Here’s a little Late Night television history lesson. There once was a man named Johnny Carson; he was the host of The Tonight Show. Joan Rivers was good buddies with him, and was his official fill-in.
Rumor has it, that around that time, NBC was drawing up a list of names with possible replacements for Johnny after his retirement; and Rivers wasn’t on it.
With this knowledge she jumped at the chance of having her own late night show after Fox asked her to host one. Joan told Carson what she was planning to do, and apparently he didn’t like it. They never spoke again, and because Carson was so highly respected and considered the king of late night, Rivers felt all the hosts of these programms had unofficially banned her.
And what does this whole fiasco lead to? Great late night television almost two decades later! Joan Rivers was on The Late Show with David Letterman last night explaining how she felt exiled by all the hosts, even let out a nice little jab at Leno. Check it out.
