Downloaded from YTS.MX
(lively band music)
- [Ed] From Hollywood,
"The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson."
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
This is Ed McMahon, along with Doc Severinsen.
And now, here's Johnny.
(audience clapping)
Hi, oh.
- This is gonna, this is gonna take me a minute,
just a second (laughing).
Oh God, you look like Walt Disney threw up on you.
(audience laughing)
- (laughing) I like it.
- Does that stuff come out?
- Oh, I hope so.
(audience laughing)
Before my wife comes home.
(audience cheering)
(orchestra warming up music)
Pah, bam.
Ta de ta day, da da da da.
Too doodley dum.
(whispered musical vocalization)
(audience cheering)
- [Announcer] Ladies and gentlemen,
he was the incomparable bandleader
on "The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson," for 30 years,
and on stages across America and the world
for more than 60 years.
Let's give a hand to the legendary Doc Severinsen.
(audience cheering)
- Thank you very much.
(lively jazz band music)
How do you like this outfit, girls?
(audience cheering)
As long as I'm here, I'm gonna keep jiving.
(audience laughing)
I'm gonna do the shim-sham all the way up to my grave.
- The one and only, Doc Severinsen.
(audience cheering)
(energetic jazz music)
(audience cheering)
- I'll be back in a moment.
- Doc Severinsen.
- And now, here's Johnny.
(lively band music) (audience clapping)
- Here's the thing about "The Tonight Show"
and Doc Severinsen.
There wasn't YouTube, there wasn't anything.
You basically had three networks.
There wasn't even cable.
"The Tonight Show" was the only game in town
for the creme de la creme, the best of the best.
For me, he was the musician of the day.
(energetic jazz music)
Doc Severinsen really knocked down a lot of barriers
that made my job actually the easiest job in the world.
- We have got on this show
the greatest band ever to work in television.
(audience cheering)
- The Roots from Philadelphia, ladies and gentlemen.
- He had to go through it first
and build the foundation of it,
like he had to come knock down the trees.
When I see any of the gods of late night music,
Doc Severinsen defined what we do.
(audience cheering)
- "The Tonight Show" was everything.
Johnny, Ed, and Doc,
they were the three three most well-known people in America.
(cage bangs) - God.
(audience laughing)
- Whatever happened in your life that day,
you could come back at 11:30 at night and touch base.
- Oh, that guy. (audience laughing)
- America stayed up till one o'clock in the morning
to watch the show.
That's unheard of today.
- The greatest trumpeter in the world
and our orchestra, Doc. (audience clapping)
- One of the greatest trumpet players of our day.
- Mr. Doc Severinsen. (audience clapping)
- He is iconic.
I've always called him the most complete trumpet player
who's ever played the instrument.
Any mere mortal will say, "That's enough of that,
and I'm gonna sit in a rocking chair and just take it easy."
But not this guy.
(audience cheering)
- He's the most dedicated trumpet player who ever lived.
(energetic jazz music)
(audience cheering)
(horse's breath whooshing) (birds cawing)
(electric toothbrush whirring)
- Got that.
There's the other one right there.
Never be caught without your boots.
Okay.
(upbeat music)
(gravel crunching)
Well, nobody's gonna introduce us, howdy.
(players laughing)
How are you?
- [Players] Good, good.
- Everybody, it's Doc Severinsen.
(players clapping)
- You guys set a lot of standards for a lot of people,
so be good, and don't look at me like that.
(players laughing)
- So watch Doc for the tempos,
watch Doc for the conducting stuff, all right?
- I wanna hear the energy and the volume.
A one, two, two.
(energetic jazz music)
- Well, one of the things I really respect about Doc,
after he left "The Tonight Show,"
he didn't go out and just be a fame hog.
Doc went out and was a musician.
- I tell you what I'd like.
(musical vocalization)
Wah.
One, two, three.
(energetic jazz music)
Part of the commitment to being a professional
is when you learn something special, you pass it along.
Just start with the drum solo.
(drums banging)
That's good.
A-one, two.
(lively jazz music)
When I was six or seven, my dad said,
"I'm gonna give you violin lessons."
And I said, "But I don't wanna play the violin."
And he said, "Fine, you get up and sit in your high chair
for one hour or you can practice the violin."
So I got up in the high chair, and I sat there,
and the next day and the next day and the next day,
and finally, my dad said,
"All right, what do you wanna play?"
(mid-tempo jazz music)
I was first trumpet in the high school band
from the first day that I played in the band, I was seven.
The trumpet was half as tall as I was.
I didn't know what I was doing,
and yet by the time I was nine years old,
I was a state champion on the trumpet.
Okay, let me just hear the sax,
doobie doobie doo doo doo,
wah wah wah wah.
And there are words to it,
and the words are, "Dirty mother fucker."
(players laughing) - Write it in.
- About triple forte,
and tight as a bull's ass in fly season.
One, two, three.
(mid-tempo jazz music)
It's not tight enough yet.
I don't hear any angst or wah.
A-one, two, three.
(mid-tempo jazz music)
Yes, now.
(loud jazz music)
Okay, all right.
Pah, pah, pah, pah.
Rah. - Cool.
Here we go, ready and.
(loud jazz music)
- Anybody bleed?
(players laughing)
Send some of those chops up this way.
(players laughing)
Yeah, man.
- Hey, let's thank Doc once again.
(players clapping)
- My pleasure, thank you.
(people mumbling)
I've always wanted to play the trumpet
and I always liked playing it loud.
(audience laughing)
Take the biggest breath you can take and then use it.
And I mean really use it.
That's why I go to the gym.
I'm 90 years old.
I still go to the gym three days a week.
That's what it takes to play the trumpet.
- What do you feel makes
the best trumpet players of our time,
the best trumpet players?
