‘The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson’ welcomed some wild guests through the years. Many up-and-coming comedians made their debut with Johnny. If you could make him laugh, you knew you were on your way to the top!
Johnny introduces Howie Mandell, and he walks out from the curtain with a big brown paper bag wrapped in his arms. Howie wears a shiny black suit with a fake mustache and big nose glasses.
Howie tells Johnny that he just came from the mall, where he bought the glasses. He takes them off and tells Johnny to try them, but the big nose stays on Howie’s face and the crowd laughs.
Howie talks about how he was traumatized in the mall. He said there was a power failure, and he was stranded for three hours… on the escalator. “Well, somebody called the fire department. They all walked up, and we all walked down.”
Johnny asks what Howie is wearing, and he responds, “Well, I refer to these as shoes,” while lifting his foot high. Johnny says they look like ski boots, and Howie says they could be used as those.
Howie says they’re red so he can see his feet when he wakes up at night. Then he follows with this joke, “Two nights ago, this is so weird. I got up in the middle of the night to stub my toe, and I slipped and went to the bathroom.” The crowd laughs, and Johnny loses it.
He pulls stuff out of the bag to show off what he bought. He pulls out the record of elevator music he heard. Howie gifts Johnny with a ‘Stinky,’ which is a character that you squeeze, and it releases a smell. Howie’s eccentric sense of humor is unique, and Johnny’s crowd loves it!
