Though it was rarely revealed on The Tonight Show, Johnny Carson was actually an accomplished magician! Legend has it that Johnny Carson, who saw Kreskin trip and fall during his first appearance on "The Steve Allen Show," modeled his own clumsy Carnac the Magnificent after the mentalist! Steve Allen also mentioned that Johnny had secretly pulled several card moves on his audiences to make Steve Allen's mind reading routines work.

I have yet to find any old recordings of Johnny performing as a magician, but I do have a VERY early recording of him as host of The Tonight Show. This recording was supposedly one of his auditions before taking the helm of the show. It's wonderful to hear he was the same master of his craft then as he would be in the future!

Johnny Carson Audition Tape.

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