- I think it's what in you.
How do you feel about other people?
Are you nice to other people?
Do you see the best in them?
Can you cry when you play a melody
that's so beautiful it deserves every tear you can give?
You're so filled with joy,
that it comes out in the form of tears
and release all the bad things you ever thought about,
all the sadness you've ever had in your life is gone,
and you're joyous.
That's why I play the trumpet.
I do it because I love it.
You gotta have some humor in your life,
get a laugh out of life, and you'll play better.
(whimsical jazz trumpet music)
(audience laughing)
(audience clapping)
The happy people are the lucky people.
Be happy.
- [Man] Doc Severinsen.
(audience clapping)
(trumpet mouthpiece buzzing)
(lively jazz music)
- When I was still a senior in high school,
I went on the road with a big band.
- Those big band era jazz musicians,
that's some hardcore tough road lessons.
Whatever that is, you have to be fearless.
- We had a freewheeling bunch of guys.
Nobody asked me how old I was and nobody cared.
When you're a kid on the road
with a bunch of older musicians, it ain't Bible school.
- Do you remember any of the tricks
that you played in the Barnet Band?
- Oh yes, I sure do, but we can't talk about them here.
(audience laughing)
They're not fit for public consumption.
- Is that true?
- That is true.
This was during an era that I was partaking
lightly of the spirits.
I had had more than a body could consume.
And it wound up on the reeds
of the entire saxophone section.
(audience laughing)
Of course, that was my last night on the band.
I was in the hospital for two or three weeks after that.
(audience laughing)
Going to play in the big bands
was like getting a doctorate in life.
I went to the school of hard knocks.
And if you don't do good, you get fired.
(crowd mumbling)
(musical vocalizing)
- [Announcer] How about a hand
for the legendary Doc Severinsen?
(audience cheering)
- [Doc] Hey guys.
Thank you, let's do it.
(slow jazz music)
(audience clapping)
- If you were playing the trumpet,
I mean, performing, walking out in front of an audience
at 92 years old,
and looking the way Doc does, it's just unheard of.
He has a style that's uniquely his.
So you feel he's able to get his personality
beyond the bell of the trumpet.
He's a marvel of a human being.
(audience clapping)
(birds chirping)
- You know, it's funny, you get involved
with these wild animals that stay on your place,
and you feel responsible for them.
Okay, tweet, tweet, kids come get your food.
(upbeat instrumental music)
I was born in 1927 in Arlington, Oregon.
It was a real Western town.
The nearest hospital was very far away.
So my dad, being a dentist,
assisted the local doctor in delivering me.
My dad wrapped me in a blanket
and walked down the only real street in town.
The locals said, "Well look,
here comes big Doc and little Doc."
So Doc it is.
When you're a dentist in a small town,
most everybody owes you money.
We were really poor.
This was the Depression, and you never really forget that.
I was a small guy in a small town,
and all my buddies were twice my size.
There were fist fights all the time.
And if they couldn't settle it with their fists,
they'd settle it with a gun.
It made me really tough.
Okay, let's see what we got here.
You ever hear of blackstrap molasses?
It'll set you free.
It's called cowboy oatmeal,
and the idea is it's stuff you can carry with you
out on the range.
Before I go to the gym, I got this for a base.
This is great stuff.
Five minutes after you take it,
your ears start to get hot and tingly.
(blender whirring)
Lift off.
(lively upbeat music)
- Look at that.
That is big boy weight.
Doc, he works out three days a week.
Do you remember that slow-mo we do?
You're doing great.
The only time I do not see him as if he's traveling
and out of town on another engagement.
One more big one.
Good job.
The first time I started training him,
I said, "Okay, let's take it easy."
No, no.
He's an exception to the rules, what he is.
And every time we do something, he wants more.
(Doc grunting)
- You don't come in here and just fool around
doing whatever you feel like.
One wrong move in this gym
can take six months off your life.
- [Karen] Engage that core.
- [Doc] Where are we, Coach?
- [Karen] A minute and a half in.
- [Doc] Two is gonna be it.
- Okay, five, four, three, two, and one.
There we go, two solid minutes.
- Everything that I do in here relates to the trumpet.
It's all core.
- [Karen] What are we on here?
- Five.
- [Karen] In this gym,
the folks are in awe of what he can do.
He's a freak of nature.
(energetic jazz music)
- Doc Severinsen sat in with The Roots
our first time in Los Angeles.
I said, "Yo, how old is Doc Severinsen,
'cause at first it was like, "Oh, he's still alive?"
- Oh my goodness. (audience cheering)
That was a treat.
- And when they said 89, we all looked at each other like
oh boy, well, does he have a walker with the cane,
like with the tennis balls at the bottom,
and that sort of thing?
I didn't know what to expect.
And he just walked in like,
"All right, let me at it.
All right, here a little."
(mouth squeaking)
And you know, he wanted to let us know I'm still here.
- We're truly honored to have you here.
Thank you so much. (audience cheering)
- My pleasure, thank you.
- I hope to be at that level in my 90s.
I mean, I'm struggling now
with 50 round the corner (laughs).
Time doesn't affect him at all.
(lively jazz music)
- My original thing I wanted to be was a studio musician.
So I went to New York. Television was starting out.
It was the capital of music and entertainment.
I played the gigs.
I got the money the best I could.
I would play when I was drunk out of my mind
and smoking grass,
and thought everything was wonderful.
All I had to do was hit high Fs with a hangover,
and then try to keep from puking on the floor.
(mid-tempo jazz music)
(mellow jazz music)
How about that?
I met my first wife Jane in an Irish bar in New York City.
She was from St. Louis, divorced, and a fan of jazz music.
