65 Years before the Jimmy Kimmel Controversy, this happened
One of television history’s most notorious incidents of censorship of an evening talk show host occurred with Jack Paar, who became host of The Tonight Show in 1957, taking over from Steve Allen. Paar was a skilled conversationalist known for his quick wit, and for wearing his heart on his sleeve. On February 10, 1960, he delivered the joke involving an English lady in Switzerland, her search for a ladies’ room, or w.c. (“water closet”), and some language mis-communication between her and the locals.
NBC censors removed the story from the show before it was broadcast later that evening, enraging Paar. The media quickly ran with the story of how the network had deleted a joke by one of the most popular personalities on television.
The following evening, Paar spent the first few minutes of the show seated behind the desk and chatting with announcer/sidekick Hugh Downs, before suddenly addressing the audience with a nearly 8-minute account of the controversy.
An abbreviated version:
Last night on this program, if you read some of the
newspapers, you’d think that I’d committed a terrible
obscenity. Last night I told a little story that I thought
was about as funny as anything I’d ever been given. It
was a story — I’m not going to go into it because they’ll
cut me off again — but it is not at all in any sense of the
word an obscene story. True, perhaps the story should
not be told at, like 8 o’clock on Sunday night, but at this
hour, it certainly could be told. It was very adult and very
funny…Three hundred people in this audience laughed
like they haven’t laughed perhaps in some time.
This was cut out of the show last night, and I cannot
understand why. Cutting it out is the right of NBC to do,
but not telling you the content of it leaves a terrible
impression in your mind…Now, NBC is a little confused
as to which clown cut that out of the show last night. They
are not quite sure who did it. For those who saw it today,
some said they were quite surprised, and the whole thing
has gotten out of hand. But the damage has been done –
not only to their property, The Tonight Show, which they
own, I do not — but to me personally.”
Paar then explained that he asked NBC the following day if he could show the tape to the viewing audience. As he continued, he became more visibly upset:
“They thought about it and said, ‘pass it off with a joke.
Lightly.’ Well, I cannot pass it off with a joke, and will
not.…Now, I’ve made a decision about what I’m going
to do. And only one person knows about this, it’s Hugh
Downs. My wife doesn’t know it but I’ll be home in
time and tell her. I’m leaving The Tonight Show.”
The audience responded in shock, and quite audibly so, as Paar got choked up:
“There must be a better way of making a living than this.
There’s a way of entertaining people without being
constantly involved in some form of controversy, which
is on me all the time. It’s rough on my wife and child,
and I don’t need it. I like the National Broadcasting
Company, they’ve been swell to me, and I’ve been
pretty wonderful to them. I took over a show with 60
stations, there’s now 158, this show is sold out, it is the
highest, I think, money producer for this network, and
I believe I was let down by this network at a time when
I could have used their help.”
He concluded by telling the audience, “You have been peachy to me always,” before reaching to give Downs a pat on the arm. Downs attempted to say something in response to Paar’s announcement, but Paar had already risen from his seat, and said “Good-bye” to the audience, as he walked off, leaving Downs in the awkward position of continuing the show.
You can see this breathtaking moment of defiance here (and you can skip to the 2:45 mark without missing anything):
Paar stayed away for three weeks, until the network apologized for censoring the joke, and even allowed Paar to tell it.
He remained the host of the show until the end of March, 1962. Later that year, Johnny Carson took over The Tonight Show. But Paar had a special quality that not even Carson could match.
Until next time…
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