< Conversation with a Curator

Here’s Johnny!: A Salute to NBC Icon Johnny Carson with Mark Malkoff

Wednesday, November 4, 2026 
4:00 pm 
The Paley Museum, 25 West 52 Street, NYC
Curator: Ron Simon

Johnny Carson was the iconic “King of Late Night,” transforming the talk-show format and becoming one of the most influential performers in television history. For 30 years, from 1962 to 1992, Carson hosted The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on NBC, setting the standard for late-night television and creating a blueprint followed by generations of hosts, including David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, and Jimmy Fallon.

Curator Ron Simon celebrates Carson’s extraordinary career with rare clips from the Paley Archive, including audio excerpts from his very first Tonight Show broadcast on October 1, 1962. Simon will be joined by podcaster and comedian Mark Malkoff, author of Love Johnny Carson, a lively and revealing portrait of Carson’s life, legacy, and character.

Together, they will revisit the man behind the legend—an entertainer who appeared on some 4,500 broadcasts and interviewed an astonishing 25,000 guests—and explore why Johnny Carson remains the defining figure of late-night television.

Free for Paley Members, included in General Admission.
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