Late Night Wars | There Goes Johnny! | 4

Business Wars

Wondery

History, Business, David Brown, Management

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2021

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When longtime Tonight Show host Johnny Carson shocks NBC with the surprise

announcement of his departure, Jay Leno is anointed as the next host of the network’s flagship franchise.

But there’s a problem: after a decade hosting Late Night at 12:30, David Letterman thinks Carson’s job should be his. Getting passed over is unacceptable to Letterman, and he’s going to exact a painful revenge on NBC.

And Leno’s firebrand manager Helen Kushnick is going to feel the backlash of her scorched earth policy in dealing with NBC brass. Their reaction will bring Leno’s career to the brink of destruction.

Pre-order our new book The Art of Business Wars now before it is released on April 13.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to Business Wars ad-free on Amazon Music.
0:04.6	Download the app today.
0:07.0	It's May 23, 1991 at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
0:21.0	Warren Littlefield has recently been named the new NBC Entertainment Vice President.
0:26.0	Today, he's hosting the network's annual upfronts, the showcase for the fall slate of television
0:32.0	programming.
0:33.0	But the crowd of affiliates, advertisers, and industry types is growing bored with the
0:38.7	long presentation.
0:40.7	All right, folks.
0:41.7	I'd like to bring out a final, very special visitor from the NBC family of stars.
0:48.0	At this, the crowd straightens in their chairs.
0:50.9	Who's he talking about?
0:52.9	I've waited my whole life for this.
0:56.1	Ladies and gentlemen, the king of late night television soon to begin his 30th season
1:01.7	on NBC.
1:02.7	He's Johnny.
1:07.4	Carson strides onto the stage like he owns the place.
1:11.3	The crowd rises to its feet.
1:14.3	Thanks very much.
1:15.8	Gee, what a fast paced afternoon.
1:19.6	The euphokes must be just short of a coma.
1:24.0	Carson tosses off wise cracks, stabbing an NBC, its parent company General Electric,
	...

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