This was back when live TV was worth watching. On one of my many visits with Mom and Dad in Huntington Beach, Mom and I went to see a Johnny Carson show from the audience. It was fascinating. Charles Grodin was one of the guests that afternoon (night). Filming started at 4:00pm in the afternoon and shot as if live. There was time for edits if needed but when we watched the show that night, I did not see anything edited. Earlier when we toured the NBC studios we saw this parking space, but at the time Johnny's white Corvette was parked there. One of the most fascinating parts of the tour was standing on the stage where Johnny did his monologue. The stage was so small. Standing on the star that was painted where Johnny stood each show was really cool.
When we took that tour the early 1980's and watched the show as it was being filmed, I was at the start of my broadcast career. It was inspiring to me to see these things up close and live. I left my broadcast career in 2005 when I resigned from the Associated Press, I was one of a few Conservatives in that field. I could no longer be a part of the propaganda that the News had become and was growing worse.