The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

For its first decade, Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show was based at the RCA Building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York City, with some episodes recorded at NBC Studios in Burbank, California; on May 1, 1972, the show moved to Burbank as its main venue with extended returns to New York for several weeks over the

next 12 months. After May 1973, however, the show remained in Burbank exclusively until Carson's retirement. The show's house band, the NBC Orchestra, was led by Skitch Henderson, until 1966 when Milton Delugg took over, who was succeeded by Doc Severinsen less than a year later.

Carson's Tonight Show was the longest-running late-night show of all time. The show played a significant role in launching the careers of numerous comedians by introducing them to a national audience. The series was ranked as one of the greatest TV shows of all time in polls from 2002 and 2013.