On the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
For years, humourist Baxter Black has made us laugh through his column, ‘The Edge of Common Sense.” He’s reached our funny bones through radio with “Baxter Black on Monday”, but nothing compares to the total experience of seeing him live in action.
Hal Cannon, director of the Western Folklife Center in Elko, Nev., and Jeff Sotzing, (producer of The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson) join Baxter at his home to share some wonderful “behind the scenes” anecdotes from his appearances on The Tonight Show. The clips with Johnny are treasures, plus you see Ed McMahon, Dyan Cannon and Robert Goulet doubled over with laughter at Baxter’s amazing performances. There’s also a segment of Jay Leno hosting the show and at that stage of his career, an “Elvis Impersonator” comes to mind.
The additional segments from Live on Iowa Public TV are as entertaining as anything you can find on the 500-channel universe today. The sound and video quality are excellent.
It may surprise some folks to know that ol’ Bax is a fine guitar picker and a pretty good singer. I loved the picking sessions with the flowing fiddle sound of his wife Cindy Lou, the amazing lead guitar of Chris Gussa and the vocals and string bass of the well-known Butch Hause. I found both discs even more interesting after watching them a couple of times. I noticed for example that even though Baxter is left-handed, he plays guitar right-handed while Butch plays bass left-handed.
This DVD is just like being there. I was looking at the shots of the audience in some of the clips; while most were waiting in anticipation, almost inconceivably, there may have been a few who have never seen Baxter in action. By the time he’d rolled through the first few minutes of dialogue, their skeptical expressions were replaced by knee slapping gales of laughter.
When Baxter walks out on a stage today he owns it, connecting instantly with the audience. It was great to see him do the same thing on national TV.
You can order this two disc set complete with bonus footage, blooper reel and more from Cowboy Country Magazine.
Note: 2–3 weeks delivery.