Johnny Carson Names His FAVORITE Female Guests – HT

 

Johnny Carson interviewed thousands of guests over 30 years. Iconic Hollywood actors, rock stars, you name it. But there was a list of 10 women who meant something more. Women Carson said he trusted completely. Women who made him laugh so hard he’d lose control in front of millions.

 Women who brought out sides of him viewers rarely saw. The warmth, the vulnerability, the genuine affection underneath his professional host persona. These are the 10 female guests who were Johnny Carson’s favorites. Bette Midler, the girl who made him cry. Carson chose Midler as his final guest before his goodbye show in May 1992. That tells you everything.

 Out of every celebrity in the world he could have picked for that moment, he picked Bette. He could have gone with a movie star or comedian, but he wanted Midler. She sang the song One for My Baby and Johnny completely lost it. You can see in the footage his eyes filling up, trying to hold it together but failing. >> [singing] [music] [applause] >> This was Johnny Carson who spent three decades [music] maintaining perfect control on live TV.

 The man who never let the audience see him sweat. And Bette Midler singing to him on his last show broke him down completely. The audience was silent. Not a sad silence, but a happy silence. Like they were watching something private [music] that happened to be on camera. Retrospectives call it one of the most emotional nights of his career. And you can see why.

 This was a real goodbye and the end of an era. And Johnny clearly regarded Bette as someone special. Johnny sitting alone crying while America watched. That wasn’t performance. That was real. Dolly Parton, the artist who wrote him a song. Dolly first appeared on her birthday in 1977. She was perfect.

 She had a great personality, voice, and was a natural storyteller. The kind of guest who makes a host’s job easy because she’s just fun to talk to. She tells stories about growing up in Tennessee with her family and how she got into music. Johnny would just sit back and let her go. Because with Dolly, you didn’t need to work hard.

 She brought the energy and charm with ease, which was everything the show needed. But what made Dolly one of Johnny’s favorites was what happened in 1979. She wrote a song specifically for him and performed it on the show. Not for a promotional spot or highlighting a new album. She wrote an original song because she wanted to do something special for a friend.

 You don’t do that for every talk show host. You do that for someone you genuinely like. Someone who’s been good to you and want to honor. What’s the song you said you made up? Well, I wrote this song cuz you it’s been real good for me ever since I started on your show. And you said one time once I got to be real famous I probably wouldn’t come back on the show, but I always will.

 I’m here as bad as much AS YOU ARE. >> [laughter] [cheering] [applause] >> I HAVE COME A LONG WAY from the hills of Tennessee and I’ve worked hard to make the folks back home [singing and music] real proud of me. Now everybody knows my name no matter where I go, but I never really made it till the Johnny Carson show. Johnny was visibly touched.

 You could see it on his face. The warmth between them was obvious. No performance or Hollywood phoniness. Just two people who enjoyed being around each other. Their mutual admiration went beyond business. They went into actual friendship. Betty White, the woman who teased Carson. White was more than a frequent guest.

She was a sketch partner. Someone Johnny trusted to do bits with. They did famous sketches together like the Tarzan and Jane routine where they dress up in costumes and improvise and play off each other like kids. Not like quick five-minute interviews where you plug a project and leave. >> Let’s face it, you’re not much of a man.

Oh, yeah? Quicksand chest? TARZAN ALL ALL MAN. THEN HOW COME WHEN YOU TAKE A SHOWER UNDER THE waterfall the hyenas all stand around and laugh at you? Hyenas always laugh. Yes, but they DON’T USUALLY POINT. IF YOU’RE THAT HUNGRY, there’s some leftover rhino stew in that pot. Leftover rhino stew again? Tarzan think this little too horny.

You don’t do sketches with someone unless you know they can deliver. Unless you’re comfortable enough to be silly and take risks. Unless you know they won’t freeze up or ruin the bit or make it awkward. Johnny teased Bette constantly. He made running jokes about her and her husband Allen Ludden. About their relationship and how happy they were. That joking that went on forever.

