The Most FUNNY Guests Johnny Carson Ever Had HT

 

The next day I end up I usually wake up in some strange place with a kid with an accent playing with my feet. [laughter] Johnny Carson interviewed tens of thousands of guests. Actors promoting movies, musicians plugging albums, and authors selling books. But some guests were completely different. They made Johnny laugh so hard he could barely keep the show going.

 Some guests were so funny that Johnny would just lean back in his chair and let them completely destroy the room while he wiped tears from his eyes like just another audience member. This is the definitive list of the 15 funniest guests Johnny Carson ever had on the Tonight Show. Number one, Robin Williams, the exciting maniac.

 Robin Williams didn’t do interviews. He did performance art disguised as conversation, improvised characters exploding out of nowhere, non-stop movement, and physical comedy. His jokes came so fast that Johnny could barely catch his breath between laughs. Williams would become a Russian poet, then a British preacher, then a southern grandmother, all in the span of 30 seconds.

 If you think about Shakespeare, you think about a man basically with the education second grade education. Wrote some of the greatest poetry of all times. I think maybe not. I don’t. Wandering around Stratford after a couple of beers, knocking on DOORS GOING, “IS THIS 2B OR NOT TO BE? [laughter] I WROTE THAT AS MINE.

 THAT’S MINE.  I’M WITH WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, RIGHT? KISS MY TITS.  Carson often leaned back in his chair and simply let Robin destroy the room. You could see Johnny stop being the host and become just another member of the audience.  It’s exciting to wear tights and have people go, I can’t see anything.

[laughter]  No, someone give him a dagger.  Thank you. There’s a dagger I see in MY HAND. WHAT IS THIS I HOLD BEFORE ME?  THE desk became a stage. The chair became a prop. Williams  would grab Johnny’s coffee cup and turn it into a puppet. He would use the microphone as a golf club. Anything within reach became part of the act, and Johnny loved every second of it.

 Number two, Don Rickles, the undisputed king of insults. Don Rickles walked onto the Tonight Show set like he owned the place. He roasted Johnny to his face. He roasted the audience. He roasted Doc Severson and the band. He roasted anyone unlucky enough to be in his line of sight. His chaotic energy was legendary.

The cigarette box incident became one of the most iconic moments in Tonight Show history. Rickles was guest hosting when he broke Johnny’s prized cigarette box during a bit. A few days later, Johnny showed up unannounced on the set of Rickles’ show CPO Sharky and avenged him.  What the hell happened to this?  You know how long I’ve had the cigarette box?  It happened last night.

 Who?  Don Rickles.  I did not see the show. did it last night. He’s taping across the hall. Somebody broke my cigarette box. [cheering] [applause]  I just started the show. I picked my box up off my desk that I’ve [laughter] had for 9 years. My box is broken. They told me you broke it on the show last night.

Well, I I I REALLY I I  But just keep me on your show. You mean so much to me. Can I  No, please. No, no, no. Don’t Don’t humble yourself.  Please, I want to be with you. So, don’t humble yourself, brother. I want something back. Okay, carry on. Help me. Carry on. JOHNNY, [applause] YOU know who I am.  Danger with Rickles was half the joke.

Nobody in that studio knew who he would attack next. Carson would sit there grinning, but you could see him waiting for the next insult aimed  directly at him. And when it came, he would double over laughing. Rickles treated Johnny like an old friend, which meant he showed absolutely no  mercy. He would mock Johnny’s marriages.

his clothes and haircut. Nothing was off limits. That was the magic of their dynamic. Johnny respected Rickles enough to let him say things no other guest would dare say. Number three, Rodney Dangerfield, the oneliner master. Nobody could match Rodney’s pace. Oneliner after oneliner after oneliner, each one hitting harder than the last.

 No respect. That was his signature. And he delivered it with perfect timing every single time. Johnny loved Rodney Dangerfield. You could see it in how he reacted. Carson would sit there almost counting the punchlines, waiting for the next one, laughing harder as Rodney tugged at his collar and tie and escalated the desperation.

