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Paul reiser stranger things 39/28/2023 ![]() Somehow, we stumbled on this idea of doing a show at The Tonight Show during that period. It was an idea a buddy and I had about 12 years ago, just riffing on stuff as we do. So how did There’s.Johnny! come about? Why this show? Why now? Then, I gave up the façade and badgered him with a few fanboy questions about his experience on Stranger Things 2. I chatted with Reiser about his decision not to cast a Johnny Carson, Tony Danza and where Carson would land in the current late-night landscape. ![]() Though Reiser and Simon decided not to cast anyone as Carson, the show is interspersed with real clips-of, say, George Carlin and Steve Martin-that serve as fuel for fictional behind-the-scenes plot lines. Chaos, romance and failed monologue jokes ensue.Īs a teenage viewer and, later, a young comic who frequented The Tonight Show himself, Reiser has a unique fascination with and respect for Carson-which is partly how he convinced the Carson's estate to partner with the show, and grant him access to a trove of archival footage. From there, we meet the whip-smart, no-bullshit 24-year-old producer, Joy Greenfield (Jane Levy), the boy’s club of writers and the show’s real longtime producer Fred de Cordova, played with magnetic panache by the great Tony Danza. We’re first introduced to 19-year-old Andy (Ian Nelson), a very green, wide-eyed Nebraskan who takes off for Los Angeles after mistaking Carson’s response to a fan letter as a job offer. Created by Reiser and his producing partner, David Steven Simon, the show is a workplace comedy set at the The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, circa 1972. Which, coincidentally, brings us back around to Reiser’s current project, and the reason he called in the first place: his new show, There’s.Johnny!, the first season of which drops on Hulu today. ![]() Before that, he made his name as a stand-up comic. Earlier in his career, though, Reiser of course starred in the long-running network sitcom, Mad About You, and perhaps the most iconic movie about young guys hanging out and shooting the shit of all-time, Barry Levinson’s Diner. Naturally, ignorant millennials such as myself are most likely to recognize Reiser from his supporting roles in recent projects, like FX’s smart, short-lived series Married, where he played the older husband of Jenny Slate Amazon’s Red Oaks, where he stars as the good-hearted, hard-ass country club president and, last but not least, the morally ambiguous Dr. A mellifluous baritone, with a New Yorker’s manic rhythms, it perpetually feels as if he’s on the cusp of telling a joke. When Paul Reiser calls, I recognize his voice immediately.
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