i love how chill this is compared to modern late nite. Just an interesting conversation with an interesting guy and a witty host. Dont need anymore bells and whistles than that.
This type of entertainment was so laid back, reminiscent of the 1950s to 1970s era. It's too bad that it's lost and forgotten by now, I wish it would come back.
For those wondering why the feel here is so relaxed and conversational: this episode is from 1978, which was during the 8 year period the Tonight Show was 90 minutes long instead of the now-customary hour long show. This interview took place in the final half-hour, when more unusual guests could come on and there was plenty of time to go in-depth on a subject.
Young people today don't understand why Carson was such a legend. This is why. He brings on amazing guests, sets them up, and let them tell their story. No overexaggerated, fake laughing to trick the audience into laughing like Fallon. And no relying on stupid newspaper headlines.
It’s not called interviewing today. It’s just following along with the narrative. And that’s it that’s the only guests you have on and that’s your monologue copy paste repeat what the liberals want you to say
A few used to be, Craig Ferguson was hilarious on the Late Late show and David Letterman was a great show too, but Johnny will always be the aster. Probably the only TV show (host) I actually miss. He was the perfect end to any kind of day. 🙂
Thanks for clarifying that punchline. The sound dropped out so I wasn’t sure what Johnny said. Did Frank say that the hooker was a well known model, in the beginning of that story?
I saw Frank at a conference. What a moving talk. Heartfelt. Had the audience in tears. His message was children need their parents to be together. A loving home matters.
I read his book in 10th grade, and it, along with 3 or 4 other books (Abby Hoffman's Steal This Book was another one) changed my life. I wrote him and he wrote me back. I emailed Frank recently, and hes as friendly and as warm as ever. Great man. Great life.
@@millermike5739 LOL! If u truly believe that, be sure and deep dive on Hughey Lewis of the band Clover & the News. He had very similar experiences scamming the airlines. Not that you'd believe it.
Johnny Carson was classy. Frank Abagnale is BS. Instead of being a master con artist, he is a failure. Alan C Logan of the book, "The Greatest Hoax on Earth", debunked Abagnale's exploits with records of arrests and jail during supposed impersonations.
I worked for several banks in the 80's and remember vividly the security meetings we had monthly with tapes of Mr Abagnale. He is the reason I never had someone short change me or cash a forged check. He taught us a lot, and he was easy to watch!
@@fjccommish You've got a point, but u still don't know for sure.. he may have exaggerated his stories, but to say they're completely unfounded, that i'm not too sure of.
@@marksteve8373 Son, he's a self proclaimed con man. If you want to believe, believe. His hooker check story made no sense. He gave the woman a check that the hotel would cash for him because he was (conned her into believing) he was part owner. Why would she think they would cash the check for her? It makes no sense because it's a lie.
Frank said somewhere that he was supposed to be only 4 minutes with Johnny and there was a next guest waiting but Johnny wanted more of Frank and pumped the other guest for an another show. He also said that he was a quest on Carson for total of 9 times. Hopefully those other times are uploaded to this channel too.
@@Olaz1, yes you could really see how J. Carson was intrigued by this guy's lifestyle. Also I can see why J. C. brought this guy back for more. It's intriguing but also against the law. And the audience was lapping it up. Carson knew his audience at home were likely into this story as well.
@@Ru4444 thats the point he was a conman and then he changed his ways, Im not here trying to be friends with him, I am pointing out that the topic is interesting
@@billie0429 He didnt change his ways, he lied about all his cons, none of it happend. I do agree with u that the show was funny and interesting, but educational it is not.
@@billie0429 Not sure if you understood what he said. He meant as in Frank might have made up most of his stories (about impersonating a doctor, about making 2 million plus dollars during his schemes, and such). Essentially he might have conned everyone about his cons.
When Johnny was king, there was only 1 Late Show. Now there's a dozen. Why..... Cause they're STILL trying to find one as good as the Tonight Show w/ Johnny Carson... Not gonna happen. Thanks 4 these re-runs !!
Only Johnny did interrupt him a few times. He didn't get a chance to talk about his work with the Secret Service and how he legitimately makes millions of dollars a year stopping check fraud.
@@MarvelousLXVII The unfortunate fact, or fortunate maybe, being that he made it all up. So many of his claimed cons have been disproven to the point that almost none of his story is true.
I was thinking the same thing. not only that I've watched a few of Frank Abignails talks as well as dozens of Carson's interviews and I've never seen this. crazy!
Only Johnnie could do this interview without appearing anything but real and in the moment. Fallon and all the rest would be gushing and searching for a joke in all the wrong places and times.
