The Jack Paar Program

Background

Paar left Tonight in March 1962 after nearly five years as its host, finding the 105-minute nightly schedule difficult to sustain. He preferred a weekly prime-time program, and NBC offered him an hour-long Friday-night show with substantial control over content and format to keep him from another network. The Jack Paar Program began on September 21, 1962, and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson premiered on October 1, 1962.

Format and production

The program combined an opening monologue, conversations with guests, comedy and musical performances, and filmed features. Paar favored informal interviews with entertainers, writers, and political figures rather than a conventional variety-show format. Hal Gurnee, who had worked with Paar on Tonight, directed the series. The show had an international emphasis, presenting performers from outside the United States and screening films from Paar's travels in Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Soviet Union; his daughter Randy sometimes helped narrate the travel footage.

Recurring personalities included Alexander King, Oscar Levant, and Jonathan Winters. Guests ranged from political figures Richard Nixon, Barry Goldwater, and Ted Kennedy to performers Judy Garland, Ethel Merman, Peggy Lee, Liza Minnelli, Woody Allen, Bill Cosby, Godfrey Cambridge, Dick Gregory, Mike Nichols and Elaine May, and Jackie Vernon. The program was produced at NBC's Studio 6B in New York City. Producers were Paar, Paul Orr, and Paul W. Keyes; Tom Cochran was associate producer; José Melis was musical director; Jim Lucas served as announcer.

Notable broadcasts

The Jack Paar Program gave Joan Rivers one of her first TV breaks. Mickey Rooney famously stormed off the set during a live broadcast. Richard Nixon appeared on March 8, 1963, playing his own piano piece with a string section; director Hal Gurnee later called him one of the show's most surprisingly strong guests. On January 3, 1964, the program aired filmed concert footage of the Beatles, over a month before their Ed Sullivan debut, making it one of the earliest prime-time U.S. TV features of the group. Another memorable guest was Cassius Clay, who sang and recited poetry alongside Paar and Liberace.

End of the series

After buying his own station, WMTW, Paar wanted more control than NBC would give him, so he ended the show after three seasons and mostly left national TV. The last episode aired June 25, 1965, with clips or appearances from Richard Burton, Bette Davis, Liberace, Jonathan Winters, and Billy Graham. Paar finished alone onstage, telling the audience about a talk with his daughter about leaving, then walked off with his dog. He later did occasional NBC specials and hosted the short-lived 1973 ABC series Jack Paar Tonite.