This book is good! "Buy it", says me. Read the book, liked the book, recomending the book.

Entertaining in parts. Unfortunately somewhat disjointed and becomes rather boring towards the end. Does provide an insight into The Tonight Show and Johnny Carson. Most of the references to incidents on the show seem to come from the Video tape set- The Johnny Carson Collection" (which I highly recommend). Have also read "I'll Be Right Back" - by Mike Douglas. A much more entertaining and informative book about talk shows. I don't suppose that there is much chance of Johnny Carson writing a biography because he likes to keep his privacy. It would undoubtedly be a best seller.

to enjoy this book, you will need soft light, smoking jacket, cohiba, and a stiff glass of bourbon. to delve into the topic of ed mcmahon it takes that kind of mindset. johnny carson's riveting forward captures the whole essence of the "hiyo," years. ed then takes us on a whirlwind tour of late nights of enebriation and carousing. shows spent drunk with johnny, burt reynolds and dom deluise are also brought to life so vividly by mcmahon you swear you could smell the vermouth and brut 33. ed also triumphantly portrays what it was like for him at the culmination of his life's work when timothy blakesley became the first winner of the american family sweepstakes. the question of whom did he prefer: johnny or dick is explored in an honest disection by the author. by this point your not quite sure of anything because you will be on your sixth bourbon and the cigar you were smoking has caught your smoking jacket on fire. i give four stars just on entertainment value alone. HIYO!!!

This hodgepodge of anecdotes will undoubtedly prove fascinating to the legion of Carson worshippers, but for those who are somewhat less enamored of Carson, it will serve to confirm that most of Carson's guests were as stale, uninteresting, and boorish as the great Carson himself - this one is for rabid Carson groupies only.

"More Than Laughter" gives an insider's look at how guests were lined up in the early days of The Tonight Show. The author, Sy Kasoff, was the Head Talent Coordinator, and later Associate Producer for the first four years of Johnny Carson's reign, starting in 1962.

Kasoff's book is a collection of anecdotes of booking various guests and what they were really like. Henny Youngman was a nice guy, Bob Hope did not have an entourage, Tommy Smothers worked without a net, Buddy Hackett was surprisingly professional, and so on. Along the way, there are enough stories and reactions of Carson and McMahon as to provide personal perspectives on these men the drier ones offered by other biographies out there.

Why the three star rating? First, the book needs the help of an editor, as some things we may say verbally just don't work in print as sentence fragments. Second, it is of most interest to Carson fans and less so to outsiders. While it is not a deep, analytical work, it is a pleasant light read, and I do recommend to Carson/Tonight Show fans.

For all those Carson groupies who enjoy reading uninteresting anecdotes about a boring, arrogant, cliche-spewing, polyester-clad windbag, this will be a fascinating read; for everyone else, it is a total waste of time.