# Red Buttons off color quip censord on "Johnny Carson" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 6, 2018, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-buttons-off-color-quip-censord-on-johnny-carson/810118 "2018-03-06T15:54:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-buttons-off-color-quip-censord-on-johnny-carson/810118/1 "2018-03-06T15:54:09Z")
Episode from February 12, 1980 In this ep, part of Buttons’ ‘interview’ is going down a list of famous people who have never been on "The Tonight Show,’ with a pithy wisecrack about each one. He mentions Joseph Cotton. "You know how Joseph Cotten got his name? [edited out response]. I thought to myself, what could the answer have been that they would have overdubbed the response, since one of his previous names was. . . “Abraham Lincoln–who thought that freeing the slaves would be good for basketball.” Pretty easy to find out what Buttons said, since I doubt that was the first time he’d done that particular shtick. The answer to the Joseph Cotten question? Sammy Davis Jr. picked it ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-buttons-off-color-quip-censord-on-johnny-carson/810118/2 "2018-03-06T16:27:44Z")
I remember a joke by Glen Campbell where he told the whole joke and they censored the punchline. You know that at that moment what you were saying about the NBC censors was worse than anything that would come out of Glen Campbell’s mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-buttons-off-color-quip-censord-on-johnny-carson/810118/3 "2018-03-06T18:06:14Z")
There’s local radio station that plays comedy routines and sometimes they have to be so heavily censored that it is impossible to follow any of the material. It makes me wonder why they bothered airing the segment at all. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-buttons-off-color-quip-censord-on-johnny-carson/810118/4 "2018-03-06T19:22:01Z")
Rip Taylor was bleeped on Steve Allen’s old syndicated show for telling the “What’s brown and lies in the meadow?” joke. “Winnie’s pooh.” Pretty mild, if you ask me, but this was around 1970. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-buttons-off-color-quip-censord-on-johnny-carson/810118/5 "2018-03-06T19:35:41Z")
I heard a story from my uncle about Gypsy Rose Lee being on the Tonight Show (he said Carson, but I don’t think the dates match up). She was going to demonstrate some of her old burlesque moves and asked the band’s drummer to give her “the beat.” “What beat?” he asked. “Y’know, the beat. The one they do in all the burlesque clubs.” “Ma’m,” the drummer replies, “I’ve never been to one.” She’s incredulous. “A grown man like you, never been to a burlesque show??” Shaking her head, she adds, “Wouldn’t you know it, I get a BLEEEEEEEP for a drummer!” The audience howls. The host falls out of his chair laughing. What in Og’s name did she say? Or did this actually happen? (as I said, I’m getting this second hand…) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-buttons-off-color-quip-censord-on-johnny-carson/810118/6 "2018-03-06T19:36:49Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > I heard a story from my uncle about Gypsy Rose Lee being on the Tonight Show (he said Carson, but I don’t think the dates match up). She was going to demonstrate some of her old burlesque moves and asked the band’s drummer to give her “the beat.” > > “What beat?” he asked. > > “Y’know, the beat. The one they do in all the burlesque clubs.” > > “Ma’m,” the drummer replies, “I’ve never been to one.” > > She’s incredulous. “A grown man like you, never been to a burlesque show??” Shaking her head, she adds, “Wouldn’t you know it, I get a BLEEEEEEEP for a drummer!” > > The audience howls. The host falls out of his chair laughing. > > What in Og’s name did she say? Or did this actually happen? (as I said, I’m getting this second hand…) My guess would be “queer.” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-buttons-off-color-quip-censord-on-johnny-carson/810118/7 "2018-03-06T19:41:57Z")
I was watching Carson one night\* when Carol Wayne and Rodney Dangerfield were among the guests. At one point, Johnny asked Carol what her measurements were. “38–24–36,” she replied. Then, indicating her boobs, “These aren’t my brains, you know.” Carson said, “If those are your brains, you’re Einstein!” And Rodney said, “Hey, she’s Einstein. Last night, I went out with a girl who was retarded!” Couldn’t get away with this today. \*I was still living “at home” at the time, so this would have been around 1974. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-buttons-off-color-quip-censord-on-johnny-carson/810118/8 "2018-03-06T20:48:29Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > My guess would be “queer.” Similar to this. . . Art Fleming recounted an episode of “Jeopardy” in which the answer was “If you believe in fairies, then you believe in me.” Obvious question is “Who is Tinker Bell?” Contestant’s response was muted, but according to Fleming, after the mute, you could hear the audience howling in laughter at the question “Who is Liberace?” There was a game show called “Jackpot” hosted by Geoff Edwards back in the early 1970s. One of the questions was “What type of dance might you expect a Playboy Playmate to do.” Correct answer: “Bunny Hop” Contestant’s muted answer, according to Edwards, “The hora.” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-buttons-off-color-quip-censord-on-johnny-carson/810118/9 "2018-03-06T23:09:46Z")
