Before he became one of the most important creative voices behind\u00a0The Simpsons<\/i>, writer and producer Al Jean wrote for a TV legend that wrapped up his iconic show in the early \u201890s. Okay, he wrote for two<\/i> of them, if you include ALF.<\/span><\/p>\n In 1984, Jean and his writing partner Mike Reiss landed a job writing for\u00a0The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson<\/i>. As Jean once told the Television Academy, they scored the job only after nailing a five-minute \u201cpersonal interview\u201d with Carson, who was rumored to have dismissed writers for objectively ludicrous reasons. Even though he worked at\u00a0The Tonight Show<\/i> for a year and a half, Jean \u201cbarely met Johnny,\u201d calling the gig an \u201cisolated experience.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHe was so isolated from his writers that we read\u00a0National Enquirer<\/i> to find out what was going on in his life,\u201d Reiss wrote in his book\u00a0<\/span>Springfield Confidential: Jokes, Secrets, and Outright Lies from a Lifetime Writing for The Simpsons<\/i><\/span><\/a>. The pair of future\u00a0Simpsons<\/i> writers were eventually fired by Carson, although the show unsuccessfully tried to hire them back just a month later, shortly after they had already secured new jobs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Jean recently posted a tribute to his old boss on October 23rd, which would have been Carson\u2019s 100th birthday. This prompted Reiss to reveal that Jean was responsible for one of the TV icon\u2019s most memorable late-career bits: the portable desk he brought along with him to\u00a0Late Night with David Letterman.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019d built a folding\u00a0Tonight Show<\/i> desk and had it for ages, not knowing what to do with it,\u201d Reiss explained. \u201c@AlJean had the inspired idea of having Johnny bring it onto Letterman\u2019s set and unfolding it there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n On May 16 1985, an admittedly \u201cnervous\u201d Letterman interviewed Carson on\u00a0Late Night<\/i>. After being introduced and walking onto the set as Paul Shaffer\u2019s band played \u201cJohnny\u2019s Theme,\u201d Carson darted backstage and re-emerged carrying a collapsible version of his\u00a0Tonight Show<\/i> desk, which he immediately assembled next to Letterman\u2019s.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou will find out, David, after a few years \u2014 this is the only way I can talk with anybody,\u201d Carson joked. \u201cI was out to dinner last night at a restaurant, I (took) this with me. I go home after the show, I use this in our bedroom. I do not perform well without this desk.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI think your desk is bigger than mine,\u201d Letterman quipped. \u201cWell, in another 20 years, you will have this desk,\u201d was Carson\u2019s retroactively ominous response.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Still, the prop desk bit wasn\u2019t quite as funny as\u00a0The Simpsons<\/i>. Or\u00a0<\/span>The Critic<\/i> for that matter<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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