This is absolutely priceless !! Particularly when the comment was made about Abagnale's story being fit for Hollywood ..... clearly a premonition foreseeing the 2002 Spielberg film. In principle it's hard to cheer and laugh over a crook's escapades, but this guy is definitely one of a kind. And Carson's the perfect side man for this, with is dry wit and .... that FACE !! I mean NO ONE can hold a card to Carson's expressions. Beautiful post .... thanks!
One of the things that makes Sean Hannity one of the worst interviewers is that he doesn't listen. He's more interested in what he has to say than his guest.
Johnny never went through the motions. He listened intently to each and every guest like they were most important person on the planet. Which is why the show was never boring.
A life coach I knew used to advise her clients to watch Carson to learn how to listen. He was really great at drawing people out. Just responsive enough, funny, but engaged. Really made all kinds of people feel comfortable.
In the early 1960's when Johnny was the host, I was four years old, and I would sneak down and sit on the stairs to listen to Johnny while mt parents watched. I was so sad watching his last show. There was and never will be another this great. The One and Only!
@@TERoss-jk9ny Awesome! I see Richard Pryor as a link on this page. He lived in Northridge when he lit himself on fire. My buddy saw him running down the street when it happened. I grew up in what was Canoga Park and is now West Hills. In the 60's there were Condors in the N.W. corner of LA County and we saw them flying all the time. Too many people destroyed it all. Blessings
@@paulmikoll5186: Born and raised in Victorville. Not a lot of celebrities lighting themselves on fire up there… Richard Pryor was probably the greatest comedian of his generation. So sad how his life ended.
His whole story/book is nearly all lies. He made up most of it just to profit from gullible people who believe it. He was no genius, just a con man who did very little of what he claims. His real con is the fake story.
hate to break it to you: The guy made the whole thing up. That's his greatest con. None of it was true. Still a great movie. Love it. But ya, no one bothered to do any research to see if the story was actually true. Why bother, it's a great story.
I remember my Parents actually entire family even in Canada watched beloved darn truful, Jonny Carson 🎯. Thanks for memories Jonny Carson RIP God bless 🙏
Man, a lot of this I was a little kid for but there is no one that came close to Carson. One of the reasons classic tv was cool. This is a helluva story and Carson’s expressions and replies, working WITH the guest…this is just awesome. Rest Easy JC, you are missed.
All very entertaining until he described impersonating a physician supervising residents in a hospital. Can you imagine being a patient in that ward?? I’m shocked at how lightly Carson treated that. So incredibly unethical and DANGEROUS.
@@calisongbird I I thought that,too! Even worse, I once read that something like 10% of all hospital staff are drug addicts. Anytime I am in the hospital, I remember that and it scares me completely!
@@calisongbird He was trusting that the residents knew how to treat the patients. Remember... residents have finished med school and have spent another 2 or 3 yrs as interns. So they are not stupid. But, yes, my first thought was that it was very dangerous, too!
I heard that he once took a laundry bag , stood in front of an ATM machine in an airport With a sign that said, " Machine out of order, please deposit money with the security guard" Walked out with $75,000 at the end of the day.
Oh , so many people believed Frank's story including me .His story is just a story , Alan C Logan investigated Frank and Frank's entire story is all fake . Frank stole from people's homes and stole from a children's camp .@@frankmoyer5822
Johnny '"I'd go back to your hotel with you for $300." He made me laugh out loud all these years later. This interview and how Johnny was throughout it is a classic example of why he'll always be the king. You could tell going in he had no idea how it was going to go...but letting Frank talk(which he loved to do) and asking just a few great questions that he figured the audience would be interested in, made it an fantastic 10 minutes. He's the best. It's amazing it took so long for someone in Hollywood to make a movie based on his story. Johnny and the audience's reaction should have been a pretty good clue that people were ripe to see this on the big screen.
I met Frank when he gave a speech at my college in 1980 here in Texas. He was a super nice guy. I was working on my lithography and printing degree followups in criminal justice, and he said, you know, getting busted for printing money is an automatic 20 years first offense in federal prison. I've been honest ever since.
Spot on. It was genius of Johnny to realize he had to keep him over beyond his time. He knew this was a once in a lifetime guest and interview. There will never be another Carson!
