for Christmas.

Married men live longer than single men. But married men are a lot more willing to die.

My success just evolved from working hard at the business at hand each day.

Never continue in a job you don't enjoy. If you're happy in what you're doing, you'll like yourself, you'll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined.

Never use a big word when a little filthy one will do.

New York is an exciting town where something is happening all the time, most unsolved.

People will pay more to be entertained than educated.

Talent alone won't make you a success. Neither will being in the right place at the right time, unless you are ready. The most important question is: "Are your ready?"

The only thing money gives you is the freedom of not worrying about money.

We're more effective than birth control pills.

When turkeys mate they think of swans.

Trivia

Johnny was given the Harvard Hasty Pudding Club Man Of The Year Award in 1977.

Johnny was revealed to be secretly writing jokes for David Letterman, 5 days before his death, by CBS senior vice president Peter Lassally, who produced shows for both.

Johnny's best friend, James Randi, was a former magician like Johnny and regularly appeared on his show to give examples of frauds involving the supernatural to inform the public.

Johnny co-wrote the theme song for "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" with songwriter Paul Anka in 1962.

Johnny was a ventriloquist.

Johnny was close friends with scientist Carl Sagan, who he often parodied, and was the first person to call his widow, Ann, upon his death on December 20, 1996.

Johnny was given the Presidential Medal Of Freedom in 1992.

Johnny was a major investor in the DeLorean Motor Company.

Johnny was inducted into the Television Hall Of Fame in 1987.

Johnny's income was reported by TV Guide as being over 2 million a year in the 1970s and over 5 million by the 1980s.

Johnny won the Peabody Award in 1986.