There’s [Jack Paar’s Tonight Show WC joke](https://witwisdom.wordpress.com/2011/02/10/jack-paars-water-closet-joke/), which the censors cut at the last minute. Paar walked off the show because of it. It’s pretty tame by today’s standards, and even by standards in 1960. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-buttons-off-color-quip-censord-on-johnny-carson/810118/10 "2018-03-07T01:49:37Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > There’s [Jack Paar’s Tonight Show WC joke](https://witwisdom.wordpress.com/2011/02/10/jack-paars-water-closet-joke/), which the censors cut at the last minute. Paar walked off the show because of it. > > It’s pretty tame by today’s standards, and even by standards in 1960. Probably because it tangentally had something to do with religion, over which censors back then were especially uptight. They could have been afraid of offending people in the Bible Belt, like they were with Mr Spock in 1966. (“He looks too much like the Devil!”) ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-buttons-off-color-quip-censord-on-johnny-carson/810118/11 "2018-03-07T01:54:34Z")
I’ll always remember Jimmy Stewart’s poem about that Lake place. It ends with , “Pain in the ass!” They went to censor it, but realizing it was Jimmy Stewart…they left it unbleeped. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-buttons-off-color-quip-censord-on-johnny-carson/810118/12 "2018-03-07T06:05:03Z")
In a strange twist, one night in the mid-1980s Carson told the “W.C.” joke. Not a hint of irony or winking about it; he just did a (shorter) version of it in his post-monologue segment with Ed. If the Paar incident was known to me (I’d read some book about the Tonight Show), it surely was well known to Carson. I sent Carson a note asking about it but never got a reply. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-buttons-off-color-quip-censord-on-johnny-carson/810118/13 "2018-03-07T06:58:17Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Rip Taylor was bleeped on Steve Allen’s old syndicated show for telling the “What’s brown and lies in the meadow?” joke. > > “Winnie’s pooh.” > > Pretty mild, if you ask me, but this was around 1970. I think Rip is hilarious! Sadly, YouTube doesn’t have much of his stuff at all. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-buttons-off-color-quip-censord-on-johnny-carson/810118/14 "2018-03-07T13:29:22Z")
I watched JC one night when he had a male-female comic duo on. Some sort of psychology book had come out and they set up the premise that they were on a blind date and had both read the book. For about four minutes it was both deferring to the wishes of the other during the date. “Where do you want to go?” “Anywhere you want to is fine with me.” “No, I insist it’s someplace _you’d_ like.” and so on. It was mildly amusing but obviously setting something up for the finish. Then they’re at the end of the date, shaking hands good night and --bam!-- not only the audio is killed, but the video goes black for a good four seconds. When it comes back, the duo does a quick bow and trots off backstage, and the audience is howling. Tom Smothers and Tiny Tim were on the couch and the three of them (including JC) are literally sitting stunned with mouths open.\* It’s the only time I remember Carson being flummoxed more than a moment. Then Tommy gets this incredible grin on his face and says, “Boy! They’d never let us get away with that on _our_ show!” What “that” might have been was never discussed, of course, and I’ve wondered from time to time what it was. \*TT’s eyes were doing this weird sort of flutter as well. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-buttons-off-color-quip-censord-on-johnny-carson/810118/15 "2018-03-07T18:50:15Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > My guess would be “queer.” Yeah, I can guess it would along those lines. What I wonder is what caused the audience to completely lose it. But then, it was a different time… ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-buttons-off-color-quip-censord-on-johnny-carson/810118/16 "2018-03-07T20:02:43Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > I watched JC one night when he had a male-female comic duo on. Some sort of psychology book had come out and they set up the premise that they were on a blind date and had both read the book. For about four minutes it was both deferring to the wishes of the other during the date. “Where do you want to go?” “Anywhere you want to is fine with me.” “No, I insist it’s someplace _you’d_ like.” and so on. It was mildly amusing but obviously setting something up for the finish. > > Then they’re at the end of the date, shaking hands good night and --bam!