The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Dec 15, 1972
TV Flash files “Dec 15, 1972” as the last listed hour of season 1972 — The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962–1992) on NBC, season 1972, episode 250, aired 1972-12-15, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S1972E250: listed hour 333 of 1660 in the The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson guide, last listed hour of season 1972. It aired 1972-12-15 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Nov 30, 1972” (S1972E239). Next is “Jan. 25, 1973” (S1973E19). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Dec 15, 1972 sit in the The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson guide?
S1972E250 is listed hour 333 of 1660 — last listed hour of season 1972, season 1972 episode 250.
When did The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson S1972E250 air?
Dec 15, 1972 aired 1972-12-15 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Where should I start?
Any surviving Burbank-era hour with a full monologue, desk chat, and a comic on the couch shows the furniture he locked in. The late-career years are the easiest on-ramp: the ritual is fully formed.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Johnny Carson owned NBC's 11:30 for nearly thirty years: monologue, desk, couch, and a golf swing as host craft. Ed McMahon and Doc Severinsen made the furniture feel like a national after-party. Watch it to see why every later late-night host still inherits or rebels against Burbank — the template for who gets the couch.
October 1, 1962, is the drop date that still explains the furniture. Johnny Carson leased NBC's 11:30 for **thirty years** — through May 22, 1992 — 31 seasons and 1,660 hours of monologue, desk, couch, and the occasional animal segment that went feral. Rex will call it a national bedtime story. It was a window. Politicians, movie stars, and comics all needed the wave-on because the clock did not move.
Open the The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson package · Season 1972 hub
Filed against
- Johnny Carson as Host
Johnny Carson owned NBC’s 11:30 for nearly thirty years — monologue, desk, couch, and a golf swing as host craft. Ed McMahon and Doc Severinsen made the furniture feel like a national after-party. Every later late-night host still…
- Ed McMahon as Announcer / Sidekick
Ed McMahon made The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson furniture feel like a national after-party — announcer, sidekick, and the laugh that told America the monologue had landed. Carson owned NBC's 11:30; McMahon owned the welcome. TV…
- Doc Severinsen as Bandleader
Doc Severinsen led The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson as bandleader flash — monologue, desk, couch, golf swing as host craft, Ed McMahon as furniture, NBC’s 11:30 for nearly thirty years. A national after-party in a sequined jacket.…