The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Nov 22, 1979
TV Flash files “Nov 22, 1979” as a desk essential hour — The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962–1992) on NBC, season 1979, episode 234, aired 1979-11-22, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S1979E234: listed hour 554 of 1660 in the The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson guide, hour 20 of 21 in season 1979. It aired 1979-11-22 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Nov 1, 1979” (S1979E219). Next is “Dec 5, 1979” (S1979E243). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.
Essential hour: “Nov 22, 1979”. A late-decade Burbank night as ritual, not plot: the host craft fully formed after the New York years.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Nov 22, 1979 sit in the The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson guide?
S1979E234 is listed hour 554 of 1660 — hour 20 of 21 in season 1979, season 1979 episode 234.
When did The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson S1979E234 air?
Nov 22, 1979 aired 1979-11-22 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 1979 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.…