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What Johnny Carson really said about Elvis Presley on ‘The Tonight Show’
A less publicized facet of Elvis Presley’s fascinating character is that he admired comedy with an intense passion, staying up until the first rays of the morning light with the Memphis Mafia to screen films and television appearances from the likes of Peter Sellers, Monty Python, and Johnny Carson. Quoting entire comedy monologues or routines was a common occurrence.
Humor lifted Presley’s spirits in times of inner turmoil, but it eluded him on the occasion of his 40th birthday in January 1975 when a wrongly perceived joke by the King of Late Night damaged the King of Rock ’N’ Roll’s fragile ego. In the months leading up to the milestone, the world’s most scrutinized rock star was experiencing both a personal and professional valley.
Presley had performed a two-week October tour that received withering reviews chronicling erratic, drug-fueled behavior. Supermarket tabloids gleefully posted unflattering stage photos of Presley’s developing middle section, best evidenced by a lurid National Enquirer exposé proclaiming “Elvis at 40 — Paunchy, Depressed, and Living in Fear.” Memphis newspapers, including the Memphis Commercial Appeal, secretly spoke to friends and gate guards, acquiring an alarming snapshot of an entertainer living in self-imposed seclusion.
Newly divorced with a six-year-old daughter and stringing along several younger girlfriends, Presley decided to take matters into his own hands and moved into Elias Ghanem’s upstairs bedroom, the notorious doctor to the stars in Las Vegas. Ghanem had devised a ridiculous sleep diet that would supposedly enable the entertainer to lose considerable weight via liquid nourishment and prolonged sedation. Long story short — Presley was heavier upon completion of the month-long program and still depressed over the looming birthday.
On the recording front, news was markedly better. Two consecutive singles — the funky soul churner “If You Talk in Your Sleep” and the joyous rocker “Promised Land” — went Top 20. RCA’s promotional tomfoolery unfortunately hampered their chances of charting higher. And three consecutive single A and B-sides — “I’ve Got a Thing About You Baby,” “Help Me,” and “It’s Midnight” — landed squarely in the country Top Ten and signaled Presley’s burgeoning appeal…
