Plot
Joan Rivers/Gabriel Kaplan/Adrienne Barbeau/George Plimpton
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
- Ed talks about his local alligator. Joan Rivers discusses bad customer service and parenting; Gabe Kaplan performs stand-up and is interviewed; Adrienne Barbeau (Maude (1972)); George Plimpton (book "Mad Ducks and Bears").
- Prompted by a viewer's letter, Johnny apologizes for a monologue joke about psoriasis that he told a few weeks earlier. Next, Ed talks about the alligator living outside his Florida home; Johnny is skeptical of Ed's claims that the gator lies in the sun for long periods, and also barks at night. Joan Rivers does not do a stand-up routine, instead telling jokes during her interview. She explains why she hates the "Ms." honorific, and then mentions that she has decided not to send Christmas cards this year. She discusses her many complaints about bad customer service from the Post Office, Western Union, the phone company and banks; Johnny is irritated that Western Union no longer delivers telegrams by messenger, and would prefer to read them to the recipient over the phone. Rivers also talks about her new venture writing a newspaper column, comments on the prevalence of facelifts in Los Angeles, and discusses at length the idiosyncrasies of raising a child in the city. Adrienne Barbeau is making her first appearance on The Tonight Show. When Johnny asks her age (28) and comments that he could be her father, she suggests he could be her lover, as she likes older men. She describes how she moved to New York City at age 19; her jobs included being a barmaid and go-go dancer while she pursued acting. She describes herself during this period as "the only virgin in New York"; Johnny retorts that there are probably a few innocent 4- and 5-year-olds. Her success in "Grease" led to her role in "Maude". She also talks about dating a man who claimed to be author Philip Roth, which impressed her until she looked at the photo on one of Roth's books and saw that he was lying. Gabe Kaplan does a stand-up routine featuring his impression of a drunken Ed Sullivan on his last show. After a brief interview, in which he comments on complaints about racial and ethnic references in his jokes, he tells his updated Jewish version of "A Christmas Carol" featuring Ebenezer Schwartz, the owner of an adult bookstore in New York. George Plimpton talks about his book "Mad Ducks and Bears", which covers professional football, focusing on Detroit Lions stars Alex Karras and John Gordy; he explains how Karras psyched himself up on defense, and notes that he played less well if the opposing quarterback (notably Johnny Unitas) had a blue-collar background like his. He also discusses Gordy's preference for playing offense because it was more constructive than destructive. Plimpton then comments on his other forays into sports, and says that his upcoming project is to play with a hockey team.—lenab9011
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