Johnny Carson book exposes 'Tonight Show' ban list featuring Jay Leno, Ellen DeGeneres

Fox News Flash top entertainment headlines of the week Fox News Flash top entertainment and celebrity headlines are here. Johnny Carson's time as the host of NBC's "The Tonight Show" is memorialized in the new book "Love Johnny Carson." Written by Carson aficionado Mark Malkoff, with David Ritz, the book covers Carson's life and career, featuring interviews with those who knew him best, and it captures just how big an icon he was during his tenure on the "Tonight Show" and after. When speaking with Peter Lassally, Carson's producer for 22 years, Malkhoff confirmed the infamous "Tonight Show" ban list existed. He added that to his knowledge there was never a physical list, but both "Burt Reynolds and Rich Little both claimed to have seen a 'hard copy' with over thirty names on it." Here are all the big-name celebrities the book says were banned from the show. Carson banned a few big-name celebrities from his show. (Paul Drinkwater/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank) JOHNNY CARSON’S PAL RECOUNTS EMOTIONAL ‘LAST SUPPER’ WITH TV ICON: ‘HE KNEW HE WAS DYING’ Jay Leno The book says Leno was banned after "the audience laughs were so light" during one of his appearances. (Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal) Jay Leno made his "Tonight Show" debut in March 1977 and was a smash hit, so much so that he soon became a regular on the show. Things went wrong, however, after his fifth appearance in February 1978, when "the audience laughs were so light that Johnny decided never to invite him back," according to the book. "Tonight Show" stand-up talent scout Jim McCawley wrote in his unpublished book that producers were told by Carson not to invite Leno back. Malkoff wrote that McCawley tried to fight for Leno, but producer Peter Lassally shut him down. "'Johnny just doesn’t like him. He doesn’t like his jokes,' said Peter," Malkoff wrote. "'That’s not going to change... Once he doesn’t like someone, he doesn’t start liking them later." Leno eventually returned to the show, later going on to host "The Tonight Show" for a combined 22 years, first from 1992 to 2009 and then from 2010 to 2014. Ellen DeGeneres DeGeneres was reportedly banned for making a joke she was told not to make. (Randy Holmes/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images) Ellen DeGeneres made history as the first-ever female comedian to be called over to the couch by Carson when she made her first appearance on the show in November 1986. She returned to the show two more times before upsetting Carson and effectively getting banned for the rest of his tenure as host. According to the show's publicist, Charlie Barrett, Carson told DeGeneres not to make a certain joke during her third appearance in May 1987, but the comedian chose to do so anyway. "Barrett was there in the green room after the show when Jim [McCawley] chastised Ellen in front of everyone," Malkoff wrote. "Pointing at her, he said, 'I told you not to do that material.' Barrett recalled Ellen looking embarrassed....

Preview: ~500 words