Al Roker Recalls Learning Johnny Carson Wasn’t ‘Cool as a Cucumber’

Johnny Carson may have looked completely at ease whenever he stepped into the spotlight, but according to Al Roker, the legendary late night icon had a secret that changed the way he viewed live television forever.

During a recently resurfaced appearance on The Friars Club Podcast with Joe Sibilia in February 2023, the longtime Today meteorologist, 71, reflected on an unforgettable encounter with Carson at an exclusive NBC gathering in 1993.

The event, held at the Connecticut home of then-NBC chairman Bob Wright, celebrated Wright’s 50th birthday and brought together some of the network’s biggest stars.

By that point, Carson had already retired from The Tonight Show, handing the reins to Jay Leno just a year earlier. Even so, his effortless charm remained unmistakable.

“Johnny Carson was there along with his wife, Alexis. And he got up, and he did what I thought was an extemporaneous 10 minutes of just kind of standing up,” Roker said. “And I was standing next to his wife, and I said, ‘Wow.’ I said, ‘He’s as cool as a cucumber and to be able to do this off the cuff…’ and she kind of leaned over and said, ‘He’s not, and he isn’t.'”

Roker revealed that was when he realized that even Carson occasionally came down with a case of the jitters.

“I was like, ‘Oh, so he’s nervous. And he prepped this. Okay,'” he continued. “And that was one of those little things you store in the back of your mind to remember. Even someone as great as Johnny Carson still gets nervous, even though he’s performing in front of, what, 100 people, as opposed to millions every night. And he always comes prepared.”

For Roker, the moment became a lasting reminder that confidence on stage doesn’t always come naturally, even for television’s biggest legends.

TV legend Carson, who fronted The Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992, died in 2005.