Paul Reiser’s new comedy recalls the world of Carson
NEW YORK » Her-r-r-r-rre’s Paul Reiser!
You can find him on the Amazon comedy “Red Oaks,” whose third and final season was recently released with Reiser as the power-packing president of a New Jersey country club in the 1980s.
You can also find him on the just-posted second season of Netflix’s “Stranger Things” as a government scientist who may not be quite what he seems.
And though you won’t see him on Hulu’s “There’s . Johnny!,” Reiser is very much part of this comedic peek behind the scenes of “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” circa 1972. All seven episodes, with Reiser as co-creator and -writer, are now available for viewing.
“The fact that I suddenly have three different shows on three different streaming platforms suggests that I’m clever and I planned this. I planned nothing,” says Reiser before joking that his goal now is to be on EVERY platform and every device, “even when you shut it off.”
The 60-year-old Reiser, whose acting career began with a bang in the films “Diner,” “Beverly Hills Cop” and “Aliens,” and who starred in NBC’s 1990s sitcom hit “Mad About You,” is also a veteran standup comic who appeared many times on Carson’s “Tonight Show” during its heyday.
His experience on Johnny’s couch, coupled with his earlier memories of staying up late on school nights to catch Johnny’s monologue and the comedians whose careers he launched with a sanctifying thumbsup, spurred Reiser to develop “There’s . Johnny!” with partner David Steven Simon.
That took more than a decade, much of it spent securing the support of the Carson estate, which has furnished clips from vintage 1972 shows that are inserted into the comedic narrative. It is through these snippets that Carson resides in “There’s . Johnny!” No actor plays him.
This contrasts with Showtime’s contemporaneous dramedy “I’m Dying Up Here,” set at a 1970s Sunset Strip comedy club whose up-andcoming comics dream of a careermaking shot on “The Tonight Show.” Carson is portrayed by Dylan Baker.
While paying no less reverence to Carson’s lofty stature, “There’s ... Johnny!” is instead a TV workplace comedy. Its action centers on 19-year-old Carson-idolizing Andy Klavin, who stumbles into a job as gofer on the “Tonight Show” staff. Fresh from Nebraska, wide-eyed Andy (Ian Nelson) works closely with a fellow staffer, jaded Hollywood child Joy (Jane Levy), who treats Andy’s naivete with exasperation and wonderment.
All of the characters are fictional, other than Freddy de Cordova, Carson’s longtime executive producer and ring-a-ding-ding consigliere, who is played with gusto by Tony Danza.