A Man Named Beef

A Man Named Beef

From The Dana Gould Hour by Dana Gould

January 31, 2026 · 2h 48m · Season 15 · Episode 1

About this episode

The episode features an interview with Mark Malkoff discussing his book about Johnny Carson and explores the landscape of American cinema in the 70s.

Hello! And welcome to season 15 of the Dana Gould Hour Podcast. Fasten your enthusiasm harness, we are blasting off again. Mark Malkoff has a new book entitled Love, Johnny Carson : One Obsessive Fan's Journey To Find The Genius Behind The Legend . Johnny Carson is so larger than life now it's important to sometimes take a step back and appreciate his accomplishment. Unlike today, when there are 8,000 channels, and three network late night talk shows. Johnny Carson hosted The Tonight Show when there were around ten channels total and one, count 'em, one late night talk show, which he hosted for 30 years. He interviewed over 25,000 guests, navigated America's cultural conversation from President Kennedy through President Clinton. Mark's book covers the debuts of then-unknown comedians who are now household names. He talks about Johnny's feuds, and he had some. There were periods of time when William Shatner and Orson Welles were banned from the show. But Mark's book is very affectionate. It's honest without being exploitive. It dishes a lot of dirt but it's never bitchy, I can't recommend it enough. Mark Malkoff. Right here. In the human flesh. The second interview is with two…

People in this episode

Host: Dana Gould

Guest: Mark Malkoff

Topics covered

  • Johnny Carson
  • comedy
  • American cinema
  • television history
  • interviews

Keywords

  • Johnny Carson
  • Mark Malkoff
  • comedy
  • television
  • American cinema
  • interviews
  • 70s films

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Love, Johnny Carson : One Obsessive Fan's Journey To Find The Genius Behind The Legend

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