TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JOHNNY CARSON, THE {RICHARD PRYOR, RICHARD BENJAMIN} (TV)
Summary
One in this series of late-night talk/variety programs hosted by Johnny Carson. Carson's guests for this program are comedian Richard Pryor and actor Richard Benjamin. In his opening monologue, Carson touches on the following topics, among others: the challenge of holiday shopping in Burbank, which is somewhat less glamorous than Beverly Hills; the "commercialization" of Christmas and expensive kids' toys; Frank Sinatra's sixty-fifth birthday; President-elect Reagan's appointment of various cabinet members, including Merrill Lynch executive Donald Regan as Secretary of the Treasury; the surprising suggestion of Richard Nixon as the Chinese ambassador; and an upcoming Merv Griffin program on a rival network.
Carson ventures into the audience for a round of "Stump the Band," and Doc Severinsen and the orchestra are, as ever, stumped by requests for songs like "Rooster," "Gravy (For My Mashed Potatoes)" and "Red Hot Mama," though Tommy Newsom takes the opportunity to ask a Fort Lauderdale guest to say hello to a friend. Carson then announces that actor McLean Stevenson has married "Tonight Show" coordinator Ginny Fosdick after being introduced on-air by Carson himself in a previous episode.
Pryor then joins Carson onstage and discusses the following: his contentment with his residence in Hawaii despite his inability to swim; his lack of knowledge of the vowel-heavy Hawaiian language; his uncertainty about his flying lessons after a challenging landing incident; the difficulty of getting back into the dating world after a divorce; his new film "Stir Crazy," directed by Sidney Poitier (1980), from which a clip is shown; his enjoyment of the recent film "Raging Bull" (1980); his daughter Rain's current theatrical role; and his ideas about what he would like to do were he not an entertainer.
Benjamin takes the stage and comments on the following: his and Pryor's dissimilar nicknames; his habit of stealing clothes from movie sets, learned from another actor who was fond of taking pieces of furniture; his holiday plans with his half-Jewish, half-Gentile children; his kids' current views on Santa Claus and the tooth fairy; his new comedy film "First Family" (1980), co-starring Bob Newhart, Madeline Kahn and Gilda Radner; and his twenty-year marriage, compared to Carson and Pryor's more complex relationship with women. Includes commercials and promos.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: December 12, 1980 11:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:51:02
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:46978
- GENRE: Talk/Interview
- SUBJECT HEADING: African-American Collection - Comedy; Talk/Interview; Comedy
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1962-1992
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Commercials - 4-Way nasal spray
- TV - Commercials - Alpha Probe Fisher-Price toys
- TV - Commercials - French Colombard wines
- TV - Commercials - Hanes underwear
- TV - Commercials - Jockey underwear
- TV - Commercials - Lipton chicken noodle soup
- TV - Commercials - Pillsbury bundt cakes
- TV - Commercials - Purina Cat Chow cat food
- TV - Commercials - Sambo's restaurants
- TV - Commercials - Tender Vittles cat food
- TV - Commercials - Vise-Grip tool set
- TV - Promos - "9 to 5" motion picture
CREDITS
- The NBC Orchestra … Music by
- Doc Severinsen … Conductor
- Tommy Newsom … Instrumentalist
- Johnny Carson … Host
- Ed McMahon … Co-Host
- Richard Pryor … Guest
- Richard Benjamin … Guest
- Ginny Fosdick
- Merv Griffin
- Madeline Kahn
- Bob Newhart
- Richard Nixon
- Sidney Poitier
- Rain Pryor
- Gilda Radner
- Ronald Reagan
- Donald Regan
- Frank Sinatra
- McLean Stevenson