In 1960 he abruptly quit the show four minutes into programming after
discovering that a joke of his that included the words "WC", meaning
water closet (a polite term for a flush toilet) had been censored. As
he left his desk, he said, "I am leaving [
Tonight Starring Jack Paar (1957)]. There must
be a better way of making a living than this." Several weeks later,
after a formal apology from the NBC network executives, he triumphantly
returned to a standing ovation from the audience. The first words he
spoke were, "As I was saying before I was interrupted . . . ".