I didn't know it at the time
that she had a pretty severe case of alcoholism.
By the time I got it all figured out, we'd had three kids.
- I was the first born,
and then Cindy came along two-and-a-half years later,
and then Al came along six years later.
- Tell them about the time you took that kid in the Jeep
and turned it over in the creek.
(Allen laughing) - That was Jackson.
- When we went to turn around,
and he drove off a cliff into the creek.
And so we landed nose down.
Thank God we could have been killed just the same.
- See these boots?
Well, they were right up his butt
the whole way up that hill.
- What kind of parenting was going on?
- How could you let that happen?
- Sometimes you're just so goddamn scared
that you're not gonna be able to hold
the whole thing together.
- You know, when you have a mother who is an alcoholic,
there is one objective for that person in life.
It's not how am I gonna take care of my kids?
Where is my next drink is the next concern.
So we pretty much had to fend for ourselves.
- One time we were driving back to school after lunch,
and we got to this place where there's three roads
that lead off of this. - She totally missed it.
- And I guess brakes were slammed on,
and the car is spinning around,
and I thought, "Oh, this is it.
This is not good."
- I asked some friends of mine.
I knew they were in AA, and I said, "Can you help me?
I got the little kids in the house,
and my wife is just totally strung out.
What do you think?"
And they said, "Have you ever thought about yourself?"
And I said, "Me?"
"Yeah, you."
- You don't drink now at all?
- No, I had to come to the decision,
and one of the things that was difficult for me
was the fact that I wasn't lying in a gutter someplace.
Everybody has their own personal bottom
that tells you, "Hey, I got a problem here."
Every day, I'd go to New York to work.
I lived in the suburbs.
I would wake up the next morning at home,
and I wouldn't have any recollection
of even getting in my car to drive home.
And this is not normal.
- [Interviewer] Oh wow, no.
- I went to a lawyer and he said,
"You have to leave the marriage,
and leave your children behind if you have to,
make a home for yourself that's decent
and would be a good place for the kids."
- I had just turned 13, I think.
It was early August.
You came and got us one day and away we went.
We never looked back.
(gentle music)
- [Doc] Well, I gave her the house.
I got divorced, and at the same time,
there was a woman who had been
my childhood sweetheart, Evonne.
She was married to an airline pilot
who was himself an alcoholic.
Evonne got divorced, we got married.
Evonne's two girls, Robin and Judy, I legally adopted them.
- The two families coming together
was with the hope that all of our lives would improve.
It seemed like we were all being saved.
(lively music)
- [Announcer] The following program
is brought to you on NBC.
(energetic jazz music)
- [Announcer] From New York,
"The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson."
(audience clapping)
- As luck would have it, I got hired to play first trumpet
on "The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson."
About five years later, I was asked to take over the band.
From the first trumpet chair to the spot
in front of the band is about 25 feet.
And that's the longest distance I ever walked in my life.
- We have to do that more often, I tell you.
(audience clapping)
- Being a band leader is a whole nother muscle.
- We got something real special tonight.
- It's a night of Latin madness, that's what it is.
- That's one of the things that made Doc
vis-a-vis his personality perfect for that
to stand in front of a microphone, and talk about the band,
and talk to the audience, and introduce the songs.
A lot of people just don't wanna be out in front.
- I was with Doc last night
and all the guys from the band at their annual party,
and I said if they all showed up today (laughs),
they could do this great chart that they have.
It's called "Ode to Billie Joe."
Doc and the guys.
(energetic jazz music)
- I told the guys in the band,
"I don't want us to be just a painting in the background."
Audiences recognize all the guys in the band
and the guys in the band were amazed
at how people knew them by their first names.
First of all, Tommy Newsom had a huge identity.
Eddie Shaughnessy, Pete Christlieb,
and Ernie Watts, our two tenor sax players,
that was sort of a carry-over from Count Basie's band.
- When I started doing "The Tonight Show,"
I was 23 years old.
I was scared of Doc.
He was a disciplinarian.
He'd hear us getting a little loose around the edges,
and then he'd beat us up for a while,
and that would tighten it up (laughs).
- "The Tonight Show" Band,
those were some of the sharpest, best musicians
and could sit in with anyone.
Even though I had a strict no television household,
at the age of seven, eight, nine,
I watched all those music guests on the show.
- Now the rest of the guys were big band guys.
They had been in the studio for years.
- [Johnny] How many different bands
did the guys guys play with, Doc?
- A lot of them been with Stan Kenton, Woody Herman,
Tommy Dorsey, you name it.
- Being a member of "The Tonight Show" Band
as a musician, I think,
is probably the best gig in the world.
These guys got in about two,
and they were out at 6:30.
So you can do "The Tonight Show" as a musician,
and then you could play
a club in Hollywood at eight o'clock.
- They would do the show, go to the airport,
fly to Las Vegas,
do a Vegas show and come back (laughs).
And they did that every day.
- When the band would go on the road,
we're gone for two to three weeks,
big towns, small towns, no towns.
There was sort of a party every night then.
And when we had a party, it was extraordinary.
It's all private.
This is a Grammy for the big band jazz recording
with "The Tonight Show" Band.
Or it makes a perfect cup of coffee.
You can use it for anything.
This is Ed McMahon's shot glass.
(lively jazz music)
- Johnny comes back from commercial,
and that pencil it's just going.
He's just beating that desk because that band is kicking it.
And Doc, you would just blast that damn horn.
- Never realized how high those notes are that Doc blows.
- [Ed] Isn't this a night that you're glad
that you're not the trumpet player?
- Oh.
- "The Tonight Show" was such a monolithic thing.
- Would you welcome Mr. Martin Mull?
(lively band music) (audience clapping)
- To be on "The Tonight Show" as a comic act
was considered the plum.
