Tonight Show intros (1954-1992)

This is a fairly thorough, albeit incomplete, compilation of Tonight Show intros - from its inauspicious start as The Steve Allen Show on local NYC TV, all the way through the end of Johnny Carson's run. I decided to forgo the adding of anything newer than that, because - frankly - the damn thing was already two hours long, and I had spent roughly 10x that amount of time finding clips and stitching them all together. Plus I’m Team Coco, all the way. That said, I hope you enjoy watching the evolution of this iconic opening sequence - one that established a template that every late-night talk show in its wake adheres to, even to this day. These openings are presented in a variety of qualities, obviously some better looking & sounding than others, so be warned. They have also been arranged as closely as possible to chronological order based on known airdates.

All credit is due to those who preserve and share this historical content.

Footage is the property of their respective rightsholders. Claim of ownership is neither expressed nor implied by this uploader.

Timestamps:
0:00:00 Steve Allen (1953-1957) [1]
0:04:49 Ernie Kovacs (1956-1957) [2]
0:06:22 Tonight! America After Dark (1957)
0:07:23 Jack Paar (1957-1962) [3]
0:09:04 Transitional guest host open (1962)
0:10:04 Johnny Carson - 1st episode recreation + real intro (1962-10-01) [4]
0:12:08 Carson - Times Square film open (1962-1964)
0:14:38 Carson - World's Fair film open (1964)
0:15:57 Carson - New Year's Eve live intro (1965)
0:16:56 Carson - 30 Rock slide intro (1964?-1969?)
0:18:23 Carson - Neon NYC animated intro (1969-1973?) [5]
0:18:41 Carson - Dots intro over set (1969?) [6]
0:19:44 Carson - Title over set (NYC) (1965?-1969) [7]
0:20:57 Carson - Title over set (Hollywood) (1963?-1975)
0:49:35 Carson - Scanimate marquee intro (1975) [8]
0:50:44 Carson - Character montage intro (1975-1982)
0:55:47 Carson - Shiny streamers guest host intro (1977-1979)
0:56:28 Carson - Control room intro (1978?-1981)
1:00:00 Carson - 17th Anniversary (1979)
1:02:12 Carson - Instruments montage intro (1979-1983?)
1:05:00 Carson - 18th Anniversary with "The Shining" clip (1980)
1:09:24 Carson - 19th Anniversary
1:11:55 Carson - Control room intro v2 (1981-1983)
1:15:41 Carson - 20th Anniversary (1982)
1:20:11 Carson - 21st Anniversary (1983)
1:21:48 Carson - Character boxes v1 (1983-1990)
1:23:05 Carson - The Best of Carson (1983-1990)
1:29:25 Carson - 23rd Anniversary (1985)
1:37:34 Carson - 24th Anniversary (1986)
1:43:04 Carson - 25th Anniversary (1987)
1:52:02 Carson - 28th Anniversary (1990)
1:54:04 Carson - Character boxes v2 (1990-1992)
2:06:26 Carson - The Final Episode (1992-05-22)