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Jack Paar Biography

TV Personality

Jack Paar is best known for hosting the Tonight Show from 1957 to 1962. He gained a reputation as a thinking man's talk show host, and also for a certain emotional sensitivity: in one famous 1960 incident he stormed off the set during a broadcast after a network censor had edited one of his jokes. A few weeks later he returned to the show with the quip, "As I was saying before I was interrupted..." Paar stepped down for good in 1962 and was replaced by Johnny Carson.

Paar and Carson appear in our Who2 loop on Tonight Show Hosts.

Four Good Links

The Jack Paar Show

Cheery introduction to the show, with some great Web links to Paar

Jack Paar on the Web

Mainly aimed at selling his video, but some nice personal tidbits, too

Tonight Show Pioneer Dies

The news from The Washington Post

Jack Paar

Part of PBS' American Masters program

Vital Stats

Birth

1 May 1918

Birthplace

Canton, Ohio

Death

27 January 2004
(age 85)

Best Known As

The Tonight Show host before Johnny Carson