Rodney Dangerfield Did 11 Minutes on Carson Without Running Out of Jokes

Wednesday 21 November 1973, the night before his fifty-second birthday. Rodney Dangerfield asks Johnny Carson why he and Ed never had kids. We've watched three of Rodney's later nights on this couch, and every one of them broke at about nine minutes in. This is the oldest tape, and it doesn't break. At 9:06 he's mopping his face with a handkerchief and keeps going; at 11:18 it's Carson who calls the break. Robert Goulet sits beside him the whole time. Our measurements, on a transcript of the tape: the longest laugh after a line is ten seconds, after the psychiatrist. Where the segment stalls, from Carson's introduction: 1976 at 8:37, 1979 at 9:17 (Carson cut to a commercial), 1980 at 9:51, 1973 never. Sources: the rights holder's upload on the Johnny Carson channel, 21 November 1973 (   • Rodney Dangerfield's Jokes Are Endless | C...  ); the 1976, 1979 and 1980 nights from our previous episodes (   • Johnny Carson Couldn't Stop Laughing at Ro...  ,    • Rodney Dangerfield Roasted Johnny Carson t...  ). Wikipedia on Rodney Dangerfield and on Caddyshack. Every quote is said on the tape. Chapters 0:00 No children 0:21 The night that didn't break 0:36 November 1973: the act 3:55 The couch 11:43 Eleven minutes Sources Every clip is real; every airdate is from the rights holder's own publication, a catalogue or a newspaper listing; every read is attributed to the person who made it. One link per source. • Johnny Carson (official), 21 November 1973 —    • Rodney Dangerfield's Jokes Are Endless | C...   • Wikipedia, Rodney Dangerfield — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_... The clips • The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson — Eleven clips from one tape, the rights holder's own upload of 21 November 1973 (11:41), with our commentary between them. Every window was set on the word timings of a transcript of the tape. About the pictures There are no generated pictures in this episode. Every frame is the rights holder's own tape; between the clips we stop it on a real frame and draw on it (circles, labels, the date), and the bar charts are our own count. Captions are added. The thumbnail is a frame from the tape, upscaled. The narration is synthesised.