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Making it in show business requires talent and dedication from the producer, performers and writers. Recent biographies of three iconic individuals reveal the struggles behind creating enduring cultural monuments.

Carson the Magnificent, by Bill Zehme with Mike Thomas, Simon & Schuster, 2024, 336 pages

As we all remember, Ed McMahon opened “The Tonight Show” with his signature line, “Heeere’s Johnny.” This comprehensive biography, 22 years in the making, raises the more important question, “Who was Johnny?”

Some performers project their personalities into their craft (think Zero Mostel). Others hide their insecurity and morph into other personas when the lights go on (think Henry Fonda).

Carson remains more complicated. He presented himself as a humble Nebraskan, the genial host of “Who Do You Trust?”, the droll performer — as in the psychic Carnac the Magnificent — the gentle host (even while eviscerating guests like the Amazing Kreskin).

Off camera, too: In choosing his nightly ensemble, he generously prolonged careers (Jack Benny) and launched others (David Letterman, Jerry Seinfeld and many more).

Bill Zehme, a magazine journalist who died before completing this biography, and Mike Thomas of Chicago, a profiler of celebrities, reveal the dark side of their subject. Carson hated his mother, and as an adult, he struggled to maintain family relationships. He abused his wives. He drank too much. He alienated his sons. One of them committed suicide, a death his father never got over.

Maybe the answer lies in Carson’s keen lifelong interest in magic and his act as “Carsoni” early in his career. Like a magician, Carson concealed his reality with deliberate effort in his professional, but not private, life.

Come to your own conclusion.

Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live, by Susan Morrison, Random House, 2025, 656 pages

NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” may qualify as America’s most influential television show. Chevy Chase’s pratfalls as Gerald Ford, Steve Martin’s “Excuuuuse me” and other funny moments will live forever.

Where did the show come from? In a new book released in March, timed for this fall’s 50th anniversary of the blockbuster show, Susan Morrison, articles editor of The New Yorker, tells us: from Lorne Michaels (nee Lipowitz) of Toronto.

The book’s structure follows SNL’s weekly production schedule: Monday through Saturday (and a coda called “After Saturday”).

Morrison describes concept meetings, writers’ scripts, readthroughs, rehearsals, dress rehearsals and live performances. She details Michaels’ involvement, from hiring writers and actors to approving content. We learn of Lorne’s dexterity in dealing with big stars with fragile egos and the mixed results of his battles with NBC executives (including his five-year banishment).

The author includes the story of young Lorne’s chance meeting with his future first wife, the daughter of comedian Frank Shuster, of Wayne and Shuster, who hold the record for most appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Shuster taught Michaels the intricacies of standup comedy.

Lorne preferred analyzing audience tastes and proper presentation rather than performance. Changing his mind, he moved from Toronto to the U.S., where he caught two important breaks. Howard Cosell’s ABC variety show took the name “Saturday Night Live” but bombed. Johnny Carson reduced his workload, forcing NBC to transfer his reruns to weeknights. The network saw live TV as the cheapest way to fill the gap, so SNL took off.

Ira Gershwin: A Life in Words, by Michael Owen, Liveright, 2024, 416 pages

Born Israel Gershovitz on the Lower East Side of New York, Ira Gershwin was a shy kid who in high school showed a knack for words. Later he served as a lyricist-collaborator to his younger brother, George, and other composers during Broadway’s Golden Age.

As a lyricist, Gershwin sometimes had to contort himself, writing coherently to cover the number of musical beats. The opposite problem arose when the words came first. The composer could not always write intelligible music to fit. Ira’s innovation: both at once, true collaboration.

Michael Owen, co-archivist of the Ira Gershwin Estate, richly chronicles his subject’s life while addressing broader issues. What comes first, music or words? How does one cope with the death of a younger sibling, whether at an early age (George) or old age, especially when one thinks, as did Ira, he could have prevented it?

George complained of headaches, which Ira and the family downplayed, until they became terminal cancer. He died at age 38. Ira coped by playing Gershwin songs and promoting George’s legacy. For nearly 50 years, Ira felt his late brother’s presence.