-- not only the audio is killed, but the video goes black for a good four seconds. When it comes back, the duo does a quick bow and trots off backstage, and the audience is howling. Tom Smothers and Tiny Tim were on the couch and the three of them (including JC) are literally sitting stunned with mouths open.\* It’s the only time I remember Carson being flummoxed more than a moment. Then Tommy gets this incredible grin on his face and says, “Boy! They’d never let us get away with that on _our_ show!” What “that” might have been was never discussed, of course, and I’ve wondered from time to time what it was. I’ll bet it was something along the lines of the “Oh, I see you’ve noticed my little white dot!” joke, or the “Officer, when I turned around my wallet was gone and five pounds was missing!” sketch: [spoiler] \*\*HE: \*\*So, you wanna fuck? **SHE:** Yeah, alright. [/spoiler] They’d have to cut the video in this case, because that would be just too easy to lip-read. 😃 If Tiny Tim was on the show, that would place it around 1969, probably too late for May and Nichols. Maybe Stiller and Meara? :dubious: 😕 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-buttons-off-color-quip-censord-on-johnny-carson/810118/17 "2018-03-07T20:03:48Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > Yeah, I can guess it would along those lines. What I wonder is what caused the audience to completely lose it. But then, it was a different time… Why, yes. Yes, it was. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-buttons-off-color-quip-censord-on-johnny-carson/810118/18 "2018-03-07T20:15:33Z")
Tom Smothers and Tiny Tim were on this [July 10, 1968](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6080788/reference) ep with an improv group called ‘The Committee,’ so that’s probably the sketch. However, identifying exactly who was in The Committee at the time, and which members might have been on the program is probably a daunting task 50 years later. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-buttons-off-color-quip-censord-on-johnny-carson/810118/19 "2018-03-07T20:43:45Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > My guess would be “queer.” Given what Lenny Bruce was saying around that time, I’d go with the “f” word. But while I was reading the situation, I was thinking of another type of beating that probably went on in those clubs… ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-buttons-off-color-quip-censord-on-johnny-carson/810118/20 "2018-03-07T20:45:23Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Tom Smothers and Tiny Tim were on this [July 10, 1968](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6080788/reference) ep with an improv group called ‘The Committee,’ so that’s probably the sketch. However, identifying exactly who was in The Committee at the time, and which members might have been on the program is probably a daunting task 50 years later. Here’s what Wiki has to say: > **[The Committee (improv group)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Committee_(improv_group))** > > The Committee was a San Francisco-based improvisational comedy group founded by Alan Myerson and Jessica Myerson (formerly known as Irene Ryan and Irene Riordan, later known as Latifah Taormina). The Myersons were both alums of The Second City in Chicago. The Committee opened April 10, 1963 at 622 Broadway in a 300-seat Cabaret theater that used to be an indoor bocce ball court in San Francisco's North Beach. > Garry Goodrow, Hamilton Camp, Larry Hankin, Kathryn Ish, Scott Beach and Ellsworth Mi... Very impressive troupe, including Howard Hesseman and Barbara Bosson. The one that stands out to me, though, is Leigh French, who did the “Share a Little Tea with Goldie” bits on _ **The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour** _. > **[Leigh French](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leigh_French)** > > Leigh French (born July 14, 1945) is an American actress. > French was born in Ashland, Kentucky. > In her early career as a regular on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour of the late-1960s, French portrayed a hippie named Goldie O'Keefe. The character was originally introduced, in an ostensible studio-audience interview segment, as Goldie Keif; both "Goldie" and "Keif" were slang terms for marijuana at the time. Reportedly, the slight name change to O'Keefe when she became a semi-regular was at the... The first person I thought of was actually Patty Deutsch, but it turns out she was in the Ace Trucking Company improv group. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-buttons-off-color-quip-censord-on-johnny-carson/810118.md?page=2)