Every time Bette would come on, Johnny would have some new joke ready. Some new observations and ways to poke fun at their domestic bliss. And Bette would laugh, play along, and give it right back to him. Bette said in an Entertainment Weekly interview that his teasing was how he showed affection to people he liked.

 Just consistent playful teasing that said, “You’re in the club. I’m comfortable with you. I like you enough to make fun of you.” Joan Embry, the animal expert. The official Carson site explicitly calls Embry one of Johnny’s favorite guests. Not implied. She brought exotic animals from the San Diego Zoo and some of the show’s most unforgettable moments came from those segments.

 I can’t sit and talk to people with an animal on my head. >> [applause] >> Cute little thing. What’s that? Was he spitting? Was that saliva? It was a refresher compared to usually always having a guest come on. Baby elephant that wouldn’t cooperate. Maybe even unusual birds that would fly around the studio. Or snakes that made Johnny visibly nervous.

 Animals that would inevitably do something unpredictable on live television. He punched me RIGHT IN THE MOUTH. DOG, I don’t you dare. He’s all right. He’s just playing. Playing, right? Carson devoted large chunks of the show to Joan’s demonstrations, which is a strong signal of how much he enjoyed them.

 You don’t give someone that much airtime repeatedly unless you genuinely want them there. Unless their segments are working. Unless audiences love it. Joan appeared over many years, became an institution. People would tune [music] in specifically because they knew Joan Embry was bringing animals. Viewers knew when Joan was on, they were going to see Johnny react in ways that broke his usual composure.

 A bird would land on his head and he’d freeze. Something would make an unexpected noise and he’d jump. [music] He’d get genuinely nervous around certain creatures and you could see the fear in his eyes. It was fun television because it was real. Johnny wasn’t performing. He wasn’t doing a bit.

 He was just responding to whatever chaos was happening three feet away from him. And Joan knew how to work with him. Knew how to set up moments that would get genuine reactions. Knew when to push him just a little bit out of his comfort zone. That’s a skill. That’s why he loved having her on. She made great television by making Johnny be himself.

[music] By putting him in situations where he couldn’t hide behind jokes or control everything. Where he just had to react and hope for the best. Lucille Ball, the comedy royalty. Lucy made 16 Tonight Show appearances with Carson between 1968 and 1980. That’s unusually high for someone who was already a legend with her own shows.

 Lucy didn’t need the Tonight Show for exposure. She was Lucille Ball. One of the most famous women in America. A woman who defined television comedy. Who’d built an empire. Who’d done things no woman had ever done in the entertainment industry. I cannot say enough things about Lucille Ball. She is quite simply a true artist. And I think one of the great tests of comedy is how well it stands up.

 And if if you’re a Lucy fan, and I think that probably is about everybody in the world. If you watch any of the Lucy shows that they made quite a few years ago, they are still as funny today as they were the first time they made them. And uh >> [applause] >> It was incredible. I can relax on some shows, but I don’t know what happened.

>> That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard. We’ve known each other for a long time. It’s not the silliest thing you ever heard. >> said that to make you feel comfortable. Yeah. We do what we have to do to stay on. Yeah. >> [laughter] >> You don’t have to have me on here to stay on. You know.

 Where do you go when you’re not on? Nobody. [applause] But she kept coming back to sit on Johnny’s couch because she and Johnny had something special. He treated her like comedy royalty. With reverence, but [music] also warmth. Like you treat a favorite teacher or a beloved mentor. She’d tell stories about the old days of television. About working with Desi.

About filming I Love Lucy in front of a live audience. About the early days when nobody knew if TV comedy would even work. Johnny would listen like a student. Leaning forward. Asking follow-up questions. Genuinely interested in what she had to say. Not performing interest, actually caring. But then they’d get into comedy bits and it was [music] two professionals who spoke the same language.

