Quote:Johnny froze her out of his show after Rivers got her own show on another network in the same time slot as The Tonight Show. Carson never forgave her, and she was very bitter about that experience.

Yup.  She got impatient and decided to jump ship.  Carson was big on loyalty, especially from those who were beholding to him for getting their break.  When you listen to the comedians who got their start in front of a national audience on his show, they talk about him with such reverence, especially if they got the call to come sit down and talk to him after doing their set.  Guys like Letterman and Seinfeld still idolize the guy to this day.  When she jumped to Fox to host her own show, Carson was ticked off because she never reached out to get his blessing.  Instead, he heard about it from the network.  He never spoke to her again. 

 

What's funny is that she was banned from the Tonight Show by Carson, and both Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien followed suit, never allowing her back on out of respect for Johnny Carson.

 

I would imagine that was probably one of her bigger regrets.  She certainly made up for it though.  She became quite the entrepreneur starting her own jewelry, and accessory line, hawking her goods on QVC. 

 

She was a pioneer in a lot of ways, and an extremely shrewd business person as well.  She had best selling albums, books, and successful TV shows.  Despite her abrasive approach to her routine, she was extremely popular. 

 

Just scanning her bio, she worked with a lot of the comedy greats of days gone by.  She was still doing her thing up until last week when she went in for the surgery.  She clearly lived life to its fullest right to the end. 

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