Johnny Carson book exposes 'Tonight Show' ban list featuring Jay Leno, Ellen DeGeneres
Johnny Carson's time as the host of NBC's "The Tonight Show" is memorialized in the new book "Love Johnny Carson."
Written by Carson aficionado Mark Malkoff, with David Ritz, the book covers Carson's life and career, featuring interviews with those who knew him best, and it captures just how big an icon he was during his tenure on the "Tonight Show" and after.
When speaking with Peter Lassally, Carson's producer for 22 years, Malkhoff confirmed the infamous "Tonight Show" ban list existed. He added that to his knowledge there was never a physical list, but both "Burt Reynolds and Rich Little both claimed to have seen a "hard copy" with over thirty names on it.
Here are all the big-name celebrities the book says were banned from the show.
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Jay Leno made his "Tonight Show" debut in March 1977 and was a smash hit, so much so that he soon became a regular on the show.
Things went wrong, however, after his fifth appearance in February 1978, when "the audience laughs were so light that Johnny decided never to invite him back," according to the book.
"Tonight Show" stand-up talent scout Jim McCawley wrote in his unpublished book that producers were told by Carson not to invite Leno back. Malkoff wrote that McCawley tried to fight for Leno, but producer Peter Lassally shut him down.
"'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 eventually returned to the show, later going on to host "The Tonight Show" for a combined 22 years, first from 1992 to 2009 and then from 2010 to 2014.
Ellen DeGeneres made history as the first-ever female comedian to be called over to the couch by Carson when she made her first appearance on the show in November 1986.
She returned to the show two more times before upsetting Carson and effectively getting banned for the rest of his tenure as host. According to the show's publicist, Charlie Barrett, Carson told DeGeneres not to make a certain joke during her third appearance in May 1987, but the comedian chose to do so anyway.
"Barrett was there in the green room after the show when Jim [McCawley] chastised Ellen in front of everyone," Malkoff wrote. "Pointing at her, he said, 'I told you not to do that material.' Barrett recalled Ellen looking embarrassed. Jim made Ellen and her guest leave, saying, 'You won’t be back again too soon.'"
DeGeneres was effectively banned from the show, as she didn't return until 1989, when Jay Leno was guest hosting.
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William Shatner was not asked back after he broke three "Tonight Show" rules during his 1983 appearance, becoming "persona non grata."
The "Star Trek" actor was unaware of the unwritten rules for guests appearing on the talk show and accidentally broke three. According to the book, Shatner made the mistake of speaking "monotonously for four minutes straight," without letting Carson interject.
"Second, he turned his back on his host to talk to Buddy Hackett," the book states. "Third, 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.)"
While Shatner would come back to the show as a guest, it was only with guest hosts, including Jay Leno and Patrick Duffy. Shatner evidently didn't understand why he wasn't asked back, as, according to the book, he later told USA Today that Carson "would get a hate-on for people" and decide they would not come back to the show.
Scientist Carl Sagan was a popular guest on the "Tonight Show," appearing on the show at least 24 times, and even starting a friendship with Carson.
That all changed in January 1986, when Sagan corrected Carson twice as the two were discussing Halley's Comet.
"Carson made light of his mistakes. He hid his embarrassment with his affable smile," Malkoff wrote. "Inside, though, he felt slighted. Strange that such a brief exchange carried such a sting, but 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 was "permanently banned" from appearing as a guest on the "Tonight Show" in 1990 for pushing the envelope a little too far in a "Saturday Night Live" sketch parodying the talk show.
The comedian had been playing Carson in similar sketches since the late 1980s. Jeff Sotzing, a producer on the "Tonight Show," told Malkoff in the book that Carson wasn't a fan, saying, "I don’t talk like that. I don’t use those expressions," with Sotzing adding he thought they made him "seem like he was old and confused."
Despite his dislike of the sketches, Carson continued to have Carvey on the show until a 1990 sketch that portrayed Carvey as Carson, who seemed "out of touch, unhip and clueless" while chatting with his guest and competitor Arsenio Hall.
"After that, Carvey was permanently banned from Tonight," the book says. "Days after the airing of the offending sketch about him and Ed, during his monologue, Johnny referenced it without mentioning the show. 'I’m getting senile. Both of us. We’re old. A couple of old farts is what we are.'"
Malkoff wrote that Orson Welles was one of Carson's idols for many reasons, leading to his becoming a "Tonight Show" regular in 1978.
Things changed when Welles told Carson that he would be doing a mentalist routine while guest-hosting the show for the fifth time. While Carson was skeptical, he watched as Welles' trick failed, later finding out that the director had hired two men to sit in the audience to help him. The two messed up, leading to Welles' failure.
"He wasn’t irate because the trick flopped; he was furious that Orson was dishonest," Malkoff wrote. "A magician using audience plants was inexcusable. The towering figure of world cinema and part-time magician never again appeared as a guest with Carson hosting."
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By the summer of 1975, Jerry Lewis had either been a guest or guest hosted the "Tonight Show" over 80 times, but a disagreement with a crew member led to Lewis' ban from the show.
After Lewis guest hosted for a week, Malkoff writes that the show's cue card guy, Don Schiff, told Carson he would never be in charge of cards when Lewis was guest hosting. When pressed for a reason, Schiff told Carson, Lewis "got hysterical [and] verbally abusive" when Schiff told him he couldn't fulfill his request in time.
"After hearing the story, Johnny made a quick decision," the book says. "Despite Lewis’s being a giant of American entertainment, Johnny was clear: Lewis would never guest-host or appear on the show again. And other than one brief exception, he never did."
"Carson did not abide bad manners," Malkoff wrote. "Nor did he tolerate anyone who disrespected his staff and crew, stars be damned."
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The original host of the "Tonight Show," Steve Allen, appeared either as a guest or a guest host on the show at least 60 times, with Carson giving Allen his flowers many times for paving the way for him.
Things soured between the two of them in October 1982, the final time Allen guest hosted. Malkoff writes that one of the reasons Allen was banned was because he mocked a previous injury suffered by Carson. In addition, word got back to Carson that Allen was rude to crew members for making changes his associates requested.
Infuriated at the changes his own people had requested, Steve phoned the crew member the next day, yelling at them. Word got back to Johnny. The crew member asked never to work with Allen again. Johnny assured him that he wouldn’t have to, because Allen had been banned.
Allen returned to the show five years later, but only with guest hosts, Patrick Duffy and Jay Leno.