I've also read that tapes from the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson before a certain date (like maybe the early nineties) were discarded by Philistines at the network. The link below is to an entry in Mark Evanier's "newsfromme" blog and it supports this idea. It shows a short clip from a 1968 Tonight Show (with guest host Joe Garagiola) on which Lennon and McCartney discuss the formation of Apple. The video was generated by combining one person's 8 millimeter film of the broadcast with another person's audio recording. Not an ideal archival method!
http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2009_01_10.html#016497
However the link below is to an article about Jeff Sotzing who is the nephew of Johnny Carson and the caretaker of his video legacy. Reading it, you get the impression that he has EVERYTHING (though the 4000 tapes he has would only cover about 16 years). So now I'm confused--not an unusual state of affairs. But there is some small hope that this Cosby hosted show will some day surface.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/sotzing-uncle-john-2269712-carson-ton
Jimmy
