*Remembering Johnny

From Live From New York, Victoria Jackson talks about an appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. She had auditioned for Saturday Night Live, and didn't feel it went well, since Lorne Michaels told her she wasn't strong in character-acting. So Victoria asked the Tonight Show staff if she could do characters on her appearance to continue her SNL audition. She was given their blessing to do so:

So I sat next to Johnny Carson and I told him I was auditioning for a show and I had to do characters and I said, "Let me do them for you, and if you can guess who I'm doing, then I'm doing it good, right?" He goes, okay. So I went, "Oh, oh, Archie! I'm sor-ree!" And he goes, "Edith Bunker." And I go, yeah. And the audience claps. And I go, "I don't know why I'm here. Just go to a commercial. I don't have anything to say. I don't know why I'm here." And Johnny says, "Teri Garr!" And I go, yeah. And then I went, "What's love got to do, got to do with it." And I danced, you know. And he goes, "Tina Turner." And I go, yeah. And so then I was smoking a cigarette. And he goes, "I don't know, Bette Davis?" And I go, no. And he goes, "Who is it?" And I go, "I made her up." And then Johnny laughed so hard. The audience laughed too. And then he goes, "If you made it up, how am I supposed to guess who it is?" And I go, "Oh, I don't know. I'm supposed to make up characters in this show, you know."

A week later, thanks to her appearance with Carson, Victoria Jackson was hired by Lorne Michaels.

Posted by Jennifer at January 23, 2005 07:12 PM

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