While serving as this country's vice president, Al Gore had to confront a public image that he was a humorless, wooden, mechanical person. In order to counteract that perception, Gore turned to perhaps the biggest expert available at the time: former 'Tonight Show' host Johnny Carson.
Gore has now revealed that he received occasional help with delivering one-liners from the master himself, Johnny Carson. Gore told reporters that he called Mr. Carson on the phone in the mid-90s on several occasions for help with 'timing and delivery.'
'He let me call him up and bounce jokes off him and he would give me advice on the presentation of gags,' Gore told the 'New York Times.' Gore revealed that he initially approached the retired 'Tonight Show' host through a mutual friend. 'It was such a privilege,' Gore recalled.
Carson even went as far as to give the vice president a couple of jokes. In 1994, Carson even listened to Gore do a walk through of a skit he intended to do at the Gridiron dinner in Washington, DC.
The idea, Mr. Gore said, was that he would be wheeled onto the dais on a hand truck, ramrod straight, and would slowly be cranked to his feet by 'two guys in Acme delivery costumes.'
'I told Johnny about it, and he said, 'Oh that's great,' ' Mr. Gore recalled. 'He said, 'When you do it, make sure to wait till they stop laughing.' '
Gore said the bit got a great reception from the audience.
Unfortunately, Gore's image remains a bit stiff. Maybe its because he never hired Ed McMahon to laugh at all of his jokes.
