Tommy Newsom, 78, Saxist Was Carson’s ‘Dull’ Punching Bag
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Tommy Newsom, the former backup bandleader on “The Tonight Show” whose “Mr. Excitement” nickname was a running joke for Johnny Carson, died Saturday of cancer at his home in Portsmouth, Va. He was 78.
Newsom, who played saxophone, joined “Tonight” in 1962. He retired along with Carson in 1992.
“Mr. Excitement” was the name Carson gave Newsom to make light of his low-key personality and drab brown and blue suits — a sharp contrast to the flashy style of bandleader Doc Severinsen.
“As a child, one time Tommy got lost and his parents couldn’t describe him to the police,” Carson once said
Not long after the Carson era ended in 1992, Newsom remarked that his image as an ordinary guy was “fairly accurate — compared to Rambo.”
Along with his work on “The Tonight Show,” Newsom arranged and composed music for Skitch Henderson, Woody Herman, Kenny Rogers, John Denver and other performers.
Newsom was born in 1929 and got his first horn for Christmas at age 8. He toured with a U.S. Air Force jazz ensemble during a four-year enlistment.
