Staff members share Carson lore

LINCOLN — Panic struck “The Tonight Show” set almost 30 years ago.

Hernandez the beagle refused to eat his canned food. That was a real problem, too: Hernandez was starring in a live dog food commercial.

As the dog ambled away, producers had no idea what to do.

But Johnny Carson did.

“I just love the fact that he had such great reactions,” said Jeff Sotzing, the show's former producer.

With his tongue wagging, Carson quickly crawled onto the floor and ate the food. He even licked the bowl. The audience roared with laughter.

People laughed again Friday after watching the clip at a Lincoln theater. Sotzing and three former “Tonight Show” writers played several clips and discussed their experiences with Carson, a man they described as incredibly smart and funny.

“His philosophy was to make the guest look good,” Sotzing said, “and if the guest looked good, he'd get the credit.”

Sotzing and the writers — Aaron Nicholls, Anthony DeSena and Darrel Vickers — started working on “The Tonight Show” in the 1970s and '80s. They stayed with Carson until his final show in 1992.

The men came together to speak at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's first Johnny Carson Lectureship.

“This is where Johnny got his inspiration,” Sotzing said of the Lincoln campus. “Whatever we can do to help keep his name alive is a good thing.”

More than 125 people attended the lecture.

Carson grew up in Norfolk, Neb., and graduated from the university in 1949. He donated more than $10 million to UNL theater and film programs. The Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film was named in his honor in 2005, the year he died.

Paul Steger, the school's director, had the idea to create a lectureship in Carson's name. Most students don't remember Carson's show, he said, and some were born after he retired.

“Students never got a chance to see him Monday through Friday,” Steger said. “These kids need to know who he is.”

The former “Tonight Show” staffers agreed, calling it too bad that students might not realize Carson's influence.

Carson took over the show in 1962, and his career spanned Presidents John F. Kennedy to George H.W. Bush. His proteges include Jay Leno, who took over “The Tonight Show” after Carson retired, and David Letterman.

Carson was known for his ability to survive bad jokes and botched skits with ease.

Vickers noted that Carson told jokes he thought were funny, even if he thought the audience wouldn't laugh.

Sotzing, who was Carson's nephew, said the talk show host knew how to remain funny and “be right in the middle of the road.”

DeSena said even after doing the show for decades, Carson continued to get nervous every night.

Once the curtain lifted, though, he was “the calm center of everything,” Nicholls said.