 I tell you, my neighbor don’t get no respect either. No respect at all. You kidding? No respect [cheering] of anybody. I bought some rat poison. A girl asked me, “Should I wrap it up? You’re going to eat it here?”  I mean, the girls always gave me a hard time. I’m not a ladies man. That’s why. You’re kidding. I know I’m ugly.

 I stuck my head out the window, got arrested for moaning. [laughter] Rodney’s whole persona was built on failure and humiliation. My wife, my doctor, my kids, nobody respects me. And he sold it so perfectly that even though you knew the jokes were coming, you still laughed. Johnny would try to ask follow-up questions, and Rodney would  just steamroll right through with another five jokes.

 The interviews barely qualified as  interviews. They were just Rodney doing standup at the desk while Johnny tried to keep up, and Carson never  seemed to mind. He would lean back and let Rodney work. Sometimes Johnny would wipe his eyes, sometimes he would pound the desk, but mostly he would just laugh and shake his head in amazement at how fast the jokes kept coming. Number four, Steve Martin.

The absurdest comic. Steve Martin brought magic tricks that would deliberately go wrong. Banjo jokes. Deadpan oneliners delivered with a completely straight face. His chemistry with Johnny was razor sharp. Martin played the clueless weirdo perfectly  against Carson Straight Man. They would turn simple desk props into huge laughs.

 Martin understood timing better than almost anyone. He knew when to let silence do the work. Johnny would ask a normal question and Steve would respond with something completely absurd delivered as if it made perfect sense. Then they would both stare at each other for 3 seconds before the audience exploded. Martin also brought props.

 The arrow through the head, the bunny ears, the white suit. Everything about his appearance was designed to be ridiculous, and Johnny played along perfectly. He would pretend to take Steve seriously, which made the absurdity even funnier. Their segments felt like two comedians who understood exactly what the other was doing and were enjoying the game immensely.

 Number five, Joan Rivers, the woman with no filter. Rapid fire comedic attacks aimed at Hollywood, marriage, and herself. Joan Rivers regularly left Johnny Carson pounding the desk with laughter. She brought a ruthless honesty that cut through the Tonight Show’s polished veneer, and Johnny loved watching her say things other comics were too scared to touch.

 She would trash talk celebrities by  name. She would make jokes about plastic surgery before it was common. She would talk about her marriage and her body and her career with a self-deprecating brutality that was shocking for television at the time. Johnny respected that fearlessness. Rivers did not hold back.

 She did not soften her material for the Tonight Show audience. She came out swinging every single time and Carson gave her the platform to do it. He encouraged her. He laughed at her most outrageous lines. He let her push boundaries that other guests could not touch. Their relationship was genuine. You could see the mutual respect.

 Johnny saw Joan as a real comedian, not just a female comedian. And she rewarded that respect by being absolutely hilarious every time she sat down. The tragedy is how their relationship ended over the Fox show incident. But during those years when Joan was a Tonight Show regular, she was one of the funniest guests Johnny ever had.

 Number six, Jonathan Winters, the one-man improv. Winters would create entire characters out of coffee cups, ashtrays, anything sitting on Johnny’s desk. Carson would let him run completely wild. Sometimes Johnny would deliberately hand Winters a random object just to see what would happen. Then he would sit back and collapse laughing as Jonathan built an entire universe around a stapler.

  Winters did not need a script. He did not need preparation. He just needed a spark and his brain would create something insane.  He would pick up a pencil and it would become a fishing rod. Then he would become the fish. Then he would become the fisherman’s angry wife. Then he would become the boat.

 All of this happening in real time with no plan. Johnny loved that chaos. He loved not knowing where Winters was going. The danger of live television became the appeal. Anything could happen. And with Jonathan Winters, anything usually did. He would sometimes get so deep into a character that Johnny would have to physically stop him to go to an advertisement.

 And even then, Winters would stay in character through the break. The man was fearless and completely unpredictable. Exactly what made great television. Number seven, Bob Hope. The man who made the show. Bob was a comedy giant whose Tonight Show appearances became events. Razor sharp timing honed over decades. Perfectly crafted jokes delivered with effortless confidence.

