Michael Keaton Once Impressed Johnny Carson and Won a Bet With His Gymnastic Abilities
When Johnny Carson hosted Michael Keaton on The Tonight Show for the first time in 1984, the Beetlejuice star made a sporting entrance that impressed the host, who said he’d not seen anything like it in the 22 years he’d been leading the show.
In the end, his entrance wasn’t the only thing about him that interested the icon. The stunt seemingly left Carson curious about Keaton’s youthful activities and his childhood in a family of seven.
Michael Keaton handstand walked after emerging for ‘The Tonight Show’ with Johnny Carson in 1984
By December 1984, Keaton was a rising star and had led films like Johnny Dangerously and Mr. Mom.
But when he made his first appearance on The Tonight Show with Carson, he went the extra mile to astound and performed a handstand walk as soon as he came through the famous curtain. Both Carson and his co-host Ed McMahon found the display “very impressive,” as McMahon told Keaton.
“22 years we’ve been doing the show, that’s the first time I’ve seen an entrance like that,” Carson said before asking Keaton if he used to do gymnastics.
“Kind of,” he replied. He explained that both he and his brother used to be able to handstand walk from the goal line to the 50-yard line of a football field. “I know he can’t do it anymore,” he added.
He also mentioned he’d won 10 dollars from his brother for performing the stunt. So, he made his first Tonight Show appearance, impressed two television legends, and won a brotherly bet to top the whole thing off.
Johnny Carson was curious about Michael Keaton’s upbringing in a large family
Keaton’s mention of his brother led Carson to ask about his family, which consisted of seven kids. He grew up in a farmhouse with a large brood in Pennsylvania. He was the youngest sibling and agreed with Carson’s guess that his parents were “getting pretty bored with the whole thing” when he came along.
“That’s exactly right,” he laughed. But he also noted it was an “interesting place to be because you get a lot of affection.”
Growing up with so many siblings had other advantages, too. According to him, everyone in his family was quick-witted. So, he learned to be fast with his humor just sitting at the dinner table. And he said they were all “very funny people,” though he was the only one to turn it into a lifelong career.
Johnny Carson was impressed by Michael Keaton’s work ethic
Besides being comedic entertainers, Carson and Keaton had something else in common — an ambitious work ethic. The massively influential host shared that he sold vacuum cleaners door to door at one point before he was famous, and Keaton said he’d personally been working since he was 15.
Carson was again impressed and wondered what kind of work Keaton did before becoming an actor. “I sold ice cream off a truck, I drove a cab, [and] I worked construction …” Keaton listed. “Ambition was no problem,” he said. “Ability was the problem.”
Notably, more than 30 years after he starred in Tim Burton’s Batman, Keaton is reclaiming the role for The Flash and Batgirl. So, it seems safe to say he has the ambition and the ability when it comes to acting.
