Tommy Newsom, 78; ‘Tonight Show’ musician was Carson’s foil

Tommy Newsom, the former longtime saxophonist for “The Tonight Show” orchestra who regularly subbed for bandleader Doc Severinsen and earned the tongue-in-cheek nickname “Mr. Excitement” as the famously low-key butt of Johnny Carson’s jokes, has died. He was 78.

Newsom, who had bladder and liver cancer, died Saturday at his home in Portsmouth, Va., said his wife of 49 years, Pat.

Newsom became an NBC staff musician in 1962, having recently finished touring with Benny Goodman’s big band in Latin America and the Soviet Union.

Shortly after joining the network, he was assigned to “The Tonight Show,” where he remained until Carson retired in 1992.

“He was, of course, a fantastic arranger, composer and saxophone player -- that goes without saying,” Severinsen told The Times on Monday.

“He was one of the sweetest guys that ever came down the pike, a gentleman through and through.”

Newsom, who wrote arrangements for the “Tonight Show” orchestra and played lead alto sax -- Severinsen credited him with helping “make that band what it was” -- became assistant music director in 1968.

As substitute bandleader, Newsom’s plain wardrobe and unassuming demeanor offered a stark contrast to the outgoing and flamboyantly attired Severinsen.

“Johnny blanched when he saw me” leading the band for the first time, Newsom recalled in a 1992 interview with The Times.

“I was such a contrast to Doc, who was dressing like a demented flamingo, while I just wore my other suit -- I had a limited wardrobe. I don’t think I said a thing.”

Newsom’s self-described “cardboard-cutout style” quickly proved to be a perfect foil for Carson, who called him “The Man from Bland” and “the cover boy for Oatmeal Illustrated.”

How dull was Newsom?

He was, according to Carson, so dull he “wants to come back as a plant, so somebody will talk to him” and “was the only person to reach puberty and senility at the same time.”

But occasionally, as Newsom told the Virginian-Pilot newspaper in 2001, “I’d get a zinger in.”

When he uncharacteristically wore a loud yellow jacket on one show, Carson cracked, “Look at that big, dumb canary.”

To which Newsom replied: “You’ll know what kind of bird I am when I fly over you.”

Carson sidekick Ed McMahon recalled another time that Newsom’s dry wit surfaced.

Noting that the wardrobe department would pick out what they would wear on the show, “although you didn’t have to wear it,” he said that Carson walked out on stage one night wearing a tan jacket and dark brown pants when he noticed that Newsom was similarly attired.

“We’re wearing the same outfit,” Carson said to him.

Deadpanned Newsom: “I had no choice.”

“He’d come up with those bons mots that would just devastate the audience,” McMahon said.

The son of a pharmacist father and a kindergarten teacher mother, Newsom was born in Portsmouth on Feb. 25, 1929.

He received his first saxophone for Christmas when he was 8, and he was playing in local bands by the time he was 13.

After graduating from high school in 1945, Newsom attended the Norfolk division of the College of William & Mary (now Old Dominion University), then spent four years majoring in music education at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore.

Joining the Air Force after graduating from Peabody in 1952, he toured with the Airmen of Note, an Air Force jazz ensemble.

He then moved to New York, where he earned a master’s degree in music education from Columbia University and freelanced as a musician, both on the road and in studios, as well as playing with the Vincent Lopez band for a couple of years.

Newsom won a Clio Award for an American Airlines commercial and shared Emmy Awards for his musical arranging on “Night of 100 Stars” in 1982 and the 40th annual Tony Awards in 1986.

Newsom, who recorded several CDs, did arrangements for artists ranging from opera singer Beverly Sills to country singer Kenny Rogers. He also did symphonic arrangements for Severinsen.

Newsom, who moved from Tarzana to Portsmouth after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, continued to do occasional gigs until March, as well as writing arrangements until a few weeks ago.

In addition to his wife, Newsom is survived by a daughter, Candace Liebmann. His son, Mark, died in 2003.

A memorial service in Woodland Hills is pending.

dennis.mclellan@latimes.com