A new book about Johnny Carson has pulled back the curtain on the Tonight Show host’s banned list.
Love Johnny Carson explores the iconic TV host’s career and talk show tenure, featuring interviews with producers and those who were closest to him.
The late comedian hosted the Tonight Show for 30 years, from 1962 to 1992. During that time, he received six Emmy Awards and was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
Highlights
- Johnny Carson, known as the King of Late Night Television, had a “banned list” of guests he did not want appearing on his talk show.
- Carson hosted The Tonight Show for three decades, from the 1960s through the 1990s.
- Some guests landed on the list for correcting him mid-interview, while others were dishonest with him or failed to make the audience laugh.
Carson welcomed world-famous guests, including Frank Sinatra, Paul McCartney, and Madonna.
Johnny Carson hosted the Tonight Show for three decades, during which he banned a number of guests
Image credits: Alice S. Hall/NBCU Photo Bank
The new book, written by Carson aficionado Mark Malkoff, reveals that there were a number of guests the host didn’t want on his couch.
Peter Lassally, Carson’s producer for over two decades, told Malkoff there was a banned list “with over thirty names on it.”
One of the stars on the infamous list was Jay Leno. The comedian made his Tonight Show debut in March 1977 and later became a regular on the program.
Jay Leno
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However, during his fifth appearance in 1978, Leno’s jokes failed to land with the audience, leading Carson to decide he didn’t want him on the show again.
According to the book, “the audience's laughs were so light that Johnny decided never to invite him back.”
Stand-up talent scout Jim McCawley reportedly fought to have Leno back, but Carson had the final say.
“‘Johnny just doesn’t like him. He doesn’t like his jokes,’ said Peter,” Malkoff wrote. “‘That’s not going to change… Once he doesn’t like someone, he doesn’t start liking them later.”
Leno later returned to the show. He went on to host it himself for a combined 22 years, from 1992 to 2009 and from 2010 to 2014.
Ellen DeGeneres
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Ellen DeGeneres was also on Carson’s bad side, according to Malkoff.
The Ellen Show host became the first female comedian to appear in the Tonight Show in 1986, but she was quickly shown the door for disobeying Carson.
During her third appearance in 1987, Ellen made a joke that Carson had explicitly told her not to make, said the show’s publicist, Charlie Barrett.
After the show, Carson allegedly “chastised” Ellen in front of his staff.
“Pointing at her, he said, ‘I told you not to do that material,’” Malkoff wrote. “Barrett recalled Ellen looking embarrassed. Jim made Ellen and her guest leave, saying, ‘You won’t be back again too soon.'”
Ellen returned to the Tonight Show in 1989 when Jay Leno was guest-hosting.
William Shatner
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Star Trek actor William Shatner was added to the banned list after accidentally breaking three unwritten rules for guests.
The first one was going into a long monologue and speaking “monotonously for four minutes straight” without letting the host interject.
Shatner also turned his back on Carson to talk to Buddy Hackett, one of the show’s most beloved recurring guests.
Finally, he made the mistake of mentioning the competition. “He disregarded the Tonight rule that it was okay to mention your non-NBC TV series but not the network it aired on. Shatner mentioned the show, his series T. J. Hooker, and then also mentioned that it was on ABC. (The word was muted for air.)”
Shatner, who returned to the Tonight Show with guest hosts Leno and Patrick Duffy, later told USA Today that he had “awful” experiences with Carson, and that he didn’t understand why the late host “would get a hate-on for people.”
Carl Sagan
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Another Tonight Show faux pas was correcting Carson. This mistake was committed by astronomer Carl Sagan, a recurring guest, in 1986.
Sagan corrected the host twice as they were discussing Halley’s comet, which last appeared that year.
According to the author, Carson “hid his embarrassment with his affable smile” but “felt slighted” by the famous scientist.
“Despite his abiding respect for Sagan, Carson made sure the astrophysicist was not invited back to the talk show that had brought him enviable celebrity status.”
Dana Carvey
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Comedian Dana Carvey was allegedly banned for mocking Carson in a Saturday Night Live sketch in 1990.
A Tonight Show producer told Malkoff that the host disapproved of Carvey’s portrayal of him, reportedly saying, “I don’t talk like that. I don’t use those expressions.”
The final straw was a sketch in which Carson thought he looked “out of touch, unhip, and clueless,” leading Carvey to be “permanently banned.”
Orson Welles
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Orson Welles was banned for being dishonest with Carson about one of his magic tricks.
During his fifth time guest-hosting, the Citizen Kane filmmaker performed a mentalist routine that failed after the two men he had hired to sit in the audience made a mistake.
Carson “wasn’t irate because the trick flopped; he was furious that Orson was dishonest,” Malkoff wrote, adding that Carson had deep admiration for Welles, but that “a magician using audience plants was inexcusable.”
Jerry Lewis
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Jerry Lewis was allegedly banned for mistreating one of Carson’s staff members while guest-hosting the show.
The The King of Comedy, who had appeared in the show over 80 times, “got hysterical [and] verbally ab*sive” when Don Schiff, who was in charge of cue cards, told him he couldn’t fulfill his request in time.
“Carson did not abide bad manners,” the book reads. “Nor did he tolerate anyone who disrespected his staff and crew."
Steve Allen
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Finally, the original Tonight Show host, Steve Allen, was allegedly banned in 1982 after yelling at crew members while guest-hosting the show and mocking an injury suffered by Carson.
Allen reportedly phoned a crew member and mistreated them for implementing changes his own associates had requested. The worker then told Carson about the incident, asking never to work with Allen again.
Carson responded by reassuring the worker that he would ban Allen, who only returned to the show with guest hosts Duffy and Leno.
Image credits: George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum
The Tonight Show first aired in 1954. It has since been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, and the current host, Jimmy Fallon.
Taped from Studio 6B in Rockefeller Center, it is is the world's longest-running talk show and the longest-running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States.
People reflected on Johnny Carson's legacy and the infamous banned list
