The Tonight Show and The Huber Marionettes
By Phillip Huber P
erhaps one of my biggest career dreams was to appear on The Tonight Show. Jim McCawley, the show’s talent coordinator, was known to occasionally visit Hollywood’s famous Magic Castle to check out the performers and enjoy the wonderful atmosphere of the Castle. On September 18, 1988, he happened to visit there when I was performing. After the show finished, he came backstage, introduced himself, and said he enjoyed my performance and wanted to put me on THE SHOW. I was surprised and stunned, and I found it hard to keep from gushing with excitement. He was especially impressed with Louisa, my trapeze artist. He stated that he had never seen anything like her and was sure she would be a hit on The Tonight Show. He went on to explain that the usual spot for variety acts was three minutes long, and since the trapeze number was four minutes, he suggested I could have the six-minute spot usually given to stand-up comedians. He asked which second character I would like to use to fill out the time. My immediate response was “my Jazz Singer, Shirley U’Jest.” I was confident she had the personality and facial expressions that would be most effective in TV close-ups. Jim agreed with my choice but requested that I close with the trapeze act because he was sure nothing could top that. My feeling favored Shirley as a closer, because I was skeptical that the trapeze would photograph well on TV. In past attempts to videotape her act, the result had been less than effective, with her
image blurring as it swept across the screen. Jim said, “The Tonight Show cameramen were the best in the business,” but he promised to arrange a camera test at the studio to quell my doubts. At this point, David [Alexander] and I left for 5 months of cruise bookings. It was not until March 13 of the following year
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that Jim McCawley was able to arrange the promised camera test at NBC Studios, Burbank, California. We met the staff and crew, set up our stage equipment, and went through the two puppet acts so that the director and cameramen could get comfortable with the action. It was indeed a challenge for the cameras to follow the rapid trapeze swings, but everyone still felt confident they could make it work. However, when Jim watched Shirley’s camera test, he decided she was definitely the most effective character for TV and asked me to switch the order of the acts. Now she would be the finale. Jim continued to work to get me on the show, and about two months later, we had a date scheduled for May 12. Unfortunately, just two days before, while I was working at a Redondo Beach comedy club called Krazy J’s, McCawley appeared at my dressing room with apologies. It seems that a giant boa constrictor had been found in the crawl space of a Florida home, and Johnny wanted the snake on the show instead of me. I was “bumped” from the show to hopefully be fitted in another time.
Phillip Huber with his marionette, Louisa, the trapeze artist. Photos courtesy of Phillip Huber
It was a long six months before we got the eagerly awaited news—I was scheduled to appear on December 13, 1989, with Johnny Carson and special guest Buddy Hackett. We set up in NBC Studio One during that afternoon, and Jim introduced me to the executive producer, Freddie de Cordova, who gave me a peculiar pep talk: “Don’t f*** up!” With that response and imminent realization that I would be seen by MILLIONS of people at once, I became so nervous that I lost my voice and had to give directions to the stage crew in a
hoarse whisper. I was excited to finally meet Johnny Carson, but he never came into the green room. I went into the studio when I heard Ed McMahon make the opening announcement. There was Johnny, pacing back and forth behind the show curtain like a nervous tiger in a cage just before he dove through the curtains on
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