There has never been a better host and interviewer than Johnny Carson. I truly miss him. This was a fantastic interview. Now I'm going to watch "Catch me if you can"
My husband always said Frank would be one person he would like to be on a deserted island with. Loved his stories. And we had an opportunity a few years ago to go to one of his talks through the AARP. We were in a hallway looking for the auditorium and accidentally got directed by someone into a small room when we were able to meet him personally and speak with him. It was a total accident. I think they thought we were AARP officials. But my husband is still thrilled to this day. (Frank’s talk was great too!)
All very entertaining until he described impersonating a physician supervising residents in a hospital. Can you imagine being a patient in that ward?? I’m shocked at how lightly Carson treated that. So incredibly unethical and DANGEROUS.
Mr. Abagnale came to my high school and spoke to my senior class assembly in 1980!!! We had no idea who he was when he got up on stage. It was a fascinating presentation he gave!!!
One of the great things about Johnny Carson was that he knew how to let someone else have center stage. There will never be anyone else like him. TV has been in a serious decline for years. If you don't believe it, watch late night TV.
Late night shows are so formulaic now. The hosts would not be able to approach the abilities of Johnny Carson in this interview. They couldn't even do this kind of interview nowadays.
The biggest problem TV producers face today is the public's short attention span -- particularly those who have grown up with the internet and social media. When I was a kid, we had 6 channels -- the 3 networks and 3 local stations. That was it. And it was fine. At night, I watched a couple of the network shows, Honeymooner re-runs at 11 p.m., and Johnny Carson at 11:30. We couldn't pause shows or skip through commercials. "Cable" was a word that came before "car" and "stream" was something you swam in. Today we have 500 channels, endless streaming options, millions of videos and dozens of social media outlets, all vying for our time and attention. That's why the networks and cable TV make their shows as glitzy and fast-paced and controversial and edgy as possible -- all while appealing to the lowest common denominator. Everyone's trying to push the envelope and quality suffers as a result. I hate to sound like the old guy in the room (I'm 56, so maybe I am) but the internet has not only shortened everyone's attention span, but has also made society more cynical, malicious, desensitized and ignorant -- and I'm afraid it's only going to keep getting worse.
This man's story has been debunked by some journalists. Read his Wikipedia article. But some of the debunking work is very old and can't be found on the Internet anymore.
Frank telling that his life as a con man was a lonely life was the most heartfelt moment in this interview the rest of which was most definitely entertaining and interesting.
He's just like my brother, except my brother convinces himself that his lies are true. It's so sad to see people reacting to emotional trauma in such unhealthy ways.
@@naryram951 You clearly don't understand how easy it is for people to get data if they really want it. Most stuff is public access, even more so back in those days.
@@naryram951 The book, "The Greatest Hoax on Earth", debunks Abagnale's tales with records and interviews. Frank was supposedly in prison for petty crimes during the timeframe of his impersonating white collar professionals.
I can listen to his stories for hours! I just found a video from 2017 with Frank that's an hour and 3 minutes. I'm so listening to that while I'm out showing houses today. Just fascinating!
I absolutely loved the movie that was made about his life. It was just a small film made by Spielberg and starring Tom Hank and Leonardo Dicaprio. It is called "Catch Me if You Can". It was a truly a delightful film.
What I enjoy about Johnny Carson was that he was secure in himself to let other guests ask questions of his main guest. Watching him felt like you were a part of a living room conversation.
Mine too. When in her 60’s we spotted a standee selling carpet I believe. When they were done with it they were kind enough to gift to Grandma. He stood in the corner of her bedroom for ever so long🫠🫠🫠
Many saying let the guest talk, but let's acknowledge that Frank can hold his own. He's not your usual guest in that he's a gifted story teller and public speaker. This talent and charm is what ultimately enabled him to con his way through life.
As a part of his parole, he came to our small class in high school in 1978. That guy is very good at what he did in large part because of his personality. Extremely engaging.
This individual is the epitome of cybersecurity - Frank Abegnale, famously known as 'Catch me if you can.' His story has taught me that security, whether it's in the physical or digital realm, goes far beyond just having strong passwords and security guards. Salute Mr. Abegnale !
Johnny was a very good magician at one time so I think he admires this guy who obviously is a true professional master of the misdirection. Notice Johnny let him have the whole segment of the program without interrupting. Johnny was in awe.
I loved watching this interview. He got into some things that didn't make it into the Spielberg movie. Most hilarious of which, IMO, was that he became a favorite among doctors-in-training, because he let them do things on their own more than all the others!
I just finished reading the book and that part of it was one of the 2 most fascinating parts that he not only had the balls to attempt, but easily pulled it off.