 Bob Hope and Johnny Carson had chemistry that felt like two professionals sparring for fun. Carson always lit up when Hope walked through the curtain. You could see Johnny was genuinely honored to trade jokes with a hero who could still crush a monologue after 50 years in  show business. Hope never phoned it in. Even in his later years, when other comedians his age were slowing down, Bob Hope would come on the Tonight Show and deliver topical jokes, political zingers, self-deprecating bits about his age, and the timing was always perfect. Johnny

respected Hope immensely. They would volley back and forth like a tennis match.  Johnny would set up a joke and Bob would spike it. Then Bob would set one up and Johnny would return it. The audience was watching Two Masters at work. Hope represented old school show business, the kind Johnny had grown up  watching and admiring.

 So when Bob Hope sat at that desk, it was more than just another guest. It was Johnny getting to work with one of his idols. And Hope clearly enjoyed it, too. He treated Johnny as an equal, not as some kid who got lucky, as a real comedian who earned his spot. Number eight, Tim Conway. The best guest in town. Slowburn storytelling and physical comedy that often caused Johnny to slide out of his chair laughing.

 Tim Conway’s secret weapon was dragging  a bit out past the point where it should have died. He would take a simple story and stretch it and stretch it until the audience was almost uncomfortable. Then he would add the tiniest move, an eyebrow raise, a pause, a slight turn of the head, and the whole room would explode.

 Conway understood the power of commitment. He would stay completely straightfaced while describing the most ridiculous scenarios. Johnny would be losing it across the desk and Tim would just keep going like nothing was funny. That contrast made it even funnier. Carson tried to maintain composure during Conway’s segments, but he rarely succeeded.

 Tim would tell a story about something mundane, like going to the dentist, but the way he told it with all the physical comedy and perfect timing turned it into an epic adventure. By the end, Johnny would be wiping tears away and begging Tim to stop because he could not breathe. That was Conway’s gift. Making the ordinary extraordinary through commitment and timing.

 Number nine, Richard Prior, the fearless personality. loose, sharp, and absolutely fearless. Richard Prior’s casual storytelling felt completely improvised, yet every word was perfectly timed. Carson respected Prior immensely. You could see it in how Johnny listened. He did not interrupt. He did not try to steer the conversation.

 He just let Richard work. Prior’s presence changed the air in the studio. He could pivot from outrageous to vulnerable in one beat, leaving Johnny and the audience stunned and laughing at the same time. Richard would tell stories about his childhood, his family, his struggles with drugs and alcohol, and somehow he made it all hilarious without diminishing the pain.

 That balance was what made Prior a genius. He was honest in a way that other comedians were not. And Johnny gave him the space to be that honest. Their conversations felt real, not like typical Tonight Show interviews where everything was polished and safe. Richard pushed boundaries. He used language that made NBC executives nervous. But Johnny protected him.

Carson understood that Prior was special, that his comedy came from a place of truth that you could not fake. So he let Richard be Richard.  And the results were some of the most memorable segments in Tonight Show history. Number 10, Bert Reynolds and Dom Deouise. Pure comedy combat every single time.

 Whipped cream fights, chairbreaking pranks, Bert Reynolds dumping water on Domoise’s head. Johnny Carson rarely regained control during these visits. Their segments felt like unscripted bar fights between overgrown kids. And Johnny was trapped in the middle, laughing helplessly. Reynolds and Deoise together were chaos incarnate.

 They would plan bits ahead of time, but then abandon the plan and just start destroying each other. Dom would crack up at his own jokes. Bert would physically attack him. They would roll around on the floor. They would destroy the set. The audience loved it because it felt genuinely out of control. Johnny tried to conduct interviews, but it was hopeless.

 Bert and Dom were too busy trying to make each other laugh, and in the process, they made everyone else laugh, too. Carson eventually learned to just get out of the way. He would ask one question and then lean back as Reynolds and Deloise turned the show into a comedy boxing match. Sometimes Johnny would join in. He would throw something at them or make a sarcastic comment, but mostly he just watched and laughed.

 Their segments were appointment television because you never knew what would happen except that it would be complete insanity. Number 11, David Letterman, the hosting sidekick. Before hosting his own late night show, David Letterman delivered sharp sarcastic humor that played beautifully off Carson’s straight  man reactions. You could see Johnny’s pride when Letterman appeared.

