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I remember seeing Steve Lawrence make an appearance on the Tonight Show when Johnny Carson was still the host. He did a song, and when he came over to talk, Johnny Carson mentioned that he wished that he could just belt out a song like that. Lawrence said something along the lines of, "Well, it's your show, go ahead."
Carson was reluctant to do it, but Lawrence and Ed McMahon cajoled/goaded him into doing it. Carson went to center stage and sang the same tune that Lawrence had just performed. He wasn't that bad, although he was clearly uncomfortable about doing it.
I don't recall ever seeing Steve Lawrence on the Tonight Show again after that.
Does anybody else remember seeing that show, and does anybody know if Carson refused to have him back on the show because of it?
Thanks for the suggestions, but I don't need to see the show where Lawrence appeared. I remember it clearly. What I'd like to know about is its aftermath - whether or not he ever appeared on the Tonight Show again, and, if not, was it because of his having "persuaded" Carson into singing.
In a quick search I found an LA times article that said Steve and Eydie were among carsons top 10 most frequent guests - appeared 86 times. I remember them being fixtures there. I think IMDB and Wikipedia have articles listing guests by year - maybe that would help?
I love IMBD and use it almost daily but it is not overly accurate at times. I went to Steve Lawrence's page and it only shows him appearing:
4 times on Johnny Carsons version of the Tonight Show. 1966,1977,1982
5 times on Jack Paar's version, all in 1962.
2 times on Jay Leno's version in 1994,1995
so it would seem to me a ton of his appearances are not listed.
I love IMBD and use it almost daily but it is not overly accurate at times. I went to Steve Lawrence's page and it only shows him appearing:
4 times on Johnny Carsons version of the Tonight Show. 1966,1977,1982
5 times on Jack Paar's version, all in 1962.
2 times on Jay Leno's version in 1994,1995
so it would seem to me a ton of his appearances are not listed.
Yes agreed - I checked out imdb after I posted here and found the same as you. Not sure he even showed up on tonight show list - just Eydie and only a handful of times listed. Odd. The la times article seems more accurate in that regard.
IMDB for Steve's page has him appearing on Carson's Tonight Show 24 times including 12 times as a guest host. I myself attended the November 3, 1969 show when Steve was a guest host.
I remember seeing Steve Lawrence make an appearance on the Tonight Show when Johnny Carson was still the host. He did a song, and when he came over to talk, Johnny Carson mentioned that he wished that he could just belt out a song like that. Lawrence said something along the lines of, "Well, it's your show, go ahead."
Carson was reluctant to do it, but Lawrence and Ed McMahon cajoled/goaded him into doing it. Carson went to center stage and sang the same tune that Lawrence had just performed. He wasn't that bad, although he was clearly uncomfortable about doing it.
I don't recall ever seeing Steve Lawrence on the Tonight Show again after that.
Does anybody else remember seeing that show, and does anybody know if Carson refused to have him back on the show because of it?
I don't remember that at all. What I remember is that everybody was always nagging Johnny to sing, and he never wanted to. But somehow he got cajoled into finally doing it. They made a big funny production out of it, it was announced days ahead of time, and without googling it I can't remember what he sang but I think it was a love ballad. For some reason, I'm picturing him on a horse. As I recall, he started off doing it straight but then just into a silly voice. I know he was introverted, and I wonder if he just had to revert to comedy because he was not confident in his singing (though I think he did have a good voice).
Now I will have to go double-check my memory. Maybe it's the same Steve Lawrence episode but I definitely don't remember it being an off-the-cuff thing.
I don't remember hearing anything about Lawrence being banned, so sorry I can't help there.
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