June 5, 2013 9:10 pm

Watch Johnny Carson as Carl Sagan and these other Cosmic Quips and Clips

Scene from The Tonight Show, with Johnny Carson as Carl Sagan

From The Tonight Show in 1980: Johnny Carson impersonating Carl Sagan, while Ed McMahon plays it straight.

Want a laugh? Good, because it’s time for some new Cosmic Quips and Clips from our comedy contributor, @DanJPerlman. For those of you who don’t know, the videos in our Cosmic Quips and Clips playlist are our favorite videos we’ve discovered on YouTube where comedy collides with science and pop culture.

We’ll start with a clip from Johnny Carson doing Carl Sagan on The Tonight Show. (For you youngins out there, once upon a time, a long, long time ago, before Jay Leno, a many named Johnny Carson hosted The Tonight Show for a few, well, let’s say 30, years. And the guy with him in the video is Ed McMahon, perhaps the greatest “second banana” ever.)

Following “The King of Late-Night” is Pete Kern talking about moon landing conspiracy theorists, and his funny take on what it would mean if they were right.

Next up, two clips from Ricky Gervais and company. In each of them Karl Pilkington shows off his scientific “knowledge.” Karl may remind you of those friends you have that claim to be “seriously into science” but, as you’ve no doubt realized, the way they define science and the way you define science are completely different things. (The first clip takes about 10 seconds to start, so hang in there.)

Finally, the last bit is from Abby Harrison, who talks about Pluto, and the scientists behind its demotion. (I wonder who she’s talking about?)

We hope you enjoyed this latest installment of “Cosmic Quips and Clips.” For more, check out all our Cosmic Quips and Clips on our YouTube Channel, as well as plenty of our own “Behind the Scenes” video segments.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!

–Jeffrey Simons

Get the most out of StarTalk!

Ad-Free Audio Downloads
Ad-Free Video Episodes
Stickers & Mugs
Live Streams with Neil
Priority Cosmic Queries
Early-Access Videos
Learn the Meaning of Life
...and much more