Video: Heeeeere's Johnny!

The life and times of America's favorite talk-show host

Frrrrrrom Hollywood, New York and Nebraska, a scandalmongering biography, King of the Night (Morrow; $19.95) by Laurence Leamer, who invites you to join Johnny Carson and his uninvited guests: resentful ex-wives, assorted children, girlfriends, colleagues, producers, comedians. And now, ladies and gentlemen, heeeeere's Johnny!

Or a dart board. Sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference. Carson would not consent to be interviewed for the book, so Leamer, whose previous work includes biographies of the Reagans and Ingrid Bergman, was forced to assemble a life from the often bitter testimonies of others. One of three children of a utility-company executive, the...

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