Here’s How ‘The Tonight Show’ Helped Elect Richard Nixon

Comedians helping politicians get elected is nothing new. Andrew Schulz and the manosphere bros promoted Donald Trump.  Arsenio Hall invited Bill Clinton to play the saxophone. And while some credit Richard Nixon’s appearance on Laugh-In as a key to his 1968 victory, he got more direct help from an unexpected source: The Tonight Show’s Ed McMahon.

Nixon appeared with Johnny Carson in 1967, hoping to undo the damage he’d done at the beginning of the decade during a televised debate with John F. Kennedy. In the early days of television, there weren’t a lot of rules about how to approach such an event, but Nixon provided a What Not To Do playbook for future candidates. 

First, Nixon refused make-up before the broadcast, showing off a prominent five o’clock shadow that made him look like a cross between Fred Flintstone and a movie gangster. Then he started sweating under the hot lights, like a nervous witness telling lies in court. He wore a rumpled suit nearly the same color as the backdrop, looking as if he were fading away. After the debate, Nixon’s mother called to see if he was sick. The botched performance might have cost Nixon the election. 

Give Tricky Dick credit for trying to learn from his mistakes. Before his appearance on The Tonight Show, he reached out to McMahon for advice. Johnny’s sidekick obliged, visiting the candidate’s Fifth Avenue office to offer pointers, according to Love Johnny Carson.  The free coaching paid off so well that Nixon invited Ed to produce his inaugural gala in 1969. 

Watching Nixon with Carson, it's clear he learned a few things. He’s grinning, not scowling. His face looks as smooth as a baby’s bottom. And his dark suit pops off The Tonight Show set. The eventual President arrived with one-liners at the ready — not great ones, but amiable. And he flattered the host.

“I heard you talking about Bobby Kennedy — you sound more like Bobby Kennedy than he does!” Nixon told Carson. “I think you ought to run for president. I'm an expert on how to run for president. Not how to win, but how to run.”

Nixon was joking, but Carson was so popular that he would have been a formidable candidate. “You come over on television like gangbusters,” Nixon gushed, “and boy, I'm the expert on how important that is.”

The appearance went well, and Nixon was especially pleased with how he looked on camera. He asked Johnny’s make-up man, Ray Voege, if he’d help out for Nixon’s live TV appearances. Carson agreed to let him moonlight.

The irony: Carson was no fan of Nixon and was mortified later when he realized he might have played a small role in helping him get elected. By 1972, according to Love Johnny Carson, the host “was always looking for jokes to skewer his least-favorite president.” Carson didn’t back off until a month before Nixon’s resignation, when he decided enough was enough. “No more Nixon jokes. He’s a sick man, and we just can’t do that.”