And the next day, I end up I usually wake up in some strange place with a kid with an accent playing with my feet. These are nine comedy legends who were so funny Johnny Carson couldn’t control his own show. They could reduce this master of television to helpless laughter and turn the episode into television magic.
Let’s see who these guests are. Number one, Don Rickles, the master of insults. [cheering] Starting in 1963, Don Rickles made 132 appearances on the show, earning his nickname Mr. Warmth by being anything but warm. And he was the only guest who could call Carson a big dummy or a Nebraska yokel and still get invited back.
Sinatra is the boss because for one reason, not because of the word boss, but because he stimulates excitement, he stimulates our industry, and he makes you nervous. You like that, don’t you? [applause] You like to see me nervous. But one moment in 1976 exposed Carson’s capacity for genuine rage.
While Carson was absent, Rickles appeared with guest host Bob Newhart and accidentally destroyed a wooden cigarette box during a desk-pounding routine. And Carson cherished that box because it had traveled with him from the show’s New York origins. Uh-oh. What the hell happened to this? Well, as as long as you it’s you’ve seen what happened.
You know how long I’ve had this cigarette box on this desk? You brought that up from New York City? I brought this from New York. What on earth? It happened last night. Who? Don Rickles. I did not see the Don Rickles did it last night. Carson returned and discovered the destruction, then abandoned protocol entirely by grabbing a camera crew and marching to the adjacent studio where Rickles was filming CPO Sharkey.
I just started the show, I picked my box up off my desk that I’ve had for 9 years. My box is broken. They told me they told me you broke it on the show last night. Well, I I I really I I I You big dummy. I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Rickles retorted that he’d replace the box with an X-ray of Carson’s lungs. This was really funny.
I replace this a wonderful large wonderful beautiful X-ray of your lungs. But most people remember this as just as a playful revenge. But I disagree because Carson’s willingness to disrupt a separate production revealed how deeply Rickles could provoke him beyond the scripted parameters of late-night television.
When he dies, I’m going to put him in this. Number two, Buddy Hackett, the storyteller. I remind you, remember that routine I used to do? Which one? Which one? Well, you’re going to say don’t do it and they’re going to say do it. [cheering] I won’t get you in trouble. You’ve been on this job 32 years, right? Not quite, no.
Why do you want to You’re not having any fun. Let me send you out into the world. Buddy Hackett told stories so prolonged that Carson became a bystander in his own studio, performing 10 to 15-minute theatrical pieces with multiple character voices instead of quick setups. His routines included the duck joke, the dog story, and the Chinese waiter bit.
Hunting for ducks. Now, this guy shoots a duck and it falls and hits a barn and goes into a guy’s yard. And he goes into the yard and he’s trying to get this duck and this farmer come out. He says, “What are you doing in my yard?” He says, “I come to get the duck.” He says, “That’s my duck.
It’s not your duck. This is my yard. That duck fell, hit my barn.” On August 13th, 1970, Hackett appeared with Dr. Paul R. Ehrlich, author of The Population creating absurd contrast as Ehrlich warned about ecological collapse while Hackett performed blue comedy that pushed NBC’s standards and practices to their breaking point.
Uh Dr. Kempner, uh the German doctor who doesn’t know yet that I’m Jewish. Ooh. I said “Don’t let us do that because I lost the And he treats me like an equal. Meanwhile, I have wires house but the day I hit my wire, they blow it up. The legendary moment happened during a commercial break when Hackett told the Aristocrats
joke, a routine known for extreme profanity, timing You bet your preparation H said do Thank you. was directly derivative of Winters’ Maude Frickert. Didn’t Didn’t I remember you didn’t Maude Frickert used to do read Christmas poems or Well, I yes, Maude Frickert did a little thing.
I don’t have any of the drawings, but I did a routine with the old lady and I had the the gray hair, you know, and the bun in the back and a long dress and a little broach and An admission of influence Carson rarely made public. Winters appeared with Robin Williams on September 19th, 1991 dressed in a general’s uniform and discussing his anxiety over his pets falling during earthquakes, finding humor in the abstract and neurotic.
Well, I worry about my pets because uh they fall down. They have good doing They’re old. And uh yeah, they fall over. And when you get a major shake, the animals especially the animals stiff. Their legs are locked or something or Well, I have a stiff dog and a stiff cat and they fall over, you know. The combination created a comedic perfect storm that reduced Carson to laughter, leaving him completely unable to continue the interview.
