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Let's create smarter business. IDM Okay. This is Rob Gronkowski from Dudes on Dudes with Gronk and Jules. For the second season in a row, I partnered with T-Mobile's Friday Night 5G Lights, powering up hometown football across America. This year, T-Mobile invested over $4 million in prizes to help schools take their Friday nights to the next level.
Now it's time to crown our $1 million grand prize winner. A huge congrats to Derricks High School in Derricks, Arkansas, home of the Outlaws and your 2025 T-Mobile Friday Night 5G Lights Champion. They scored a home field upgrade, Gronk Fitness Weight Room, a 2026 tailgate party, and an all-expense paid trip to the SEC Championship game. to every school that competed, posted, and rallied your communities. Thank you.
And a big thanks to T-Mobile for making it all possible and helping communities shine under the Friday night lights. This season may be over, but the story isn't. Stay tuned for season three in twenty twenty six. A new year is on the horizon, and your twenty twenty six savings start here. Right now, you can access the Washington Post for just $2 every four weeks.
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Now's the perfect time to subscribe because great habits and great savings start together. Go to WashingtonPost.com/slash iHeart. That's WashingtonPost.com slash iHeart and start your year informed with the post. This is Sophie Cunningham from Show Me Something. Do you know the symptoms of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea or OSA in adults with obesity?
They may be happening to you without you knowing. If anyone has ever said you snored loudly or if you spend your days fighting off excessive tiredness, irritability, and concentration issues, it may be due to OSA. OSA is a serious condition where your airway partially or completely collapses during sleep, which may cause breathing interruptions and oxygen deprivation. Learn more at don't sleep on osa.com. This information is provided by Lilly, a medicine company.
Coca-Cola For the big. for the small. This short? and the tall. Peacemakers.
Risk takers. For the optimus. Pessimists for long distance love. For introverts. and extroverts.
the thinkers and the doers. For old friends and new. Coca-Cola For everyone. Pick up some Coca-Cola at a store near you. This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people, coming to you from the city where the West begins, Fort Worth, Texas.
Johnny Carson is widely regarded as the king of late night television. One of those reasons was how Johnny used his influence to positively change the lives of his guests. Here's author Mark Malkoff to tell the story. Johnny Carson had talent coordinators that would get thousands of pieces of mail from people that wanted to be on the show. Their goal was to showcase the most talented people.
They didn't have to have traditional talent. There was somebody who played songs using their hands, and this person dubbed themselves a manualist. Would you welcome John to me? Done.
Okay. And they went on Johnny Carson's show, and they became so big just playing songs, Stars and Stripes Forever on their hand. Mm-hmm. They became so in demand that they quit their job as a lawyer in Michigan and they were making more money in Las Vegas playing lounges, playing music with their hands. There was a a Potato chip inspector in Indiana named Myrtle Young.
She would look at the potato chips and she noticed that there were certain potato chips that were in the shape of objects and people and faces. And she would collect these potato chips and the Tonight Show found out about it. And Myrtle Young had never been to California. They flew her out and she was a 65-year-old potato chip inspector. We have a little more time left here.
Now, what are some of your prize ones on this?
Well, I have a pair of dirty sweat socks. Potato chips, folks, if you just join us. And there again from the same chip up. And that's the dope. Oh, what do we have here?
Oh, this is a calf. But he doesn't have any eyes. But that does look like the shape of a cow or a cam. Right, okay. And this is a.
That's an eight. That's an eight. That's a letter. Number eight. Uh here's a camel down.
A camera. There's no doubt about that. And the pear is rather perfect. Ed McMahon, Johnny's sidekick, distracted her at one point and she was showing all the potato chips that she collected and all the objects. Look at this one, John.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha! No, no, no. And she heard Johnny crunch down on a potato chip and she almost had a heart attack. She turned around and Johnny said, oh no. And he showed that he had his Ebola potato chips.
Myrtle thought I was eating her collection. No, they had a bowl back here of just regular chips, and I had one of those. I wasn't picking up your. And she was another person that traveled the world. She went to Japan all over America.
She became famous for collecting these potato chips. Johnny could take people that had these unique stories, and he never made fun of them. Other late-night show hosts would make fun of them, but he always respected them. He would take people that were senior citizens, kids like Drew Barrymore on E.T., and just be able to talk to them and make them forget that millions of people were watching them and get them just to shine.
Now, let's talk about, want to talk about E.T. a little bit? Why not?
Okay. I shouldn't tell you this, but I think there's gonna be a s a sequel. You shouldn't. Are you telling some? You weren't supposed to tell me?
Well, I can tell you. I'll keep it just between us then. That's fine with me. That's fine with you. There may be a sequel to E.T., huh?
Yes. Yeah. Johnny had a rule that was very uniquely Johnny. Johnny's producer Peter LaSalle told me, which was: Johnny's rule, number one, was to make his guests look good and it's gonna make the show better. Johnny would eventually get laughs because he was Johnny Carson.
He was a comedic genius, but his goal was to make his guests shine. There were constant talent coordinators going to comedy clubs. People were moving out to Los Angeles just to try to break on Johnny's show. David Letterman left a very successful career as a weatherman in Indiana in the early 1970s. He got in his red pickup truck and drove out to California with dreams of one thing, and that was getting on Johnny Carson's show.
David Letterman didn't want to do stand-up. He did not like doing stand-up, but he knew to get on Johnny's show, that's what he would have to do. We met at the comedy store. I was doing stand-up comedy there. This was like the mid or late 70s.
