Jack Paar's WC Joke

Explaining a recent reference to "Wayside Chapel" on FB. Johnny Carson's immediate predecessor as host of "The Tonight Show" was Jack Paar, one of the more literate among the late night talkers. He hosted the show from 1957-1962, and this joke caused such a furor that Paar walked off the show the next night. This audio clip tells the story. NBC had censored part of this broadcast of February 10, 1960, covering over with a brief newscast. By today's standards, this joke is rather tame, but in 1960, network censors were upset.

The next evening, Paar walked on stage, talked for three mintues, walked off, and left Hugh Downs to run the rest of the show from the sofa. Paar returned to the show on March 7. This is audio only, no video is known to survive. This has just been posted on YouTube today.