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In Bushkin's telling, Carson was too trusting of managers and other financial advisers, making him an easy victim of bad deals. He had other weaknesses, too. Mrs. Carson 3.0 was willing to sign a prenuptial agreement designed to protect Carson's fortune. But he balked at the last minute, saying it was a terrible way to start a marriage. "This romantic gesture," his lawyer says, "would cost Johnny $35 million." Bushkin's memoir adds shading and detail to the portrait of Carson already established. The master of the talk-show medium was often uncomfortable with individuals. In the right mood, he could be witty, generous and fun to be around
-- and, in a flash, turn cruel and cold. Late-night TV's naughty Midwesterner was also a roving husband, unpredictable when drunk, a four-pack-a-day smoker prone to obscenity-laden rants. When he drove a car he usually carried a handgun for protection, the book says. Carson fired Bushkin over a business matter, the lawyer says, and litigation ensued. All these years later Bushkin seems torn between reveling in their friendship and taking an opportunity to get even. He tries to absolve himself of wielding a literary dagger by imagining that Carson, who he says was suspicious of flattery and sentimentality, would have been happy with this book because it's accurate.
Imagine instead that self-serving statement in the hands of one of Carson's late-night characters, Carnac the Magnificent. The envelope he tears open might well reveal this answer: "Fat chance." ___ Online:
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