 He let Dave poke fun at the very idea of a talk show. Their dry back and forth felt like a baton being quietly passed from one generation to the next. Letterman had that Midwestern ironic sensibility that Carson understood perfectly. Dave would make fun of the desk, the chair, the curtain, the whole Tonight Show apparatus, and Johnny would play along like he was in on the joke, which he was.

 Carson saw himself in Letterman, the same deadpan delivery, the same willingness to undercut the pretense of show business. Dave was not trying to be the next Johnny Carson. But Johnny clearly thought he could be. The respect between them was obvious. When Letterman sat at that desk, it was not just another comedian promoting a special.

 It was Johnny recognizing someone who got it. Someone who understood that the best comedy came from honesty and timing, not from trying too hard. Number 12, Sammy Davis Jr., the all-in-one. Impressions, musical bits, and improvised comedy. Sammy Davis Jr. did it all. His rapid fire celebrity impressions left Johnny howling as he bounced from song to joke to dance step without warning.

 A simple guest segment became a full variety show. In minutes, he’d flip from Dean Martin to Sinatra to Kagny. Each voice and mannerism perfect. Carson loved multi-talented performers, and Sammy was the ultimate entertainer. He could sing, dance, act, do impressions, play instruments, whatever the moment needed. His appearances felt like events because you knew something big would happen.

Johnny simply set him up and watched him take over, thrilled to see a true old school Vegas master at work. Number 13, Bob New Hart. The best at delivery. Dry, perfectly timed monologues made Bob New Hart irresistible. His quiet, nervous delivery pulled the audience in so tightly that even tiny punchlines landed huge.

 His famous one-sided phone calls showed how he could create a full scene with pauses and reactions alone. Carson loved New Hart’s precision, small, understated, and expertly controlled. While most comics went big, New Hart went quiet, making every word count. Johnny tried to stay composed, but when Bob hit his stride, Carson inevitably cracked up.

 Breaking character was the highest compliment, and New Hart earned it almost every time. Number 14, Mel Brooks, the eye-capturing protetéé. Fast and theatrical Mel Brooks could turn any object on set into a comedy routine. He intentionally overwhelmed the Tonight Show, dragging Johnny into songs, bits, and bursts of pure chaos.

 Brooks treated the set like his personal stage, jumping on furniture, grabbing Johnny, breaking into opera. You couldn’t look away because you never knew what he’d  do next. He’d start answering a question and suddenly perform an entire movie with voices and sound  effects. Johnny doubled over laughing while the audience screamed.

 Even going to a commercial break barely stopped him. Mel kept performing as if the cameras faded. Number 15, Harvey Corman, the master of losing control. Harvey Corman made cracking up into an art form. He’d break midstory, bury his face, and plead with Johnny as the audience roared. Years in sketch comedy taught him that laughing at the bit could be funnier than the bit itself.

 And Carson adored watching him unravel. Corman’s reputation from the Carol Bernett show followed him onto the Tonight Show couch, where even the slightest misstep could send him into uncontrollable hysterics. His inability to stay composed became a running joke. A kind of meta comedy where the breakdown was the punchline. Audiences waited for it.

 Johnny secretly encouraged it. And when it finally happened, when Harvey’s shoulders shook and his voice cracked, the entire studio felt like they were in on a shared secret, witnessing a master losing control in the most delightful way imaginable. Corman would start a story, collapse into laughter, try to recover, then break again, setting off a feedback loop with the audience.

 Every flinch and delayed reaction was perfectly timed. It felt spontaneous but was expertly crafted and Johnny recognized the skill behind appearing to fall apart on Q. The celebrities in this list understood that a Tonight Show appearance was not just about promotion. It was about creating a moment, making Johnny laugh, and making the audience remember you.

 Who do you think was the funniest guest Johnny Carson ever had? Think someone else earned a spot on this list? Drop your pick  in the comments. And if you want more unforgettable stories from Carson’s Tonight Show era, hit that subscribe button and stay tuned for the next story.