Bad Guests
It was a frequent thing for Johnny to interview guests on his talk show, and it’s only natural that he enjoyed the presence of some guests more than others. Johnny spoke openly about the fact that Bob Hope was one of the guests that Johnny hated interviewing on his show most. Bob Hope was also a TV celeb, but he was not seen as being as funny as Johnny. Instead of sitting down for an engaging conversation on the show with Johnny, he said that Bob brought in pre-scripted jokes, which made Johnny’s job difficult. Because everything in Bob’s head was scripted, there was nothing for Johnny to discuss with him. Carson was a very intelligent man and wanted to discuss real-world topics with his guests, which he couldn’t do with Bob Hope.
Bad Guests
Hopeless Situation
Despite Johnny not enjoying Bob Hope being on his show, he kept inviting him back and seemed to regret it each time. Carson kept getting angry that Hope could not understand any of the questions he was trying to ask. Hope’s team gave Carson notes for the show that he had to follow word for word, as Bob studied the answers he should say in this exact order. If Carson did even the slightest thing like going out of order, it may be embarrassing because Bob may answer a different question! Hope’s age and health were catching up with him, and it wasn’t a secret. Johnny wasn’t so sensitive to the topic of aging, though. Once, he told one of his writers, “If I ever end up like that, guys, I want you to shoot me.”
Hopeless Situation
