Exclusive | Johnny Carsons pal recalls late-night hosts drunken night that ended with a cop chauffeur: book

While the world knew famed late-night host Johnny Carson as the funny man who America welcomed into their homes for 30 seasons, Howard Smith knew him as a kind, down to earth neighbor in Malibu.The pals first met when talent agent Jerry Weintraub and his wife, singer Jane Morgan, invited Smith and his wife Jane over for a star-studded dinner party.Morgan, now 101, asked the tech mogul if he could sit next to Carson — since despite him being an extrovert on air, he was more of an introvert at these functions.“We talked,” Smith recounted in an exclusive interview with The Post.“He had just moved four houses down and I have a tennis court and the reason Jane put us together was because he was shy.”“[Carson’s wife], Alex [Maas], was with him that night,” explained the Malibu resident.

“I had never met John before but he was my hero.And at that dinner, we started talking about different things and he had just sold his beach house to John McEnroe and he said to me that one of the things he got John McEnroe to do in the sale was play tennis at Pepperdine.”But Smith knew that despite hitting balls with a pro, playing on the college campus wasn’t necessary.“I said, well, I’ve got a tennis court anytime you want to,” the author recalled.

“I gave him my number and the next morning John called.I thought it was a prank.

I couldn’t believe he called me and he said, ‘Can I come over and play tennis with you today?'”From there, a friendship quickly formed and they went on to play the sport together weekly.“We only played maybe three weeks when he said to me one day after a game, ‘You know, next week I’m going to be 60 years old.I’m going to have dinner at Spago in Beverly Hills.

I would love to have you and Jane come.'”Despite Smith thinking he was walking into a star-studded birthday bash, Carson invited the couple to an intimate dinner with only two other guests — proving how deep their bond became.“I was anticipating this is ...