That was the brass ring.
Don't worry.
I'm not gonna do anything intelligent tonight.
I've tried that,
and it just doesn't seem to work on this show.
(audience laughing)
- There were a lot of performers
that used "The Tonight Show" to announce their arrival.
If you were on "The Tonight Show,"
agents would be calling the next day.
Managers would wanna talk to you.
- "The Tonight Show" had 40% of the market share.
So if we didn't have 25 million people watching the show,
we didn't think we did a very good job.
- Ed, this is the car with seats made
just like my pants.
(car horn honking)
(spoons clicking)
- [David] Doc's role was to be the coolest guy.
Johnny couldn't really have a great show that he liked
if Doc wasn't there.
(audience clapping)
They were a team.
- [Ed] Now you're talking.
- Johnny was the king, Ed was the foil.
- Welcome once again, Carnac.
- [Bob] And Doc was a star.
- Hey Gov, you got enough air to blow this thing?
(audience laughing)
- All right, it's all right.
(audience laughing)
- I always liked when things were not going great,
and everybody had to recover,
Johnny had to recover basically.
- I've been reading in the paper Lately
about Old Faithful in Yellowstone Park.
- Yeah. (audience clapping)
- Yeah, apparently it's true.
Old Faithful is taking a lot longer between eruptions,
but then again, who isn't? (audience laughing)
Oh come on, come on.
Now come on, let's hear it.
It's like talking in class, let's all hear it.
(audience laughing)
- Well, we were just saying,
if things don't pick up here in a minute,
we'd have a little dance music for you.
(audience laughing) (audience clapping)
Some of the best moments were when we really went
in the toilet and had to make something out of it.
(lively band music)
(audience cheering)
- You got a band number?
(audience laughing)
You're always complaining you never get a chance
to play a band number.
("Taps") (audience cheering)
We haven't done this for a long time,
and we like to come up and see where everybody's from,
play Stump the Band.
We have a lot of great prizes tonight.
Anybody have a song?
Hi, where's your Harley?
(audience laughing)
Vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom.
What's the name of the song, Terry?
- "Patty Cake Man." - Patty Cake Man."
- Could she come to the band? - No, she can't.
(audience laughing)
No, no not tonight, not on Friday night.
- [Both] Patty cake, patty cake, baker's man.
Bake me a cake as quick as you can.
- No, no. - Put it in the oven.
- [Johnny] It can't be that one, can it?
- Oh that's nothing the way I sing it.
- Well, I'm sure. (audience laughing)
- Okay Terry.
- Stump the Band came about when there was that moment
where a guest dropped out at the last minute,
and you had five-minute spot to fill.
- What's the name of the song?
- "Making Believe You're Here."
- What'll we do?
Let's let Johnny go up in the audience.
- I know it.
- Doc has it.
♪ Making believe you're here ♪
♪ So that I can say something in your ear ♪
Stump the Band became a significant part of the show.
- Where do you get those outfits?
- Told you.
- You have some little pervert in a basement somewhere that?
(audience laughing)
Look what I'm gonna make.
(audience laughing)
- Doc Severinsen's wardrobe was as vital
and important to the show as any guest
that was ever on the show.
- Did you see the size of the lapels on that jacket?
Look at the lapel.
- Or the banter between Johnny and Ed, it was a staple.
- Of course, I have a gold lame shirt,
which everybody must have. (audience cheering)
You got it kids.
- Now, you should try wearing men's clothing sometime.
- Most bandleaders do something in their dress
to be a little bit different.
- Salmon pants, right? (audience laughing)
- And they're swimming upstream.
(audience laughing)
(audience cheering)
- And when they get there, they're gonna die.
(audience laughing)
- You don't dress in the same clothes
as the guys in the band.
- I don't look at Doc's clothes before I come out.
And I don't look at them after I come out.
(audience laughing)
- I remember walking down Park Avenue,
and there was an Italian clothing store,
and they had this window full of ties
that were just really wild.
And I went in and bought a bunch,
and we took them back and Johnny made a remark.
I thought I'm moving in the right direction here.
- It's the gray fox. (audience laughing)
Wow.
- No, the silver stallion.
(audience cheering)
- You know, those coats he wears,
they're like matador coats.
Those things weigh 40 pounds.
- What is that? (audience laughing)
- It's your little old band leader under here.
(audience laughing)
- Looks like one big fungus.
(audience laughing)
That's the worst skin rash I've ever seen.
(audience cheering)
- You realize, uh oh, I've created a monster here,
and I'm gonna have to feed the monster.
I'm being used to keep that peacock sexually stimulated.
(lively band music)
- Everybody loved his outfit.
It go with his personality.
- Do you dig it?
- [Johnny] Yeah, that's nice.
- Give me a set of whips and a tire iron,
and I can go anyplace in this thing.
(audience laughing)
- You're gonna go out and have a knife fight tonight?
Look at that outfit.
- No, this my Fire Island bowling jacket.
(audience laughing)
- Even if I would love to,
I don't believe my wife let me wear those things (laughs).
(energetic band music)
- Friend of mine hit me up and said,
"What's gonna be your flash mark
'cause all you do is wear all black?"
My drum sets, that's my afro-pick nod to Doc Severinsen.
- Every night that I was on "The Tonight Show,"
I bought my own clothes.
I bought my own trumpets.
I brought my own shoelaces, my own underwear.
Everything was mine.
Now I'm thinking about my underwear.
(trumpet wailing)
I'm even jazzier in my BVDs.
- [Announcer] BVD brand underwear.
Whatever you do, that extra comfort helps you do it better.
- I get the cable channels, and I tune in,
and I see a closeup of Doc Severinsen and his trumpet
saying, "I play jazzier in my BVDs," so help me.
