Tonight Show dog food advert, with Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon (1972)

If there were ever any doubt that Johnny Carson is one of the greatest personalities in the history of broadcasting, here's a clip of why he was so good. A wholly improvised (and live) piece of whimsy rescues an unfortunate McMahon during a sponsor spot gone awry. I suspect I'm not being unfair when I say Leno, Letterman or Jonathan Ross would do something like that.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• talk
• shows

[JORGEPSOUSA911]

I love this commercial!!!! R.I.P. Ed & Johnny.

[sowhatdude1]

Johnny & Ed are together again- :O)

[frisco21]

We didn't know how good we had it in those days. Gawd, I miss those guys.

[Gossage54]

This goes to show Johnny not only having great improv skills for comedy but for not letting a sponsor's ad die. He wasn't just going out there to be funny. And nice to see him coming out to Ed's rescue, I think they were closer than some people give them credit for. They started together in the late 50s on Who Do You Trust.

[FRANK172]

This is my BEST favorite moment from The Tonight Show. Every time I see this, I die laughing. Johnny's perfomance as a stand-in makes this commercial very funny. I love it!

[ken131]

This is proof that Conan has more in common with Johnny than Jay does

[tonybklyn]

Johnny and Ed you are truly missed.

[rjirish63]

Johnny to the rescue.

[KaptKan1]

Oh, MAN! Johnny was crazy funny! The live advert was dying due to an overfed dog, so Johnny saw a chance to both save the commercial and get some laughs. Unbelievable! I just can't believe that those guys are gone. God bless Johnny and Ed! They sure gave us a lot of delight and joy.

[kambreesuncle2]

Both were amazing!! We miss them both!!!

[tableconnect]

hilliarious