Given Johnny Carson's iconic status during the height of The Tonight Show's popularity, there's no question the legendary comedian's opinion held some merit when it came to some of his biggest admirers.
One such fan was then up-and-coming comedian Jay Leno, who would of course take over Carson's place as The Tonight Show host in 1992.
When Leno was first starting off in the 1970s, however, the 75-year-old comedian remembered Carson wasn't originally a fan of his work.
According to the new nonfiction book Love Johnny Carson, the longtime Tonight Show host went to see Leno's routine at the behest of Steve Martin, who recommended the young comedian for a stand-up performance on Carson's program.
"Carson saw [Leno] perform at a comedy club and told him he wasn't ready," author Mark Malkoff writes. "'You need more jokes. You need to punch it up. Tape your sets and listen to then.'"
As Leno told Malkoff, Carson went on to offer a crucial piece of advice to the struggling young comedian. "I actually got advice from Johnny himself," Leno remembered. "'Write your jokes out, go onstage and read them out loud flat. If it gets laughs, then you know you have a funny joke.'"
Similarly, Leno claimed in the foreword to My Friend Johnny: The Last 20 Years of a Beautiful Life with Johnny Carson and Friends that Carson offered some candid criticisms about Leno's initial on-stage presence.
"He gave me the best advice I ever received," Leno writes. "He didn’t approve me for the show, and he told me why. 'Your performance is funnier than your jokes.'"
“You have the ability to get a laugh with your attitude and demeanor, but your jokes are not strong enough,'" Leno quotes Carson as saying. "'Next time you go on stage, read your jokes as flat and dull as possible. If it still gets a laugh, you have a funny joke. The next time you tell it, give it all the attitude and performance you can, and you now have a joke that works on two levels. It’s structurally sound, and your performance only makes it better.' From that point on, I made sure every joke I had followed that criteria."
Leno ends his foreword by admitting he still revisits old clips of The Tonight Show, admiring Carson's comedic talent and the timeless quality of the show. "I miss him greatly, and this book is a testament to the Johnny Carson both Howard and I knew," Leno writes.
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