(audience cheering)
True.
You thought you could sneak out on cable and do that, right?
We're gonna test that theory some night, live on the air.
(audience laughing)
- For the average television viewer,
Doc Severinsen was musical comic foil to Johnny Carson.
People really don't understand that he was an ace musician,
and the best in his field.
(static hissing)
(energetic jazz band music)
- Doc has this glorious joy
that soars through his sound of his trumpet.
Not only the power of it, but the vocal quality to it.
- What makes Doc so special ultimately is his lyrical play.
And when he plays a ballad, he rips your heart out.
(mid-tempo loud jazz music)
- When you hear something like that,
you know what great is.
(audience clapping)
- In 1972, "The Tonight Show" was moved to California.
A lot of the guys in the band and members of the crew
were very excited about that,
but it was a difficult move for me.
My kids were in school in New Jersey,
and I didn't wanna uproot them.
They stayed behind with Evonne,
and I moved out to Burbank by myself.
(gentle music)
When I got out there, I was lonely.
Nobody's to blame for anything,
but the distance and other situations
made it difficult to stay married.
- What are you doing for Thanksgiving?
- I was gonna ask you if you've got your turkey yet.
- Sure.
- Truthfully, do you help Mrs. Carson prepare the turkey?
- Just like you help Mrs. Severinsen prepare the turkey.
(audience laughing)
- No, there is no Mrs. Severinsen.
- Oh, that's right, I-
- There used to be.
- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that.
- The fact that I never - Hard for me to keep track.
- helped her stuff her bird was one of our big problems.
(audience laughing)
It's Thanksgiving, I am, well, you might say without wife.
- We've been together so long
that I forget sometimes where we are
(audience laughing)
- Which wife we're on. - On various Thanksgivings.
No, we're good.
- In fact, that was one of the things
we really fought about.
- What?
- I wanted an oyster stuffing in the turkey,
and she wanted bread stuffing,
and she got bread stuffing and a lot of money.
(Johnny laughing)
He kind of kept after it, so we got into it.
- You used to argue about what you're gonna stuff
the turkey with? - Yes.
- And that was one of the problems?
- She's still stuffing the turkey with money.
(Johnny laughing)
- Well, it's nice to know you have no bitterness.
(audience laughing)
- My kids were having Thanksgiving over here,
somebody else over here.
And when I get through, what am I gonna do?
Go over to Chadney's and have dinner?
I don't think so.
- You really feel badly.
Now, I feel so terrible that you're gonna be alone.
(audience laughing)
Would you like-
- I didn't say I was going to be alone.
(Johnny laughing)
- You just say you ain't gonna eat no turkey, right?
- That's right.
- You could come over, would you like to come to the house?
- This is the first time you've ever asked me.
(audience laughing)
- Well, now you've made me feel so guilty.
- I mean, when you ask an employee
in front of 15 million people,
"Do you wanna come to the house for Thanksgiving dinner?"
What am I gonna say, nah?
(Johnny laughing)
You know what I say, I say, "Yes, Mr. Carson, I'd love it."
- Can you come?
- No. (audience laughing)
(mellow music)
- On "The Tonight Show," I was the secretary.
I worked for Johnny on and off over the five years
that I worked on "The Tonight Show."
It was a thrill from day one to my last day there.
(dog barking)
Oh boy.
This is Lucy, Doc remembers Lucy.
She was just a puppy when we got her, a baby.
We got her in Mexico.
And this, this is Jose.
Jose is 17.
I got custody of Jose.
I'm glad about that.
I'm missing a Great Dane, Guillermo.
There they are, come on, come on, come on.
I met Doc in "The Tonight Show" studio at NBC in Burbank.
I just thought he was so cute and nice, and that was it.
I mean, it certainly wasn't love at first sight.
To hear him in front of the band, a thrill.
(audience clapping)
(lively folk music)
I knew he was married,
but when "The Tonight Show" moved to Los Angeles,
his wife didn't move with him.
She stayed in New Jersey,
and so I thought they were separated.
I think I was gullible.
He wasn't being completely honest with me.
I just thought he was an available man.
And it turns out he wasn't and it wasn't pretty.
He had filed for divorce,
and then that went on for quite a while.
And then finally they were divorced.
- Got some good news tonight,
I found out the past few days.
- [Ed] What?
You didn't know? - Oh, I know, yes.
- About our orchestra leader.
- How about this? - Mr. Severinsen was married.
- On Saturday. - On Saturday.
- Yes. (audience cheering)
(Doc shouting) (Johnny laughing)
Emily's a lovely girl.
- Yes, she is. - She really is.
- Congratulations, Doc. - Thank you very much.
- Be happy. - Be happy.
(audience cheering)
- I know they'll be happy.
- Be tolerant. - Be tolerant.
- Be understanding. - Be a companion.
- Be loving. - Be forgiving.
- [Johnny] Be generous.
(slow mellow music)
- Doc and that trumpet, that's what he did.
You know, over almost 40 years,
I bet we only went to the movies maybe five times together.
He just never had the time
to do like couple things, you know,
because you can't say to Picasso,
"Put the paintbrush down."
- When I'm away from the trumpet,
I feel a little weird and it does things to me mentally.
I love music.
I get a lot of my personal identity
out of my relationship with the trumpet.
- I don't believe any trumpet player is completely rational
or normal, hundred percent.
The instrument itself mess with your head.
(slow instrumental music)
- The only people that wanna be trumpet players
are psychotic, crazy nut jobs
that love torture and routine, basically.
- I'm not sure he's ever really grown up
because he's arrested and locked into that horn.
It has consumed him.
It identifies him.
It's been his gateway and his prison.
- With a trumpet, it is just
a relentless, never-ending struggle.
