Whatever Carson's personal political leanings were (and several of the articles I've read this last week indicate that he was rather liberal), he never let on to his public. When I arrived there, his longtime head writer was a Republican with connections all the way to the White House. ("I was one of Nixon's speechwriters," he once told me. "I know a lot of jailbirds.") In 1988, Ray supplied jokes to the Bush campaign -- while his partner on the show did the same job for Dukakis. Basically, the political comedy at the Tonight Show was equal opportunity... whenever someone in power did something stupid, he (or she) was fair game. And that's the way it should be.
As it turns out, my boss at the show was a very good friend of George H.W. Bush, and after the election, was one of the Bush family's first overnight guests at the White House.
Ray told me how a few weeks before I got to the show in 1986, a call for him was received -- during a taping -- from the Office of the Vice President of the United States. And everyone was in a panic, because Ray could not be found. He was eventually tracked down in the booth.
"Barb and I were just watching 'Entertainment Tonight' and wanted to know what's really going on with Joan Rivers." Joan had just quit as our permanent guest host to do her own show at Fox.
Ray laughed as he told me this story. "He's the second most powerful man in the world. You'd think he'd have more on his mind."
In addition to my work on the Tonight Show, Ray would occasionally ask me to type material for his friends in high places. Each year, prior to flying off to Washington's annual Gridiron Dinner, he would hand me some material that had to be sent to the White House. One year, he came up with a spoof of "Oh I Remember It Well," a show tune duet for President Reagan and the First Lady to perform (this was during the the Iran-Contra hearings, when the President's memory appeared to have failed him).
Another year, Ray came up with a brand new routine for his friend, the Vice President, to perform. He also put together a monologue for the President out of material which, I got the impressions, was not so fresh.
The Monday morning after the event, I asked Ray how it went. He sighed. "It's a good thing George has a day job, because he'll never make it as a standup comic," he said. The Vice President's routine had bombed, while Reagan had killed the audience with the rehashed material.
I got the feeling that he felt cool towards Mrs. Reagan, who once pulled him aside and asked him to stop doing sketches on the show lampooning the President. While her loyalty to her husband was admirable, to lack a sense of humor was unforgivable. We not only continued to perform Reagan sketches, but Ray later found out that the President kept a reel of them and showed them to guests on Air Force One.
I was there for the taping in 1988 when Governor Bill Clinton was booked as just another "civilian" guest, following his disastrous nominating speech at the Democratic National Convention. I wasn't expecting much, so was utterly surprised when he came off as funny, charming and charismatic. After the spot, I whispered to Ray, "This guy could be President." And then I remembered -- the Governor of Arkansas? "Nah. It'll never happen," I said. Shows you how much I know...
