Johnny Carson’s final moments were filled with anger — not at anyone else, but at himself.
According to a new tell-all book, the late Tonight Show icon spent his last conversation haunted by regret over one of his oldest vices: cigarettes.
In Love Johnny Carson: One Obsessive Fan’s Journey to Find the Genius Behind the Legend, author Mark Malkoff spoke to Carson’s brother, Dick, who revealed the TV star’s dying words.
“He kept saying, ‘Those damn cigarettes, those damn cigarettes,’” Dick recalled, describing how Johnny blamed himself for the smoking habit that destroyed his lungs.
Carson died on January 23, 2005, at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, surrounded by his wife, Alex, his two sons, and family. He was 79. His cause of death was respiratory failure due to emphysema.
After his passing, Carson was cremated, and his family held a private service aboard his beloved boat.
Throughout his 30-year Tonight Show reign, Carson was never shy about his smoking. In a 1979 60 Minutes interview with Mike Wallace, he even admitted feeling “guilty” about his addiction, joking, “I should go to one of those places where they shock you or show you old reruns of Gilligan’s Island to make you quit.”
At times, he even lit up on air — a casual act that now seems chilling in hindsight.
Despite giving up cigarettes later in life, the damage was irreversible. Those close to him say he carried guilt about it until the end.
Carson also used that same 60 Minutes interview to explain why he guarded his personal life so fiercely. “I like to keep certain things private,” he said. “I probably do put up a barrier until I get to know people.”
But no barrier could protect him from the darker side of fame. During his run, Carson received death threats — especially after inviting controversial guests like Paul R. Ehrlich, the scientist behind The Population Bomb, a book warning of overpopulation.
After Ehrlich’s appearance, police reportedly filled the studio for Carson’s safety. The host even cracked a dark joke in his monologue: “You might as well do it now. I’m dying anyway.”
Malkoff’s book also dives into one of The Tonight Show’s juiciest rumors — that Carson kept a secret “banned guests” list.
“Sometimes, if a guest caused problems, they were quietly blacklisted,” Malkoff writes. “The list wasn’t official, but it existed — more than thirty big-name stars were nixed at one point.”
Rumor has it that both Burt Reynolds and Rich Little claimed to have seen an actual hard copy. Some banned celebs reportedly returned only when a guest host filled in.
Carson’s legacy as television’s greatest late-night host remains unmatched — but behind the laughs and quick wit was a man grappling with regret, mortality, and the price of fame.
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