It's your yoga,
you have to do it four or five hours a day,
and that's it.
- [Emily] What a burden he had to bear all of his life,
that pressure of being the star, the golden boy.
- The trumpet is a jealous mistress.
She's always there tapping you on the shoulder,
saying, "You know, we haven't practiced today."
- Every essence of his molecular structure
is from the relationship with the trumpet.
Anytime I've been around a great musician
that their significant other went like this,
it just, it fractures in some way.
(soaring slow trumpet music)
- [Doc] Hey Chris, how you doing, man?
Good to see you.
- It's so great to see you.
- [Doc] Wow, you look sharp, look at you.
- You may not remember this, but in 2002,
we chatted and you said,
"Chris, I've been following your career.
You're doing great.
Do me and yourself a favor,
and never walk on stage without wearing a suit."
- What?
- And I've never once.
- I said that? - Yeah.
- Maybe I was kidding.
- God, what if it was all a joke?
(both laughing)
(soaring trumpet music)
(trumpet buzzing)
(slow jazz music)
92 and he can play that great.
Really something to behold.
The trajectory of his whole career
from picking up the instrument at six
to being 92 and the impact that he's had.
Well, to trumpet players, he's the Michael Jordan.
- Oh okay.
That's the beginning of side one.
(upbeat funky jazz music)
There's about 50 years fooling around with this stuff
to get to this one horn.
It becomes pretty personal.
If it gets any more than that,
the horn is not gonna play the way I think should.
My work with the trumpet is based on meditation.
When I'm not playing it,
I'm thinking about what I could do
to make it a little bit better.
(slow trumpet music)
- Now, you're gonna meet Doc Severinsen.
- Right now?
- Any minute now. - Cool.
- Hey, how are you? - It's quite an honor
to meet you.
- [Doc] Arnie?
- [Arnie] Arnie Harris, yes.
- [Doc] Yeah, nice to meet you.
- [Arnie] And this is Jamie LeDuc.
Jamie, this is Doc Severinsen.
[Doc] Hey Jamie, how are you?
- It's nice to meet you.
- [Doc] How long have you been playing?
- [Jamie] Since 2013.
(slow trumpet music)
- Go ahead, keep playing.
- [Jamie] Okay.
(slow trumpet music)
- Can I help you?
- [Jamie] Yes.
- Put your hands here, right in there.
Now (breath whooshes).
- Oh, it needs to be fuller.
Whoosh. - Yes, that's it.
- As it comes out.
That's it.
It's like singing a song.
You gotta have air. - To sustain the notes.
- Yeah. - Otherwise they fall.
- There you go.
(slow trumpet music)
You could do that.
Here.
Okay, put your mouthpiece in the horn and just do it.
(slow trumpet music)
Now hit the next several, ah.
(slow trumpet music)
Oh, now run the scale up.
There you go.
And now the G.
(loud trumpet music)
Oh my God.
- [Jamie] I knocked them back, yay, I knocked them back.
Whoo.
- [Doc] Go ahead, take a shot at me.
- I don't think that's a good idea
but wait, are you holding your breath?
Is that why it's thicker? - No.
- You're talking - I'm talking to you.
- So that can't be right. - I'm breathing.
I'm breathing.
- I wonder why it's different?
- 'Cause I got a lot of muscle
from doing it. - Is there a way
to build that up?
- Yeah.
- Put this part. - That has to go down.
- There you go. - There's that.
- Now you up off your knees.
Are you cheating?
No, you're not.
Leave that diaphragm, stays in that position
for low notes or high notes, doesn't matter.
Okay, come all through.
And I guess you could stay there
the rest of the afternoon if you want.
I gotta go spend some time with people
that are not half as interesting as you are.
- Thank you.
- You're the high spot of my day,
buddy. - Yay.
(energetic jazz music)
- Whee. (audience clapping)
What was that last note you hit on?
What was that last note on the trumpet?
- High C. - It was a B-flat concert.
High B-flat concert and it hurts.
(audience laughing)
Is that the highest note you can hit on the trumpet?
- No, it depends on what happened the day before.
(audience laughing)
- But that's a high note, high B-flat, right?
- You're getting in the danger zone with that.
- Do the high B-flat again,
and then see if you can go above it.
(audience laughing)
Do the high B-flat and then-
- Do you have any idea?
(audience laughing)
- No, I don't- - What you're asking me to do?
- He can do it now. - 23 years,
you've never asked me anything.
(audience laughing)
- That takes great embouchure, as they say, right?
- Let's hear it, Doc. - Great embouchure.
- You can do it. - Sneak up to the,
sneak on up.
- Well. (audience laughing)
Can't we have the whole band play?
- [Johnny] No, I don't wanna cover over this.
(audience laughing)
I want this clean.
(high trumpet music)
(audience cheering)
- After years of speculation, rumors,
cocktail party conversations,
and just plain old gossip,
Johnny Carson has finally made it official.
He is not going to stay on television forever.
(audience clapping)
- It is coming to an end next year.
I've always wanted to be a shepherd.
(audience laughing)
- Is that right? - That's right.
- That's odd, a shepherd.
- Well, it's just one of those things that appeals to me.
- We were coming up to 30 years.
Johnny made the announcement a year in advance,
"One year from today will be my last "Tonight Show."
- Why do you have to do this?
Why do you have to quit?
(audience laughing)
- Don't go.
(audience laughing)
- The set, which I assume you're dismantling
and setting up at your house.
(audience laughing)
It's easier to talk to people like this,
isn't it? - Yes, it is.
- Don't you wish, when you had a guest over,
you could just say, "We're out of time."
- The response of the public to Johnny leaving that show
was no small matter.
- Raise our goblets, hoist our glasses.
