A monologue so memorable, it's #1
Wow, never thought I'd see Johnny go and give the audience the finger. It seemed like pretty dry material. Perhaps it was just too topical to be humorous.
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MovieChat Forums > The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) Discussion > A monologue so memorable, it's #1
Reminds me of the time Jackie Mason supposedly flipped-off Ed Sullivan.
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If it's floating around somewhere on the 'net, the Mason incident is worth checking out since it happened on-air. He was the last act on that evening's show, the show was running long, and Mason was dying. Sullivan held up two fingers off stage to indicate Mason only had two minutes left. Mason claims he panicked and went into some goofy routine about hand signals. He started getting laughs and in the finale to the bit, he gestured towards Sullivan who was standing off to the right of Mason.
Mason says he didn't flip Sullivan off. Whatever he did, Sullivan took it as giving him the finger, and on-air, as well. It turned out that whatever Mason did wasn't seen on air but, unfortunately for Mason, Sullivan didn't know that, and even if it wasn't seen by viewers, giving Sullivan the finger, either on or off-air, wasn't exactly a smart move, considering the weight he had back then.
Mason had a tough time getting work after that, even though he and Sullivan reconciled a few years later and he got another spot on the show.
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The Carson/Newton feud is often brought up along with the Sullivan/Mason feud. The thing is, Newton was one of the few 'celebrities' who didn't really need or could be hurt by Carson. Apparently, Newton was content following in Elvis' shoes as being Mr. Las Vegas and, presumably, nothing more. So Newton must have figured he was beyond Carson's wrath.
Plus, I can't really feature Newton going so far as to show up at Carson's office and threatening him over some lame gay joke that associated him with Librace. For starters, the whole story didn't really get wide release until 'after' Carson had been dead for a while. And the corroboration of Carson's lawyer, well, Bushkin certainly would like to have a nice anecdote like that to help sell his book.
But more than anything else, I just can't see Newton making the effort to come to Burbank, then getting let into Carson's office without a much better reason for it. Finally, Carson was known for being a combative bastard (mainly after he'd been drinking) and his backing down from 'anyone' (particularly some Las Vegas has-been) wasn't really in his demeanor. If Newton really did threaten Carson, the most likely response from Carson would be something along the lines of nothing more than, "Get out of my office, a$$hole".
OTOH, I distinctly recall Newton desperately wanting to star in an Errol Flynn biopic at some point. If the confrontation story is true, you can damn well bet that Carson would do everything he could to make sure Newton didn't stand a chance in hell of getting that (or any other) role. Remember, Carson used to play poker with guys like David Geffen.