She’s very active. But the romance is still there. But you’ve got to stay up all night, you know, to keep her active. A lot of A lot of things she say, you know, I come at her and and play these ridiculous games. I’m sure he plays the same thing. Number five, Tim Conway, the master of the slow burn.
What uh What What is the [applause and cheering] I can’t go over 2 minutes. This is it. This is not going to work. Well, okay. Tim Conway brought a specific philosophy to Carson stage centered on the slow burn designed to cause corpsing, which means breaking character with laughter.
And his first appearance was September 15th, 1977. We have an anniversary show coming up. We’re starting our 16th year. Mhm. You have never been on this show. That’s true. And I I No, we asked you before. Well, you know, I didn’t know you did this. You know, uh [cheering] [applause] Conway’s genius was deception because he followed the script exactly during dress rehearsals, giving production staff and Carson false security before abandoning everything during broadcast.
You have I made a movie. And you wrote one and you Yeah, down in Tijuana called Peggy and the Pony, which was No, no, no. Oh, the one for Disney. Disney. Not the training film. No, not the training Not the training film. No, I said for uh care how to take care of your N1.
We’ve seen it. No. His recurring character, Preacher Raleigh D. Tucker, would force Carson into defensive laughter, and Conway would patiently wait for Carson to recover before delivering a subtle facial expression that triggered relapse. My dear friends, I met a man many years ago. His name was Ed McMahon.
[cheering] The elephant story, famous for breaking the Carol Burnett Show cast in 1977. The this elephant had this little dwarf trainer and uh she used to put a little ballerina skirt on that elephant. And I’d go around the circus like that. That’s what I thought was so laughable at the time. Demonstrated his mastery of pacing by building stories so gradually that everyone was already in tears from anticipation alone by the time the punchline arrived.
Number six, Steve Martin, the wild and crazy guy. Well, good evening, poodles and collies. You know, Bowser and Fido were walking down the street one day and Bowser spotted this big dish put it full of dog food. Well, he went over and took a big bite of it, leaned over to Fido and said, “This stuff isn’t fit for a human.” Oh, I got a million of them.
Steve Martin appeared approximately 40 times and guest hosted between 18 and 31 times over his relationship with the show. On February 15th, 1973, his dogs and card tricks routine established his meta-comedic approach. Do you like mind reading? Yeah, well, everybody. Stop. Okay. Take a look at the card.
Now, shuffle it. And on the count of three, I want you to name your card out loud. Your card will fly from the deck, circle around the room. Fourteen of spades. That is the dirtiest trick I’ve ever And by September 26th, 1980, his wild and crazy guy character would order dinner from a waiter mid-interview, hijacking the show’s format entirely.
So hungry after a monologue. Well, you work hard. Plus that’s the dinner guy. A menu, please. Thank you. [applause] The pinnacle came May 6th, 1992, just weeks before Carson’s retirement, with The Great Fly, a routine where Martin played a silent magician producing impossible items like a ringing telephone, flowers, and a glass of wine from his trouser fly.
Carson, a former amateur magician, had personally requested this routine as a farewell gift. Number seven, Robin Williams. Most of those evangelists are very I love how the hair looks and they got great suits and great ties and Wonderful carnations.
roses right here. I could not save this flower, but I will save you. Robin Williams’ October 14th, 1981 debut redefined guest volatility when he transitioned through six characters in the first 75 seconds, including severe dyslexia, trick-or-treating for trick-or-trout. know I suffer from severe dyslexia, too.
I was the only child on my block on Halloween to go trick-or-treat. Here comes that young Williams boy again. Better get some fish. Williams grabbed Carson’s coffee mug while making a joke about sores and herpes, and that was a very funny moment. You’re a nice man. You won’t hurt me.
No, no. What I don’t want to say I’m certain Okay, thank you. Don’t be afraid. It’s not I the sores went away. The simplex two is it or one? One or Real men can stand up to herpes. Williams’ appearances sometimes required Carson to abandon his desk entirely because he couldn’t handle Williams’ energy.
Hey, Dan, do you want to be president? Yeah. Five minutes to Murphy Brown. Yeah. Hey, this is the greatest insurance in the world. This one someone’s going, “I’m going to get that Batman, Georgia.” Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I pop him, he becomes Oh, man. During their final 1992 interview, Carson’s closing words to Williams were whispered expressions of genuine affection.
And Carson admired Williams because he embodied the casual grace and spontaneity that Carson, a master of precision, could never fully replicate. Gratitude to Robin Williams for making this a very special night. Thank you, my friend. Number eight, Rodney Dangerfield. I got no respect the day I was born. Really? No respect.