On May 22nd, we're out on our asses.
(audience laughing)
- He said, "I wanna leave on my own terms."
(car engine whirring)
And he said, "I've always prided myself
on my sense of timing, and it's time to go."
How many ways are there to say goodbye,
and especially when you're saying goodbye to 30 years?
(audience clapping)
- This man over here,
there's never been a better trumpet player in the world,
and television is gonna lose
the last big swing band in the world.
- Yes. (audience cheering)
- Before we leave here,
I wanna thank you Johnny, for making life such a joy.
It's gonna be awfully hard every night about that time,
when we hit that theme,
and you walk out there through that curtain.
And I wondered if maybe once a week,
you could come to my house,
and walk out through the draperies in my living room.
(audience laughing) - Sure, I'll do that.
- But the guys and I wanna thank you
for giving us a place to play our music.
- Thank you guys. (audience cheering)
- And so it has come to this.
I am one of the lucky people in the world.
I found something I always wanted to do,
and I have enjoyed every single minute of it.
I wanna thank the gentlemen who shared the stage
with me for 30 years, Mr. Ed McMahon.
(audience clapping)
Mr. Doc Severinsen.
(audience clapping)
For you people watching, I can only tell you
that it has been an honor and a privilege
to come into your homes all these years and entertain you.
And I hope when I find something that I wanna do,
and I think you will like and come back,
you'll be as gracious in inviting me into your home
as you have been.
I bid you a very heartfelt good night.
(audience cheering)
(gentle piano music)
- People say, "What's the biggest thing
that ever happened to you in your life?"
I say, "Becoming bandleader of "The Tonight Show.""
It was a set of circumstance
that I don't think will ever happen again.
- When "The Tonight Show" ended,
I think both Doc and I thought we were retiring.
I certainly retired.
- Our next guest was the musical director
of "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson"
for 25 years,
and now performing with Tommy Newsom and Ed Shaughnessy.
Please welcome Doc Severinsen.
(audience clapping)
(slow orchestral music)
- We left LA and moved to Santa Ynez, California.
We went and had this wonderful ranch
and started populating it with animals.
We got four pigs.
Well, this is that Porky's water dish.
- Come here, Pork. - Porky.
- Come on out. (pig grunting)
- [Emily] Three mini horses, two regular horses,
and of course dogs and cats.
- The first six months after the show was off,
it was really difficult,
but it's one of the reasons we're here.
- Instantly, he started leaving to travel and work.
(audience clapping)
I don't know that he ever truly processed
the end of "The Tonight Show" because he didn't have to.
He never stopped.
- I'm on the road about 46 weeks a year, Larry.
- Work 'em, Doc, work 'em, baby.
(audience cheering)
(audience laughing)
- [Announcer] The Good Doctor
and the Doc Severinsen Orchestra.
(audience clapping)
- People from around the country
are mourning the death of Johnny Carson.
His nephew tells CNN he passed away
early Sunday from emphysema.
- [Reporter] His death marks the passing
of a show business legend
and a man of warmth and sincerity.
- On the Friday before he died, I said to my wife,
"You know, we haven't had Johnny out for dinner in a while.
He loves the way you make that roast pork.
Why don't we give him a call
and see if he can come out."
And she said,
"Well, I think we waited a little too long."
And on Sunday, phone rings.
It was Jeff Sotzing, his nephew.
And he, "Johnny died at 7:00 A.M."
And I have to tell you,
life has never been the same since.
He gave me some guidelines to go by,
and any time I'm faced
with something like this,
I just asked myself, "What would Johnny do?"
And then I try to do it.
(gentle music)
(church bells ringing)
- The general emotion was sadness, kind of disbelief.
I think both of us were depressed.
So much of Doc's behavior has to do with his aging,
his fear of death and running away from it,
running to something youthful.
(light slow folk music)
In December of 2006, we moved to San Miguel.
Moving here was not about retirement.
He called it a youthful thing to do.
We went out one night to hear a guitarist
and a violin player.
(lively folk music)
- I play, and he was listening,
and he started telling me jokes about musicians,
and all these things.
Very nice man.
And he say, "Well, by the way,
my name is Doc Severinsen."
And I say, "Nice to meet you," and I walk out.
I didn't know who he was (laughs).
- I swear it wasn't six months later
that they were playing as a group.
I'd have to say that we played, I don't know,
something like 500 concerts together.
- Yeah, between 500 and 700 times with him.
(lively guitar music) (audience cheering)
(slow jazz music)
I knew his heart wasn't here in the marriage,
and then Doc left.
He's not going to retire.
That's not in his DNA.
He will play that trumpet as long as he can.
I hope he can play it a long time.
I'm happy for him now that he's with a trumpet player.
I am not bitter, I'm grateful.
Jose is embittered, I'm not.
(Emily laughing)
(birds chirping)
(mellow jazz music)
- This is part of my early life,
"Doc Severinsen Parade Preview"
for, it was actually the Rose Parade,
which would have been January 1st, 1974.
I was part of the McDonald's All-American band,
and that year Doc Severinsen
recorded two tunes with the band as part of that.
This says, "To Cathy, love Doc Severinsen."
And I don't remember when he wrote that.
It was pretty special to be able to be
in the band that recorded with him.
And of course I couldn't play for several minutes,
just being near him, it was (laughing),
I'm gonna cry,
but it was very, very special.
Around 2006, he called me.
He was coming here with his San Miguel Five group,
and I realized that when he left, I missed him.
- My baby-est boy, you my good boy?
(dog barking)
- In 2010, he came here with his new line of trumpets,
and then he just didn't leave.
I could tell you're in love with Doc Severinsen,
really brilliant move.
Everyone's looking for the love of their life.