@@Genious. funny how frank is blaming the co-writer for all the lies. He was in prison when all these stories didn’t happen. Read the book. Not franks book
I used to stay up late at night to watch this show, especially around the late 70's and early 80's. SNL was another one I would stay up and watch. I loved watching Late Night TV. The good clean adult humor was illuminating. I was only around eight about the time of this show. But I was way too precocious for my own good! 😁
This interview is the perfect cliff notes for the inspiration of the movie… What a great storyteller… Within seconds of him starting in you cannot help would be hooked in to his charm and wit
But his claims have never been verified. One commentator said that most of Frank's claims never happened, they were complete fabrications. So the world has been conned by a great con man
@@davidradovsky7405 In his early life, Frank spent time in the navy. He was arrested several times and ended-up in jail, although this part of his young life doesn't match-up with Frank's story. He did pass several bad cheques,supposedly issued by Pan Am. But incredibly used his own name on each dud check, making it easy to track him down. There is a RU-vid channel - Most Notorious- which refutes most of his claims.
But not accurate according to Alan Logan‘s book of research calling Abagnale out as still conning the public! Kind of a let down, but shows a more historical depiction. 😏
As a Creativity Researcher I can tell you this as high as the bar goes for "Creative Deviance". Top class! People don't realise that such Individuals actually bring so much to the creative development of Society by enabling sectors to not only understand flaws in systems, but also how to improve them.👏
"Catch me if you can" is one of my all time favorite movies. Seen it about a dozen times. It obviously came out after this interview, and the stories Frank tells Johnny closely follow the movie. That's cool. He's an amazing guy.
I had never heard of this movie but 1 night I went drop off a movie in blockbusters overnight mailbox and this movie was stuck in the slot and I've had it ever since Great movie.
The movie was good as a movie, but Abagnale's book of the same title was fantastic. Put the movie to shame... Also, the story of the time he did in the French prisons, which were barbaric beyond belief, leave no doubt that he paid his debt.
This is great!!!!!! "Catch me if you can" was one of my favorite movies! After hearing this guy talk you can see how easily he could have gotten away with all of the things he did. What a charismatic individual.
He’s a lying scumbag. The con was the fake story of being a con man. He never did any of those things. Read “The Greatest Hoax on Earth: Catching Truth, While We Can,” by Alan C. Logan.
I don't know why Spielberg had to pay Leonardo DiCaprio 20 millions when this role could have been easily played for a fraction of the cost by Jon Lovitz. [spoiler] Just kidding, of course. It's amazing how many people thought I was serious.
@@aels7 I really like Jon Lovitz (he's great in stepmothers an alien).. But, apart from a slight resemblance to Frank Abagnale, is not cut out to play the role. Leo pulled it off really well. Sometimes the director has to go with the right person for the role, rather than someone who resembles a person.
Absolutely fascinating! Watching Johnny in action is art and class in its purest form. I'm so happy I was able to actually enjoy watching Johnny growing up, he is a gem sorely needed and truly missed.
All very entertaining until he described impersonating a physician supervising residents in a hospital. Can you imagine being a patient in that ward?? I’m shocked at how lightly Carson treated that. So incredibly unethical and DANGEROUS.
@@calisongbird might have saved several lives. Did you consider that? Multiple times encountered doctors who where so full of themselves (and supported by a major pharma company) that they would ignore multiple red flags that their diagnosis was wrong.
@@davenelson8187 excellent point and I agree! I also love watching old Dick Cavett show episodes, Dick was so masterful in his questioning, always supremely prepared yet never stole the show from his guest's. Sadly, it's an artform that's nearly extinct today.
@@calisongbird The thing is, he never tried to diagnose anything or prescribe anything himself. He used the brains of the highly trained residents, so the patient got the best treatment available at that time and place, and the residents got the best type of training because he made them use their skills to the full.
Except it wasn't true. Most of his stories have been debunked a long time a go and recently in 2020 I believe. He spent most of his time in prison when he claimed he was doing this stuff.
@@sundaybighouse wow, tyvm, didn't know that, never heard about it. Hmm, yeah, it seems there's been doubt at least cast on much or most of its wilder claims, which ere glamourized and largely swallowed whole, despite the alarms you'd think a tale like this, even the confession as to the nature of the taleteller himself "might" set off. Oof. Oog. Ooh, etc.
Johnny Carson...my parents never let us stay up that late...we would hear the opening song and knew it was bed time. We felt so grown up when we got to the age we could watch this show.
Being from the 70's, I love the smooth fast speech delivery. Feels like today. Abagnale is a genius, but man was that guy dubious. Amazing. Johnny RIP.
