In September 1983 Joan Rivers was officially designated Carson's permanent guest host, a role she had been filling for more than a year. In 1986 she abruptly left for her own show, The Late Show (1986), on the then-new Fox Network. Carson first learned of the show when he saw her press conference on TV. When Rivers called Carson after the announcement, he was so furious at Rivers for failing to tell him personally before the press conference that he refused to take the call. He banned Rivers from his show, canceling her three remaining weeks as guest host. Carson never forgave her for leaving and never spoke to her again. When Rivers sent Carson flowers and a note after his son Ricky died in an accident, Carson sent them back. Rivers later said that she didn't want to tell Carson before the press conference because she was afraid FOX would cancel the deal if word leaked out. Carson said he felt betrayed, not because Rivers dared to compete with him, but because she wasn't honest with him about her intentions and didn't ask for advice and his blessing.
On January 1, 1971, at 11:59 PM, the show broadcast an ad for Virginia Slims. It was the last cigarette ad shown before a federal law banned cigarette ads on TV.
When the show first aired, virtually everyone, including Johnny Carson, smoked on-camera. By the mid-'80s smoking openly on television was a thing of the past, but Carson's cigarette box remained on his desk until his final broadcast.
Many taped episodes, including appearances by Ayn Rand, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney, were lost in a fire at NBC's archive; only clips made for other programs have survived. NBC also recycled the original tapes of many episodes, without Johnny Carson's knowledge or approval. That stopped once he found out about it.
Five years after the final show aired, 10,000 taped episodes were transported to a working salt mine in Kansas, 54 stories underground, to protect them from deterioration. The average temperature of the salt mine is 68 degrees, with 40% humidity.