<P> Jack Paar's last appearance was on March 29, 1962, and due to Carson's previous contracts, Carson did not take over until October 1 . His first guests were Rudy Vallée, Tony Bennett, Mel Brooks, and Joan Crawford . Carson inherited from Paar a show that was 1 3 / 4 hours (105 minutes) long . The show broadcast two openings, one starting at 11: 15 p.m. and including the monologue, the other that listed the guests and re-announced the host, starting at 11: 30 . The two openings gave affiliates the option of screening either a fifteen - minute or thirty - minute local newscast preceding Carson . Since 1959, the show had been videotaped earlier the same broadcast day . </P> <P> As more affiliates introduced thirty minutes of local news, Carson's monologue was being seen by fewer people . To rectify this situation, Ed McMahon and Skitch Henderson co-hosted the first fifteen minutes of the show between February 1965 and December 1966 without Carson, who then took over at 11: 30 . Finally, because he wanted the show to start when he came on, at the beginning of January 1967 Carson insisted the 11: 15 segment be eliminated (which, he claimed in a monologue at the time, "no one actually watched except the Armed Forces and four Native Americans in Gallup, New Mexico"). </P> <Ul> <Li> January 1965--September 1966: Saturday or Sunday 11: 15--1: 00 a.m. (reruns, initially billed as The Saturday Tonight Show) </Li> <Li> September 1966--September 1975: Saturday or Sunday 11: 30--1: 00 a.m. (reruns, now identified as The Saturday / Sunday Tonight Show; The Weekend Tonight Show by 1973) </Li> <Li> January 2, 1967--September 12, 1980: Monday--Friday 11: 30 p.m.--1: 00 a.m. </Li> </Ul> <Li> January 1965--September 1966: Saturday or Sunday 11: 15--1: 00 a.m. (reruns, initially billed as The Saturday Tonight Show) </Li>

Who followed johnny carson on late night tv