 Who understood timing. Understood rhythm. Understood what makes something funny versus what makes something work on camera. Lucy is heavily featured in classic Carson clip packages. In best of compilations. In featured guest releases. Because those appearances were gold. Pure gold. Chemistry between two people who’d mastered their craft and respected each other enough to play. To try things.

 To take risks. That mutual respect is what made Lucy one of his favorites. She wasn’t there to promote something. Well, she was. Everyone was there to promote something. But it felt different with Lucy. It felt like she was there because it was genuinely fun. Because she enjoyed talking to Johnny. Because sitting on that couch reminded her why she loved doing this in the first place.

Carol Burnett, the guaranteed chemistry. Burnett was brought on repeatedly through the 1970s. Big 90-minute shows. Anniversary episodes. Special occasions when they needed the show to be perfect. Whenever Carson’s team wanted guaranteed chemistry and laughs, they’d book Carol. She was already a superstar with her own variety series.

 The Carol Burnett Show was a massive hit. She didn’t need the exposure. Didn’t need Johnny Carson to boost her career. But she showed up often enough that fan and press lists routinely include her among Johnny’s all-time favorite visitors. Why? Because it worked every single time. Every appearance, every interview, every bit, zero tension, zero awkwardness, zero moments where you worried it might fall flat.

 Just two funny people who knew how to make each other laugh, who trusted each other completely. Carol would do characters, tell stories with these incredible details and voices. They’d improvise when something went sideways. Sometimes the best moments were when they’d break each other up. When something would strike them as so funny they couldn’t maintain composure.

Johnny’s face would crack, Carol would lose it, and they’d just sit there laughing while the audience laughed with them. Those genuine laughs, those moments where you could see them enjoying themselves, not performing enjoyment, actually having fun. That’s what made those appearances special. That’s what made Carol one of Johnny’s favorites. Viewers could feel it.

 You can’t fake that kind of connection. Critics noticed it. Reviewers would specifically mention the chemistry between them, the ease, the naturalness of their interactions. Carol Burnett was someone Johnny genuinely looked forward to seeing, someone who made the show better just by being there, someone he trusted to deliver no matter what was happening.

 Joan Rivers, the one he trusted most. Carson discovered Rivers in the mid-1960s, gave her national exposure when she was nobody, just another comedian grinding it out in clubs hoping for a break. Johnny gave her that break, then kept bringing her back, almost a hundred appearances over the years. That’s not normal. That’s not how it usually works.

 You get one shot, maybe two if it goes well. Joan got a hundred because she delivered every single time. But what really showed how much he loved Joan was making her his permanent guest host, an honor he gave to no other woman. Think about that. Joan Rivers was trusted to sit in Johnny’s chair and carry the Tonight Show, the biggest show on television, the show that made or broke careers, the show that millions of people watched every night. That’s not a small thing.

That’s trusting someone with your legacy, your brand, your show, everything you’ve built over decades. Johnny didn’t do that lightly. He didn’t hand that chair to just anyone who could tell a joke. He believed Joan could do it, believed audiences would accept her, believed she understood the format and the tone and what made the show work, believed she respected it enough to protect it.

 For two decades, Joan was one of the few people in the world who had that kind of access and trust. She was basically family, someone Johnny mentored and elevated and trusted with everything he’d built. Their later feud over her Fox show doesn’t change what came before, doesn’t erase 20 years of professional admiration and genuine affection.

 When things were good between them, Joan was more than a favorite guest. She was Johnny’s protege, someone he saw himself in, someone he wanted to help succeed. That’s love, professional love, the kind that only happens when you see something special in someone and want to lift them up. Carol Wayne, the recurring partner.

 Wayne wasn’t a drop-in guest who showed up once or twice. She was core to one of Carson’s most famous recurring bits, the Matinee Lady in Art Fern’s Tea Time Movie sketches, over a hundred appearances from 1967 to 1984, 17 years. That’s not a fluke. That’s not producers recycling a bit because they’re lazy or can’t think of anything new.

