Dean Martin & Johnny Carson

Simple stuff that makes you smile

If you recall the Dean Martin show you remember that on each episode when he left the piano and went to the couch to sing he would stop and open the side door. There to his surprise was a celebrity. Could have been anyone and he never knew who would be there. Worked like a charm and everyone loved the surprise. In this episode it was Johnny Carson’s turn. This stuff never gets old.

The Dean Martin Show, not to be confused with the Dean Martin Variety Show (1959–1960), is a TV variety–comedy series that ran from 1965 to 1974 for 264 episodes. It was broadcast by NBC and hosted by entertainer Dean Martin. The theme song to the series was his 1964 hit “Everybody Loves Somebody“.

Dean Martin was initially reluctant to do the show.  His terms were deliberately outrageous: he demanded a high salary and that he need only show up for the actual taping of the show. To his surprise the network agreed. As daughter Deana Martin recalled after meeting the network and making his demands Martin returned home and announced to his family, “They went for it. So now I have to do it.”

Martin believed that an important key to his popularity was that he did not put on airs. His act was that of a drunken, work-shy playboy, although the ever-present old-fashioned glass in his hand often only had apple juice in it. The show was heavy on physical comedy rather than just quips (he made his weekly entrance by sliding down a fireman’s pole onto the stage.) Martin read his dialogue directly from cue cards. If he flubbed a line or forgot a lyric, Martin would not do a retake, and the mistake—and his recovery from it—went straight to tape and onto the air.