Just curious. The last one I remember isTom Snyder of the "Tomorrow Show"smoking on the air in the 70’s and (I think) the early 80’s. Any ones later than that?
I think Morton Downey Jr. smoked on air, mid-80s.
How about Martin Caiden?
Richard Belzer?
I can’t remember past the mid 80s.
Best wishes,
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Letterman used to puff a cigar during commercials (and would occasionally get “caught” blowing a puff on camera) up until shortly before his heart operation, IIRC. I think that was within the last decade or so.
The Tonight Show, with Johnny Carson.
The last particular instance I recall of people smoking in that scenario was Dennis Potter’s final interview, it was aired on British television in 1994.
I seem to recall that Fran Lebowitz smoked during her Letterman interviews sometime in the nineties.
Letterman smoked a cigar during breaks for the longest time. Sometimes you would still see it in his hand when they came back (and once in a while for a whole segment). I don’t know when he stopped but it was well into the CBS run of his show.
I think Charlie Rose has allowed smoking on his show, although to my knowledge, Rose himself has never been shown smoking.
If Leno, Letterman or one of their guests wanted to smoke on air, would it run afoul of any workplace smoking bans? Or is it all considered performance and therefore allowed (though they’d still suffer a PR disaster that would make them wish they’d been caught raping little girls)?
On August 8, 1999, Peter Falk smoked all the way through his Inside the Actors Studio interview.
This was the air date, not the filming date.
I remember it distinctly because I thought he must be nearly smoking himself to death at that age. He’s still alive, though.
There is a show called Actors Studio (I may well be wrong about the name) where they still smoke during the interview. Dave Chappelle is the last one I can remember lighting up…that was a few years ago.
Kramer on the Merv Griffin set.
Are you and Mahaloth talking about the same show, the one with James Lipton?
Letterman routinely commented on how people kept telling him that it was against the fire code for him to smoke on the set. This was usually followed by a long puff. He had a “What are you going to do, arrest me for smoking?” attitude, but without the dress.
Does cable count? Stephen Colbert did it just last week on the Report.
Forgot about that!
Yes we are, but he’s right. Peter Falk was not the only one to smoke. Chapelle did, too.
And his aired February 12, 2006. That has to be the winner.
You can see a clip here, but I don’t think you can see the smoke in it.
http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi1765736473/
Anyway, he smoked through most of it.