Legendary comedian Johnny Carson held political convictions like any other American. But when the “on air” light came on, he kept them off the show.
His longtime neighbor and weekly tennis partner, Howard Smith, is pulling back the curtain on the “King of Late Night’s” private life to reveal a man who refused to weaponize his platform, despite his own strong views.
“He felt that his job was to entertain people,” Smith told Fox News Digital, adding that Carson avoided politics because it could alienate viewers. “That’s why he never got into talking about politics at all.” Smith is the author of the 2025 book “My Friend Johnny: The Last 20 Years of a Beautiful Life with Johnny Carson and Friends.”
The pal of Carson said that modern late-night comics try to make up for a lack of comedy by getting political. Speaking bluntly of the ongoing controversy with host Jimmy Kimmel, Smith stated, “I’m not a Jimmy Kimmel fan.”
Carson’s philosophy was on display during the 1981 Oscars, held a day after the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan at the Washington Hilton Hotel. Authorities said it’s the same location as the recent attempt on President Donald Trump.
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“Because of the incredible events of yesterday, that old adage, the show must go on, seemed relatively unimportant,” Carson told the audience at the time.
Carson agreed the event needed to be delayed by 24 hours out of respect for the president and the country. Smith noted that while he and Carson didn’t always share the same political beliefs, they remained close friends. When Reagan died in 2004, Smith said Carson didn’t change his views but maintained his decorum.
“I had different opinions than he did on a lot of stuff,” Smith recalled Carson telling him about Reagan. Carson still hosted Reagan on “The Tonight Show” multiple times, putting the office ahead of personal views.
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It’s a respect that Smith says has been lost in the modern late-night landscape, including amid the controversy with Kimmel.
Kimmel faced criticism this week after a joke about first lady Melania Trump, in which he referred to her as an “expectant widow.” The comment came days before the shooting at the White House Correspondents Association dinner and sparked calls for his firing.
Smith said Kimmel was once a student of the Carson era and was given a copy of his book, “My Friend Johnny.” “I’m not a Jimmy Kimmel fan,” Smith told Fox News Digital, recalling he was once asked to sign a copy of his book for the host, who he was told “loves John.”
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Smith believes the shift toward partisanship isn’t just a choice — it’s a crutch for a lack of real comedy. “The difference nowadays is that these people are not, you know, that funny,” Smith said bluntly. “So they’re coming up with other things, and the politician stuff.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” show for comment.
Smith recalled a time when Carson was asked to speak at a political event for the late President George H.W. Bush. The comedian flatly declined, telling him he didn’t “want to get involved in stuff like that.”
“They just want me there because they can get more money if I’m there, and I’m not [going to] participate in that,” Smith recalled his friend saying.
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Smith said Carson saw the industry’s political shift coming before he retired. He added that Carson wanted David Letterman to take over his slot but had concerns about his move toward political humor. It’s a philosophy Smith said was shared by Jay Leno, who ultimately succeeded Carson, and who wrote the foreword to Smith’s book.
“I talked to Jay Leno about it. He idolized John, and he felt like John did,” Smith said. “People don’t want to hear about politics, and they just want to enjoy the show, laugh a lot. And that’s where both Jay and John felt that their job was just to make people happy.”
On Thursday, Kimmel responded to Trump by airing a video of his wife waking him with news that the president had again called for his firing. “I haven’t even been fired once. How can I be fired again?” Kimmel says in the clip.
Earlier that day, Trump had called for ABC to terminate Kimmel’s contract in a post on Truth Social, writing: “When is ABC Fake News Network firing seriously unfunny Jimmy Kimmel, who incompetently presides over one of the Lowest Rated shows on Television? People are angry. It better be soon!!!”
Following the backlash to his “expectant widow” joke, Kimmel cleared up his intentions with the comment. He defended the line as a “light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80, and she’s younger than I am.”
Kimmel added that he’s spoken out against gun violence in the past and that “It was not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination — and they know that.”
