President Ronald Reagan had a beautiful and glamorous inauguration in 1981, which was produced by Frank Sinatra. Sinatra had his heart set on having Johnny Carson host the evening, but Carson resisted early on. He didn’t really want to say no to Sinatra, who asked him personally to do him this special favor.
But as it turns out, that special favor came from a little higher up than Mr. Frank Sinatra, as Reagan actually asked for Carson himself. But Carson still didn’t really want to go and joked that he’d already served his country before. Johnny did end up hosting the event and afterward commented on the fact that it was very extravagant, like a Hollywood premiere. Carson was truly unhappy during the entire experience and apparently wouldn’t even include a drunk Dean Martin during the inaugural.
The Butt of Another Joke
Johnny Carson certainly has made himself a name within the… toilet industry. This traces back to 1977 when a portable toilet manufacturer put out a product with the name “Here’s Johnny” on it. The issue with this manufacturer dubbing their product with that title was that it was the same phrase that Carson used when being introduced on the set of "Tonight."
Carson heard about the name of the toilets and immediately contacted his lawyer to initiate a lawsuit, which he won. The Judge ruled that the toilet manufacturing company needed to cease all use of that name on their toilets. But this lawsuit was no easily won feat, in fact, it took nearly a decade for him to get the ruling he desired. And even now, after Carson’s death, Braxton, the toilet manufacturer, is still pushing back against that ruling and attempting to use “Here’s Johnny.”
Get Out of My Neighborhood, Carson
Carson really ticked off Mr. Rogers of "Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood" when he decided to use his own version of the character as a joke on his show. But Johnny didn’t play the nice Mr. Rogers that everyone in America knew and loved. Instead, he portrayed him as a dark figure, attempting to get kids to take cash from Mom and Dad. No one took very kindly to this act, especially not Fred Rogers, who played the beloved Mr. Rogers.
Fred Rogers was upset that Carson had used his character in such a negative way when everyone knows that "Mr. Rogers Neighborhood" was all about positivity and being a kind and loving person towards everyone you meet. This caused so much of a stir in America that it forced Carson to apologize to Fred, and everyone else, for the bad jokes. But Fred was far from the last person to require an apology from the late comedian.
Johnny Hates Reality TV
Before Johnny Carson passed away in 2005, he had dinner with Jerry Seinfeld and Garry Shandling and expressed his disgust with how television was evolving. He considered reality TV to be trashy, and he was not impressed in the slightest. According to Peter Jones, a Hollywood filmmaker, Carson felt good comedy was fading away and being overrun with this tabloid-like nonsense.
After he passed, waves of celebrities hit the screens and papers, paying their respects to the late television star. But Johnny clearly wanted nothing to do with modern television anyways, according to the source, and said that he felt lucky to have gotten out at the point he had. The former late-night king of comedy may have been considered somewhat controversial during his time, but he would have really hated the way reality TV has taken over the world.
Johnny Wouldn’t Reap What He Sowed
According to Rich Little, The Man of a Thousand Voices, Johnny put on this tough guy act but was entirely capable of having his feelings hurt. The voice actor claimed that he had been tossed off of Carson’s set because he shot back at him after being targeted by Carson’s jokes, and Johnny apparently couldn’t take the heat. As Little also worked as an impressionist and gave Johnny a sneak peek at himself on his set, Carson probably was not very impressed.
Richard Little released a tell-all memoir that he titled: "Little by Little: People I’ve Known and Been," in which he actually went so far as to say that he thought Johnny hated him. Although, like Johnny, Little himself had a list of people in Hollywood who didn’t like him very much. After all, he made his money performing impressions of celebrities, and some of them didn’t take it very kindly.