The doctor picked me up and smacked me. I found out the guy took a few in, too. I was a lonely kid, too, Johnny. Oh, I was a lonely kid. huh? Even in a park, I had no friends. Really? I remember the seesaw. I had to keep running from one end to the other. I grew up, I was lonely, too, when I grew up. Yeah, yeah.
I couldn’t get dates with girls. Girls didn’t Talk to me, girls they go for a guy with looks. Everything is looks, looks, you know. Rodney Dangerfield’s no respect persona was built on rapid-fire one-liners that left no intervention space. And before entering show business in his 40s, Dangerfield had been an aluminum siding salesman in New Jersey, a background that informed his archetypal loser status.
My old man, he didn’t help me, either. Kept taking me to the zoo. He said he was hoping my real parents would claim me. It’s the same thing today. I don’t get no respect from anyone. His physical appearance of a black suit, narrow tie, and constant nervous neck tugging created a sense of imminent catastrophic failure Carson found irresistible.
I drink, I don’t know what I’m doing. And the next day, I end up I usually wake up in some strange place with a kid with an accent playing with my feet. [cheering] During a 1974 appearance, Dangerfield was so relentless that fellow guest Dom DeLuise literally rolled on the floor laughing, and Carson’s role was reduced to holding his head in his hands while waiting for the barrage to end so he could cut to commercial.
I had a tough few years, Johnny. Everybody has it tough, I guess. Yeah. problems. I’m going to go out there and speak with a problem. What this guy told me, he he had an affair with a girl three months ago. The guy’s going nuts. He didn’t know what to do. He told me what happened was the rabbit died.
It just stays in critical condition, you Number nine, Jim Fowler and his animals. They like that for a I pick him right here? Yeah, just pick him up there and put him right back. That’s all all you have to do. He can’t get back. In fact, he doesn’t have any mandible for eating. Animal expert Jim Fowler provided pure physical unpredictability that no script could account for.
All right, sir. Wait a minute. Take Take your stick with you. All right, wait a [cheering] [applause] On September 21st, 1978, Fowler brought a massive beetle he assured Carson couldn’t fly, and moments later, it took flight, causing Carson to run for cover. I don’t think you do, but this What’s he doing? You didn’t tell me he could fly.
I didn’t I didn’t know he could fly. A bat once escaped and flew toward the ceiling, prompting Carson to duck behind his desk. They poop with their sight and also sense of smell. [cheering] [cheering] The most iconic moment was September 7th, 1989, when a 200-lb python was held by four to five men, including Jim Fowler, and Carson had to measure the length of that snake.
All right. [cheering] Stripping away all of Carson’s control, because that python was so heavy that it was totally unmanageable. And no preparation could stop a beetle from flying or a python from causing chaos. Between October 1st, 1962 and May 22nd, 1992, Johnny Carson hosted 6,714 episodes of The Tonight Show across exactly 29 years, 7 months, and 21 days of broadcast dominance that ended with 50 million viewers watching his finale.
After studying Carson’s archive for years, I’ve noticed something the consensus gets wrong about his loss of control moments with certain guests. And the truth is that Carson’s rigidity created the comedic tension on purpose. His monologues followed a mathematical formula of 16 to 22 topical jokes with a maximum of three per subject.
And producer Fred de Cordova ran the studio like clockwork. When these guests shattered that precision, Carson had engineered it. Most of these legends have now passed, with Don Rickles in 2017, Buddy Hackett in 2003, Dean Martin in 1995, Jonathan Winters in 2013, Tim Conway in 2019, Robin Williams in 2014, Rodney Dangerfield in 2004, and Jim Fowler in 2019.
Only Steve Martin remains active in comedy as of 2026. Their appearances remain the most watched clips in the Carson Entertainment Group archive, because the moments when Carson lost control were when audiences felt most connected to him. Carson’s cool host persona was built on restraint. And unlike contemporaries who performed artificial laughter, Carson would only laugh when genuinely amused, and often cut short monotonous segments with abrupt commercial transitions.
This made the moments when these guests forced him out of his chair or into hysterical collapse all the more significant. Johnny Carson’s inability to handle these nine legends wasn’t a flaw, but the secret to his 29-year dominance, and his willingness to lose control within a framework of absolute precision defined why he remained the king of late night until the final broadcast attracted 50 million witnesses to his farewell.
