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Authors: Dave Berg
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higher ratings. We learned a valuable lesson from this incident: Jay pledged that no guest would ever be allowed free reign on the show again, and he stuck to that pledge.
Surprisingly, Jay even got support from an editorial in Christianity Today written by Billy Graham’s publicist, Larry Ross. During the segment, Howard took out a Bible and announced that the Gideon Bible would be replaced in hotels with his new book. Jay quickly grabbed the Bible, held it up and said: “This book will strike you down as you go down the road. . . . I am sounding like an evangelist now, but I predict that’s what will happen—suddenly all that is in this book is making perfect sense to me.” Jay was speaking partly tongue-in-cheek, but even so, he was telling Howard to go to hell! Christianity Today lauded Jay by calling him “an unlikely man who took an unlikely stand in the unlikely forum of a late-night talk show.” A more unlikely editorial supporting Jay from a more unlikely source has never been written.
As for Howard, he didn’t return for five years, making a notably toned-down appearance in 2000, his last. I found his humor distasteful and embarrassing and was glad to see him go. I was always curious why he secretly staged such tawdriness. Until then, Howard had a good relationship with the show, one of only a few supporters in the early days when most critics were routinely pummeling Jay.
“Stuttering” John Melendez, Howard’s sidekick at the time, later told me Howard was only trying to “outdo himself” with a stunt that would impress his own audience, not to make Jay look bad. According to John, Howard was genuinely taken aback when Jay walked off the set. I believe John’s explanation, but I can’t understand how Howard could be so unaware of Tonight Show standards.
In 2004, John was hired as our announcer and comedy correspondent, replacing Edd Hall. I thought John had shown a presence and a likability during a recent guest appearance on our show that would work well with Jay. Howard took this move as a personal affront, accusing Jay of “ripping off” his long-time sidekick. And his tasteless tirades against Jay never let up after that. In May 2012, NBC, then owned by Comcast, hired Howard as a judge on America’s Got Talent. A few months later, he called Jay a “spineless maggot” after he took a 50 percent pay cut to save jobs when the network laid off twenty Tonight Show staffers. Howard’s rant was laughably illogical, and he should have been fired for openly insulting NBC’s biggest star. Instead, he received an obligatory letter from an NBC executive telling him to stop talking about Jay, which he openly mocked.
Some guests had an agenda only they understood. In 1994, Bobcat Goldthwait, a self-described comedian, lit his guest chair on fire using lighter fluid. Jay was visibly perturbed, as he and model Lauren Hutton quickly doused the flames with their drinking water. The studio audience laughed, thinking the stunt was part of a comedy bit, but it clearly was not. Bobcat insisted that he wasn’t drunk or high. But he could never explain why he did it. Observers speculated he was protesting the recent cancellation of the Arsenio Hall Show, which he had strongly supported. Others say he was making a bizarre “artistic” statement. I usually discount professed artistic and altruistic motives. It’s almost always about money and self-promotion. I think Bobcat was trying in his own confused and inarticulate way to draw attention to a film he had directed. He pleaded no contest in a Burbank courtroom to misdemeanor charges and was fined $3,880, including $698 for the chair, making him the only Tonight Show guest ever convicted of committing a crime on the show. He was never invited back.
In 1996, a woman came out of the audience and onto the stage, interrupting an interview Irish actor Colin Farrell was doing with Jay. She said something unintelligible to Colin, who quickly took matters into
Surprisingly, Jay even got support from an editorial in Christianity Today written by Billy Graham’s publicist, Larry Ross. During the segment, Howard took out a Bible and announced that the Gideon Bible would be replaced in hotels with his new book. Jay quickly grabbed the Bible, held it up and said: “This book will strike you down as you go down the road. . . . I am sounding like an evangelist now, but I predict that’s what will happen—suddenly all that is in this book is making perfect sense to me.” Jay was speaking partly tongue-in-cheek, but even so, he was telling Howard to go to hell! Christianity Today lauded Jay by calling him “an unlikely man who took an unlikely stand in the unlikely forum of a late-night talk show.” A more unlikely editorial supporting Jay from a more unlikely source has never been written.
As for Howard, he didn’t return for five years, making a notably toned-down appearance in 2000, his last. I found his humor distasteful and embarrassing and was glad to see him go. I was always curious why he secretly staged such tawdriness. Until then, Howard had a good relationship with the show, one of only a few supporters in the early days when most critics were routinely pummeling Jay.
“Stuttering” John Melendez, Howard’s sidekick at the time, later told me Howard was only trying to “outdo himself” with a stunt that would impress his own audience, not to make Jay look bad. According to John, Howard was genuinely taken aback when Jay walked off the set. I believe John’s explanation, but I can’t understand how Howard could be so unaware of Tonight Show standards.
In 2004, John was hired as our announcer and comedy correspondent, replacing Edd Hall. I thought John had shown a presence and a likability during a recent guest appearance on our show that would work well with Jay. Howard took this move as a personal affront, accusing Jay of “ripping off” his long-time sidekick. And his tasteless tirades against Jay never let up after that. In May 2012, NBC, then owned by Comcast, hired Howard as a judge on America’s Got Talent. A few months later, he called Jay a “spineless maggot” after he took a 50 percent pay cut to save jobs when the network laid off twenty Tonight Show staffers. Howard’s rant was laughably illogical, and he should have been fired for openly insulting NBC’s biggest star. Instead, he received an obligatory letter from an NBC executive telling him to stop talking about Jay, which he openly mocked.
Some guests had an agenda only they understood. In 1994, Bobcat Goldthwait, a self-described comedian, lit his guest chair on fire using lighter fluid. Jay was visibly perturbed, as he and model Lauren Hutton quickly doused the flames with their drinking water. The studio audience laughed, thinking the stunt was part of a comedy bit, but it clearly was not. Bobcat insisted that he wasn’t drunk or high. But he could never explain why he did it. Observers speculated he was protesting the recent cancellation of the Arsenio Hall Show, which he had strongly supported. Others say he was making a bizarre “artistic” statement. I usually discount professed artistic and altruistic motives. It’s almost always about money and self-promotion. I think Bobcat was trying in his own confused and inarticulate way to draw attention to a film he had directed. He pleaded no contest in a Burbank courtroom to misdemeanor charges and was fined $3,880, including $698 for the chair, making him the only Tonight Show guest ever convicted of committing a crime on the show. He was never invited back.
In 1996, a woman came out of the audience and onto the stage, interrupting an interview Irish actor Colin Farrell was doing with Jay. She said something unintelligible to Colin, who quickly took matters into
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