Awesome / The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

• 1973: Johnny had invited Uri Gellar on the show to demonstrate his "psychic spoon-bending" abilities he was promoting at the time. Carson, a former magician, suspected (rightly) that Gellar was making use of simple stage tricks, and with help from James "The Amazing" Randi set up a test which showed Gellar unable to bend a single spoon in front of the camera.
  • 1986: Johnny invited Randi back onto the show to broadcast a video proving that faith healer Peter Popoff, who claimed to be communicating with God to identify and heal specific people in his revival meetings, was really listening to his wife through an earpiece and that the "healings" were bogus.
• Early 1970s: During a period where the show was still doing live commercials, announcer Ed McMahon was doing one for Alpo dog food which involved him sitting in a chair, pitching the product while feeding a small dog on the floor...but the dog wasn't hungry and wandered away. The camera went to a tight shot on Ed's face for an instant before pulling back to show that Johnny had come on-set on all fours, barking and (pretending to be?) eating the dog food himself!
• When Michael Landon was a guest star in one early '80s episode, he complained about the National Enquirer and how they make up sensational celeb stories to sell copies. He told the audience that the $2 it would cost to buy a copy of the Enquirer could go to so many better causes, and asked them to not support them. It received roaring applause.
• He had on Frank Zappa in the middle of uproar over the PMRC hearings and had a very intelligent, eloquent discussion about censorship. To see the biggest talk show host in America (maybe all time) take such a stand in defense of the First Amendment is truly inspiring. Watch here.
• Carnac was such a beloved sketch with the audience that the mere suggestion of it frequently caused the audience to break out in cheering/applause!
  Ed: We have a visitor with us tonight, from the east. [cheers/applause]

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