And so Clint would come in and we'd be very excited because we were just beginners and you want to impress the important guy in the audience. And so I was up there doing my little, I don't know what the hell I was doing. And after about five minutes, here comes Clint Eastwood. And he walks right up to me. And do you have any idea what you said to me?
No. Oh, it was unbelievable.
So he's, I'm standing right like this, and he comes up to me and he says, Where's the men's room punk? Go for the moment. I carried that with me. I think those are the moments. I think those are the moments you treasure.
And everyone would wait, would play the clubs, the comedy clubs, and just dream that Johnny's talent coordinator would come in and they would be able to get the show. There were people that I spoke with that did stand up on Johnny, that lives changed, that cried to me telling him their stories. It was people that nobody knew who they were. They would go on Johnny's show and Their lives would instantly change. They would get television shows, they would be going to Las Vegas, they would be opening up for the biggest music acts and arenas.
Drew Carey was a comedian from Cleveland with one goal: to go on Johnny Carson's show. That's all he ever thought about. I got to sit down with him in between tapings of the prices, right, at Television City, and just the emotions of. Of his story. I mean, these were people that had tears in their eyes, some of them crying to me, telling me.
about their stories. You know, Johnny Carson introduces me. The curtain opens, and it's just like I dreamed it. It's just exactly like I dreamed it. I go on a stage, I hit the mark.
Then he says my favorite thing on the menu, it's a hot dog with cheese and bacon. Yeah, not enough nitrates in a hot dog. I gotta put some bacon on top of it. Then for an extra dollar, they'll put Chili on top of the whole thing. for people who don't care anymore.
I remember seeing Johnny Carson holding on to the desk. He's holding on to the desk because he's laughing so hard, so it doesn't fall off the chair. Because he's like he's like convulsing. That's the kind of food just marches right down your throat, you know? Follow me boys, we're going to the heart.
Like this, and I go, Who, me? And he goes, Yeah, you. And I'm like, Well, nobody gets called over for the tonight. That's a big thing. It's like a religious experience.
And then after that, my career was made. Keep it. Mm. Thanks, I appreciate that. They really are.
Thanks. You too. Lives changed going on Johnny Carson's. Show, singers that people didn't know, like Bette Midler, would go on Johnny's show, and Vett was considered very outrageous. Johnny actually had Bette Midler open up for him in Las Vegas, and the audience's jaws dropped.
Johnny told his then-wife, she is going to be one of the biggest stars in entertainment, and people did not believe Johnny. It took America a little time to understand who this person was and how unique and special she was. But Johnny's prerequisite. He was not discriminate. He didn't discriminate against anybody.
His only discrimination was lack of talent. If you were talented, he wanted you on the show. And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Greg Engler. And a special thanks to Mark Malkoff. and his book, In Love with Johnny Carson, One obsessive fans journey to find the genius behind the legend.
Available wherever you get your books. And my goodness, what a story he told. And indeed, we've talked about it many times on this show. What he didn't like Johnny Carson was actors coming on and promoting their movies, promoting this or that. It was all about talent coming on to entertain his audience.
No politics ever, no news except to tweak and make fun of what was happening in the news. In other words, to just take care of all of us who'd had a tough day and wanted some relief at night. What really got Carson going was talent. Talent, talent, talent. How Johnny Carson Changed the Lives of His Guests That story here on Our American Stories.
This is Eva Longoria from Hungry for History with Eva Longoria and Maite Gomez Rejon. Like the song says, it's the most wonderful time of the year, and also a wonderfully busy one. All that merriment can weigh down even Santa Slay.
So keep it wonderful by keeping yourself wonderful with a crisp, cold Coca-Cola. Ugh. Pause for fizzy joy. Look out for yourself and then look out for everyone else. And together, we'll make this season as wonderful as it's meant to be.
Enjoy a Coca-Cola. Refresh your holidays. Ever wish you could try the Washington Post and see what all the talk is about? Right now, you can, with a one-week pass for just $7. No commitment, no strings attached.
Just $7 for one week of unlimited access to the Post. It's the perfect way to explore our award-winning journalism and experience what subscribers already know. There's nothing else quite like it.
So why not give us a try? Go to Washington Post dot com slash week and start your $7 one week pass today. That's Washington Post dot com slash week. This is Sophie Cunningham from Show Me Something. Do you know the symptoms of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea or OSA in adults with obesity?
They may be happening to you without you knowing. If anyone has ever said you snored loudly or if you spend your days fighting off excessive tiredness, irritability, and concentration issues, it may be due to OSA. OSA is a serious condition where your airway partially or completely collapses during sleep, which may cause breathing interruptions and oxygen deprivation. Learn more at don'sleep on OSA dot com. This information is provided by Lilly, a medicine company.
10 athletes will face the toughest job interview in fitness that will push past physical and and mental breaking points. You are the fittest of the fit. Only one of you will leave here with an IFIT contract for $250,000. This is where mindset comes in.
Someone will be eliminated. Pressure is coming down. Trainer Games on Prime Video, January 8th. Watch the trailer on TrainerGames.com. Season 2 of Unrivaled Basketball is here, and the talent is unreal.
The best women's players on the planet are running it back with even bigger moments and bigger stakes. Don't miss as Paige Beckers, Nafiza Collier, Kelsey Plum, Brianna Stewart, and more take the court and redefine the game. This isn't your regular season. This is Unrivaled, where the pace is faster, the energy is higher, and every athlete shines. Unrivaled Basketball, Season 2, sponsored by Samsung Galaxy, tips off January 5th on TNT, True TV, and HBO Max.
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Mm-hmm.
