Johnny Carson was nicknamed “The King of Late Night” during his long NBC career.
Carson hosted The Tonight Show from 1962 through 1992, a thirty-year run that made him the defining American late-night presenter of the television era. His monologues, interviews, comedy sketches, and easy rapport with guests influenced generations of hosts.
The nickname reflected both his longevity and the program’s cultural reach. Carson’s show was a major national platform for comedians, actors, musicians, and public figures, and a guest’s appearance could significantly raise public visibility.
Carson’s successor was Jay Leno, who hosted The Tonight Show for most of the period from 1992 to 2009 and again from 2010 to 2014. David Letterman, another major late-night figure, hosted Late Night and later CBS’s Late Show, but he was not the host associated with this particular nickname.