The Untold Truth Of Johnny Carson's Late Night Guest Hosts

In 1968, six years after Johnny Carson took the reins of "The Tonight Show," the singer, actor, and activist, Harry Belafonte guest hosted for a week from February 5-9, according to People's World. This would be the very first week-long guest on the show and it was significant for it to be Belafonte in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement. When he was first asked to do the gig, he said, "I said no at first, because I couldn't do what Johnny did. I can't tell jokes and what not," but his daughter, Gina Belafonte, stated on NBC's documentary, "The Sit-In," "If it wasn't going to be in an inclusive way that he envisioned both racially, but I think most importantly artistically, let alone politically ... he didn't want that to be part of his legacy" (via People's World).

Indie Wire, reporting on the new documentary on Belafonte's week of hosting "The Tonight Show," noted that his line up of guests were significant, including Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.–mere months before both were assassinated–and black entertainers like Lena Horne, Nipsey Russell, and Bill Cosby. The week of broadcasts was a "ratings success, Belafonte's week-long 'Tonight Show' hosting engagement offered a very necessary panoramic view of an America that was on the cusp of transformative social change" (via Indie Wire).

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