The Untold Truth Of Johnny Carson's Late Night Guest Hosts

Johnny Carson, to this day, remains for many the undisputed king of late night talk shows, something a boy born and raised in Corning, Iowa in 1925, never could have imagined, nor could anyone else at the time (via Biography). Carson had joined the U.S. Navy in 1943 where he became a communications officer who decoded encrypted messages. He was called into battle in 1945, but never went because the war ended that year. 

He would go on to study radio and speech at the University of Nebraska before becoming a writer on "The Red Skelton Show" for a time. Meanwhile, according to Deadline, the first late night show, "The Faye Emerson Show," wasn't broadcast until 1949. It wouldn't be until 1962 that Carson would replace Jack Paar as the host of "The Tonight Show" which, in time, Carson's name would become synonymous with (via Biography).

Seventeen years later, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Carson wanted to quit "The Tonight Show" even though he got around 7 million viewers a night and each year NBC made $50 million off his show. Through talks about moving over to ABC and renegotiations with NBC, Carson agreed to continue on "The Tonight Show" for $25 million. The other perks? His shows would only be an hour instead of an hour and a half, and he would work only three nights a week, 37 weeks a year. This would make guest hosts a significant part of late night in the Carson era.

Joan Rivers would fill the role of permanent guest host for Johnny Carson in the early 80s (via Time). Biography writes at the age of 31, Rivers had been told on numerous occasions that she was washed up and it wouldn't be until she was booked by Carson that her career trajectory took off. She gives credit to Bill Cosby for introducing her to "The Tonight Show" bookers and eventually she came on the show, not as a stand-up comedian, but sitting with Carson on the couch as a comedic writer. The chemistry between Carson and Rivers was one of a kind, which led to her making around 100 guest appearances, writing for the show, and booking other high profile gigs.

Yet that close relationship would not last when Rivers left the permanent guest host spot for her own competing late night show on the brand new Fox Network. As Biography tells it, before Rivers' show was announced, the news leaked and, even though Rivers had tried to contact Carson beforehand, she couldn't. When she finally did, he hung up on her. Rivers states, "For years, I thought that maybe he liked me better than the others. But I think it was a question of, 'I found you, and you're my property.' He didn't like that as a woman, I went up against him." She was banned from the show (and Jay Leno's subsequent iteration) until Jimmy Fallon had her on his premiere episode (via Biography).

John Davidson is perhaps best known by certain generations as the host of the game show, "Hollywood Squares," which featured other "The Tonight Show" guest hosts like Joan Rivers and McLean Stevenson. Mel Magazine states that up-and-coming celebrities viewed coming on "Hollywood Squares" as comparable and just as invigorating to their career as going on "The Tonight Show" was. 

Davidson, before his stint on "Hollywood Squares," wound up guest hosting for Johnny Carson in the late 70s, sometimes with his pet horse in tow (via The Singing Entertainer). He would end up guest hosting 87 times before he moved on to hosting game shows in the 80s (via The Carson Podcast).

According to a piece for New Hampshire Magazine, once 1990 hit, John Davidson became an avid traveler attempting to find ways to make music and found himself busking to pay for room and board at times. He played the wizard in the Broadway show, "Wicked," and continued to write and play his music. 

From January 8, 1971, David Brenner had over 150 appearances on "The Tonight Show" and nearly half of them were as a guest host for Johnny Carson (via The New York Times). Brenner was known for his observational comedy, which according to his friend and fellow stand-up comic Richard Lewis, in Vulture, made him "the godfather of hip, observational comedy." Like many stand-up comedians, making it on "The Tonight Show," let alone hosting it, became a sure fire way to make yourself a name in the business. 

The Lincoln Journal Star reported that Brenner would go on to guest host "The Tonight Show" 70 times. He would receive his own late show called "Nightlife" in 1986, only to see it cancelled a year later due to bad rankings against Johnny Carson and Joan Rivers' highly promoted Fox late night show. 

He would go on to have small successes here and there and continued comedy until the day he died in 2014. The family of Brenner said, "In David's final request, he asked that $100 in small bills be placed in his left sock 'just in case tipping is recommended where I'm going'" (via The New York Times).

Jerry Lewis is considered, for better or worse, one of the most significant comedians of all time. His sheet of accomplishments includes everything from Las Vegas gigs where he and Dean Martin would do a type of variety show, to filming on both sides of the camera–including his starring role in Martin Scorsese's "The King of Comedy"–and his charity work through the classic Jerry Lewis telethons (via The New York Times). 

When Jerry Lewis guest hosted for Steve Allen and Jack Paar, his "The Tonight Show" ratings had risen above both of them. So ABC decided to give him his own show, which cost $40 million dollars and only lasted a few months. He would go on to have other short-lived television shows afterwards as well (via Newsday). Sometimes it seems like there can be too much of a good thing. He would, however, go on to guest host 52 times during the first 21 years of Johnny Carson's run on "The Tonight Show." 

According to Washington Post, the second of three members of the Rat Pack–the third being Frank Sinatra himself–to guest host for Johnny Carson was Sammy Davis Jr., one of the great African American crooners. However, he was a complicated figure who received a lot of flack for supporting Richard Nixon's bid for office in 1972. Daily Mail reports that Davis already drew the ire of many in the black community when he became religiously Jewish and had relationships with white women. 

Nonetheless, he guest hosted "The Tonight Show" 24 times and became the first black man to host a late night talk show when he did so on April 19, 1965 (via SammyDavisJr.info). His guests for that specific show were Art Carney, Diane Sands, and Johnny Brown. In January of 1966, Davis would go on to start this own show, "The Sammy Davis Jr. Show" which would last 15 episodes before being cancelled by NBC this was in part because of some contract issues with his variety specials at ABC (via SammyDavisJr.info). Once again, showing the bad luck that surrounded the guest hosts of Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show" when starting their own late night programs. 

Richard Dawson was, for a time, everyone's favorite game show host on "Family Feud." A Facebook post on Dawson's page told about the show's importance to the game show realm during the 60s and 70s: "At the height of its success, 'Feud' was both the number-one daytime show and the number-one syndicated television show, becoming one of the most popular game shows ever" (via CNN). It aired 11 times a week and had 20 special celebrity primetime editions during his run as host. 

Dawson got his start in London as a stand-up comedian before he came to America and got jobs in film and television. (The other well-known show that Dawson starred on was "Hogan's Heroes," which he got cast in because of his role as a military prisoner in the film "King Rat.") It would be this persona that would make him the highest paid game show host of all time. 

It would also make him ripe for guest hosting on "The Tonight Show." He would host the show for a week and was considered as a replacement during Carson's near retirement.