And then when it arrives
in the package of Doc Severinsen,
you think, "Okay, wait,
some mistake has been made here" (laughs).
He had his hat on one day when we were grocery shopping,
and a little kid went by,
must have been about four years old,
said to his father, "There's a cowboy."
Made his whole week (laughing)
"There's a cowboy" (laughing).
Yeah, he's the love of my life.
(gentle music)
- In a relationship like I am with Cathy,
I got somebody who really, really understands me,
and I understand her.
When you play the trumpet seriously,
as I do and as she does,
you become more aware of the necessity
of both doing your work,
and that includes the relationship.
I think anybody who's been through breakups
and lost family and part of your identity and your feelings,
there are only so many times you wanna go through that.
It's good to have you home.
Wanna a cookie?
Oh wow, look in here.
You gotta wait till the scar tissue's gone,
and good, healthy things are growing together.
That's a good boy, yes.
You stand a pretty good chance
of making the same mistakes again,
until you get too damn old for it to matter anymore,
and then you say, "Oh to hell with it.
It's too late now."
It's never too late, never too late.
- [Cathy] There we go.
(Doc laughing)
(lively upbeat music)
- Iconic trumpeter and "The Tonight Show" bandleader,
Doc Severinsen returned to Rochester to perform.
- The legendary entertainer's popularity
continues to play across the generations.
- I just love what I do.
It's a way of life.
- If it wiggles, walks, or crawls,
we can get it on your foot.
- Don't have to break these babies in.
- Welcome to the ITG Conference.
I'm Cathy Leach,
president of the International Trumpet Guild.
- The great Doc Severinsen is in town.
He's gonna be joining
the Kansas City Symphony this Thursday.
- I am not going to go quietly into the night.
- [Announcer] Here's Doc.
(lively trumpet music)
(audience clapping)
(singer vocalizing)
(audience clapping)
(trumpet blaring)
- Thank you guys, put it together
for our grandpa, Doc Severinsen, everyone.
(crowd cheering)
(orchestra warming up music)
- [Announcer] Let's give a hand
to the legendary Doc Severinsen.
(audience cheering)
- Here you are, listening to the music that we're making,
and it gladdens my heart that you're here and that I'm here.
And I thank the orchestra and all of you
for making this a very special evening.
I have a large contingent of my family out here tonight.
I've got granddaughters, great granddaughters,
the whole nine yards. (audience cheering)
Here we go.
(gentle orchestral music)
- "The Tonight Show" ended 30 years ago.
He's still rocking, it's amazing.
I can't imagine Doc ever consider retirement.
Really, what would he do?
- The thing that makes Doc stand out,
through all of these dramas,
no matter how bizarre it gets,
no matter what happened, he stayed on the track.
That's where it's at.
(singing in foreign language)
(audience cheering)
- You have to be reminded every once in a while
to examine, "What am I doing?"
You get a little call from someplace,
and they said, "We just wanna check you out
to see how long you think you really want to be around."
- Well, I'm glad to see you looking and sounding better.
Yeah, good.
- [Doc] It's coming, it's coming along.
(Doc coughing)
- Oh boy, I don't like that.
- One night I came home about 7:00 PM.
He was in the bed, shivering uncontrollably.
His temperature had gone up to 101.9.
That's when I knew we've got to go to the emergency room.
They x-rayed his chest, and said that he had pneumonia.
- It's a serious issue, so good thing we got you in here.
- I like to have three workouts a week.
If you were in my shoes, what do you think you'd do?
- I'm gonna put a wrinkle on your plan though
for the next four weeks while you're on these IV medicines.
I'm gonna have a temporary IV line
in your arm called a PICC line.
You can exercise, get out and walk, do stuff like that,
just not anything that's gonna be intense.
- I'll walk with you.
I'm gonna bring you a mouthpiece tomorrow.
- Good.
I honestly don't know what's gonna happen.
I have not played the trumpet this long
since I can't even remember.
If I don't play the way I want to, I'll do something else.
The first appointment I had with my regular heart doctor,
I'm trying to make out like it was a minor skirmish.
And he said, "Let me tell you something.
You almost bought the farm."
And that I understood.
I said, "You mean, it was that close?"
He says, "Yeah."
When your significant other is his age,
you just treasure every day.
Being so close to these scares,
it does make me just value every second
that we have together.
(both laughing)
We have a saying, I prop you up, you prop me up.
And so that was my time to prop him up.
Must feel pretty good to get up and walk around.
- It does, yeah.
You know, I feel like it's gonna take me forever
to get my musculature built up.
One day I was kind of short with her.
She didn't yell back.
She said, "You know what you need?"
"What?"
She says, "Well, you need to be
on the outside of a good horse."
(gentle jazz music)
'Cause I had told her the best thing
for the inside of a man is the outside of a horse.
You got the pretty smooth ears.
Look at you, whoo.
(Doc laughing)
That's that.
(gentle music)
(audience clapping)
(lively folk music) (audience laughing)
I love playing with this crew.
It's a return to forever.
This is what I wanna be doing.
Now I'm set to do some more.
I'm not gonna stop now.
This is where I am now, and this is where I'm gonna stay.
You look back, you see some good, you see some not so good,
and you figure out how do I keep doing the good things
and get rid of the bad things.
(audience cheering)
The best I can say about myself
is I might be a work in progress.
(audience clapping)
(lively folk music)
(audience cheering)
(people humming)
- [Woman] He's like all of these, like a pure-
- No kisses.
- [Man] Four generations sitting at one table.
- [Woman] The way Willa brags about her Grandpa Doc.
- [Man] Grandpa, you have such good stamina,
with talking to people, meeting people.
I don't know how you do that.
- [Woman] He goes on and on and on.
We want that sucker to swing.
(people laughing)