The Simpsons 'Deeply Offended' Johnny Carson With Their First Cameo Pitch
In "The Simpsons" episode "Krusty Gets Kancelled" (May 13, 1993), local TV star Krusty the Clown (Dan Castellaneta) finds that his show is losing viewers to "The Gabbo Show," a newly launched ventriloquist show on another channel. Within a matter of weeks, Gabbo eclipses Krusty, siphoning off the Klown's many celebrity guests and notable cartoon segment "The Itchy & Scratchy Show." Krusty tries to stay afloat with the animated Soviet import "Worker & Parasite," but the magic is missing. Krusty quickly runs out of money thanks to his gambling addiction, and seemingly goes to pot.
Luckily, the plucky Bart Simpson (Nancy Cartwright) encourages Krusty to get back on his feet and stage a star-studded comeback special. Krusty assembles a rogue's gallery of famous people, including Luke Perry (his miserable half-brother), Hugh Hefner, Bette Midler, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Surprisingly, Johnny Carson also appears, although not to tell jokes or do magic tricks. Instead, Johnny hoists a 1987 Buick Skylark above his head and then sings opera while he juggles and tosses the vehicle.
"Krusty Get Kancelled" aired shortly after Carson retired from his long-running gig as host of "The Tonight Show" and moved very much out of the public eye. Those present at the time will recall how astonishing it was that Carson vanished so quickly. Indeed, between his 1992 retirement and his death in 2005, Carson only made two TV appearances: a presentation at the American Teachers Awards and juggling a car on "The Simpsons."
In the "Simpsons" history book "Springfield Confidential" by Mike Reiss and Mathew Klickstein, the authors recalled inviting Carson on "The Simpsons," revealing that he was deeply offended by the original story they had written for him. Evidently, Carson was initially written as a comedic slob and he hated that.
Slob Johnny
Reiss recalled that Johnny Carson might have been a little miffed that he was never asked to appear on "The Simpsons." Other actors impersonated Carson, but despite the large roster of celebrity guests on the show, even as early as 1992, Carson was never invited. The show's writers decided to rectify this by writing an episode for Carson especially. As Reiss put it:
"We'd heard from a friend who was working for him that Carson said, 'Gee, they got all these big celebrities on 'The Simpsons' –- why don't they ask me?' So we did."
The problem was, their "star vehicle" for Carson didn't paint the star comedian in a very flattering light. It was a classic "Simpsons" conceit, cynically deconstructing fame in the show's inimitable fashion, but it would have made Carson out to be a gross couch potato who drinks too much beer. Reiss continued:
"We wrote a storyline where a postretirement Carson comes to visit the Simpsons ... and won't leave. He becomes the bad brother-in-law: sleeping on their couch, stealing the last piece of pizza, drinking Homer's beer. Carson was deeply offended and turned down the part."
No doubt it would have been funny, but Carson clearly demanded more respect. After 30 years of hosting "The Tonight Show," he didn't want to play an alternate version of himself that is little more than Oscar from "The Odd Couple." Luckily, Reiss had a better idea. When "Krusty Gets Kancelled" was being written, he felt that Johnny would be happy to appear ... if they made him heroic and comedically superhuman.
Hero Johnny
Reiss recalled:
"The writing staff was ready to give up on him, but I urged them to try another approach: instead of making Johnny a slob, let's make him a superhero. We wrote a scene where he appeared on 'The Krusty the Clown Show,' singing opera and juggling a Chrysler with one hand. Carson accepted. He rolled into our studio early one morning, did a little monologue for us about the previous night's Emmys (Johnny had won one, but didn't show up), recorded his lines, charmed everyone, then signed autograph for the next two hours."
What a classy guy. He only had a few lines of dialogue, got to juggle a car, and drifted into showbiz oblivion with a smile on his face. It likely helped that the "Simpsons" writers were enormous Carson fans and were eager to get his autograph. There was even, Reiss said, an additional line of dialogue that got cut from the script, and it seems to have been the kind of joke Carson appreciated. When Krusty was watching Carson juggle the Skylark, he commented, "Wow, Johnny! How come you never did this on your show?" (which would've been curious as Krusty was said to have appeared on "The Tonight Show" in the past). Carson would have replied, "Suzanne Pleshette ran long."
Comedy gold, man.
Carson's other "Simpsons" appearance was in "Treehouse of Horror II" (October 31, 1991) wherein he was merely seen on a TV screen performing on "The Tonight Show." He held an envelope to his head and said "Geraldo Rivera, Madonna, and diseased yak." This was from a shtick of Carson's wherein he would "psychically" see into an envelope, essentially giving the punchline to a joke before opening the envelope and reading the setup.
The "Simpsons" writers had respect.