a lot of it had to do with jack parr. i was addicted to jack before i worked for him.ever dreamed i would, of course. at the called me before i did my first talk show he said -- i have a feeling you already know this. he said, look, kid. don't do interviews. i thought, what? do i read to them or sing? interviews. >> that's the q and a and what's your favorite this? and let me ask you about this and david frost and his damb clipboard and jet lag and question, question. make it a conversation. think. ? >> that's what makes it good. >> the audience carson had at its peak was double what letterman and leno combined were at their peak. it's credible how that viewership dropped. it did allow you to do these interviews you would never see before, including possibly your most infamous, maybe your more famous one whic gorva dahl and. >> flanker. >> a correspondant? >> who would have thought the show that came closest to blows and violence and nasty words was -- would happen 2 three authors, a deadly word in talk item vision. somebody wrote when cavett says it's a show, he will

>> there was only three networks, there was only one late night show, really, jack parr -- >> they don'terstand what -- how we do this show. we just keep talking with no script. >> i know, it is agony. >> jack parr invented the late night television talk show. >> you feel confident? there is not a man in the world to beat me. i'm as good as liberace. >> jack had in his corner his personality. his fabulous, complex, frightening, neurotic, but in other cases, enthusiastic, informed personality. it made for great television. >> how much time have i done? >> i don't have a watch either. how much? has it been charming? i'll quit now, then. >> here's johnny! >> johnny carson inherited "the tonight show" but he made it his own. >> it is going to be wild tonight, i can always tell. >> he hosted a nightly party. >> are you married? >> oh. >> and if his buddies came, and they started playing together you felt like what it must have felt like to go to las vegas at 3:00 a.m. and have the rat pack come out. >> no, but where is the guy you talk to? >> it was a beautiful thing to watch a guy working at