 That’s Johnny Carson deciding he liked working with Carol Wayne enough to build a running institution around [music] her, to make her part of the show’s DNA. The Tea Time Movie sketches were silly, campy, double entendres and sight gags, required perfect timing and commitment to the absurdity.

 Carol delivered every single time, played it straight while Johnny did his thing as Art Fern, never broke character, never laughed at the wrong moment, never got in the way, just made the bit work through sheer professionalism and chemistry. She knew when to react, when to stay still, [music] when to give Johnny the look that would make the joke land.

 That takes skill. That takes understanding your role in the machine. The fact Carson kept that sketch in rotation for years with Carol as his main on-screen partner showed something important. He liked her timing and her persona, liked how she fit into that world they’d created, trusted her to be consistent night after night, year after year.

 That kind of recurring work means more than a one-time great interview. It means you’re part of the show’s identity, part of what makes the Tonight Show feel like the Tonight Show. Carol Wayne earned that spot because Johnny genuinely enjoyed working with her, because she made his job easier, because she never disappointed, because after a hundred times doing the same bit, she could still make it feel fresh and funny.

Teresa Ganzel, the second Matinee [music] Lady. Ganzel replaced Carol Wayne as the Tea Time Matinee Lady in the mid-1980s, not an easy position to step into. Carol had done that bit for almost two decades. The audience loved her, but Carson specifically chose Teresa because he’d already worked with her before on a sitcom promo appearance and liked her.

 A University of Nebraska article notes, she landed that recurring role specifically because she was already a favorite guest of his. That matters. [music] You don’t give someone a recurring bit just because they’re available. You give it to someone you trust, someone you know can deliver. Teresa proved she could fill Carol’s shoes.

 Different energy, but same professionalism, same understanding of timing, same commitment to making the bit work. Carson’s production company also worked with her on other projects, which indicates an ongoing professional fondness. [music] When you like working with someone, you find reasons to keep working with them.

 That’s what happened with Teresa. She became part of the Tonight Show family during its final years. One of the people Carson trusted to maintain the quality and consistency that made the show work. Doris Day, the one who made him nervous. Day’s visits were incredibly rare because she largely avoided talk shows in her later life.

She’d been one of the [music] biggest movie stars in the world and then basically stepped away from public life. Fan and discography sites emphasize that her Tonight Show appearances with Johnny in 1974 and later are unusual live TV exceptions. She didn’t do this for anyone, but she did do it for Johnny. One widely shared clip shows Carson openly nervous and very deferential during her first appearance, something you almost never see from him.

 This is Johnny Carson, the man who’d interviewed presidents and handled drunk guests and controlled every moment of his show for years, and Doris Day made him nervous. You could see it, the way he sat, the way he spoke, like he was meeting someone he genuinely idolized, which he was.

 Doris Day was Hollywood royalty, a legend from a different era, and Johnny treated that moment with the respect and reverence it deserved. [music] Those appearances are special because they’re so rare, because Day trusted Johnny Carson enough to come out of her semi-retirement, because you could see how much it meant to him to have her there.

 Johnny was a person who seemingly rewarded loyalty over anything, someone who genuinely enjoyed certain people’s company, who had favorites, who showed affection through teasing and opportunity and trust, who remembered the people who helped make his show great night after night, year after year. In an industry known for fake relationships and calculated moves, these 10 women were something different.

They were Johnny’s people, the ones he looked forward to seeing walk through that curtain, the ones who made 30 years behind that desk feel less like work and more like coming home, the ones who understood him well enough to know when to push and when to back off and when to just let him be himself.

 That kind of understanding is rare. That kind of connection doesn’t happen often. Did you know about Johnny Carson’s favorite female guests? Which of these relationships surprised you most? What did you learn from this video? Let us know in the comments below. And if you want more deep dives into the Tonight Show’s incredible history, make sure you hit the subscribe button to support the channel.