Heeeeere’s . . .

INa box, somewhere in my house, I have a picture of me and Johnny Carson on the set of the old Tonight show. We’re standing affably side-by-side, me grinning like an idiot, him with lips pursed in a patient half-smile. We look like a rich uncle and a mildly retarded nephew, meeting awkwardly for the first time. Which in a way we were.

I was then a mid-level writer on the long-running television comedy Cheers, and Johnny had agreed to appear on an episode of the show. So we all trooped over the hill from Hollywood to Burbank-pretty much all of us who worked on the show, even those who, like me, had only the thinnest of reasons for doing so-and stood around in sheepish, clumsy little groupings as Johnny did his scenes, punched up our lines, asked a couple of vague questions, and posed for photographs.

About the Author

Rob Long

Rob Long is a writer and producer and a co-founder of Ricochet.

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INa box, somewhere in my house, I have a picture of me and Johnny Carson on the set of the old Tonight show. We’re standing affably side-by-side, me grinning like an idiot, him with lips pursed in a patient half-smile. We look like a rich uncle and a mildly retarded nephew, meeting awkwardly for the first time. Which in a way we were.

I was then a mid-level writer on the long-running television comedy Cheers, and Johnny had agreed to appear on an episode of the show. So we all trooped over the hill from Hollywood to Burbank-pretty much all of us who worked on the show, even those who, like me, had only the thinnest of reasons for doing so-and stood around in sheepish, clumsy little groupings as Johnny did his scenes, punched up our lines, asked a couple of vague questions, and posed for photographs.