During that time, I also discovered Steve Allen, the host of Tonight Starring Steve Allen, which became The Tonight Show. Steve was saddled with the unenviable pressure of getting an audience to stay up and watch this new format when they needed to be at work at eight A.M. On his first show, in 1954, he bravely went into the audience and asked an older woman if she wanted to say hello to anyone at home; she replied, “Everyone I know is sleeping.” Steve was a genius. He had a brilliantly funny mind.
