It would be an understatement to say that television personality Johnny Carson had massive influence. He was host of The Tonight Show for 30 years and remains a beloved icon long after his 2005 death. But one time his clout was highly apparent was when he instigated a toilet paper panic.
When he caught wind of a potential shortage in the ’70s, he made a couple of jokes about it. And that late-night television bit caused such a commotion, the provision started to disappear from grocery store shelves across the country.
What did the legendary host say that caused an alarmed reaction? And how did he try to make it right?
The 1970’s energy crisis
In the ’70s, American oil consumption outpaced the rate of domestic production. That seemed to be most problematic when oil exporters ceased their business with the U.S. The fuel supply remained low and fuel prices remained high throughout the decade, leaving the country somewhat on edge.
According to NASA, “citizens’ growing concerns about industrial threats to the environment and anxiety over fuel prices” led to the development of more efficient solutions for the long-term. However, some of the public’s anxieties at the time were mostly unwarranted and without solution.
All that at play, fears of a toilet paper shortage were easily stoked by the clever host of The Tonight Show.
Johnny Carson: ‘We gotta quit writing on toilet paper’
For Carson’s part, the story started with a statement from a congressman regarding the energy crisis. He said — referring to the fuel shortage and a subsequent meat shortage — the next thing to worry about would be a toilet paper shortage.
Eventually, that statement became a bit for The Tonight Show. Carson said during a 1973 monologue, “There is an acute shortage of toilet paper in the good old United States. We gotta quit writing on it!”
Carson then joked he saw a Folger’s coffee commercial in which a housewife says, “Forget the coffee, just give me the shopping bag.”
The Tonight Show had tens of millions of viewers on any given night. And some audience members mistook Carson’s humorous words about the American toilet paper supply as an actual reporting of news. Perhaps fearful of being reduced to using shopping bags and other paper products in the bathroom, some rushed out to the stores to stock up.
The toilet paper panic caused the illusion of a shortage
According to Snopes, toilet paper was well-supplied when Carson made the joke. But panic buying in the following weeks created the illusion of a shortage for some individuals who found empty shelves. In reality, a small group of people bought up all they could and left others in short supply.
Though there wasn’t an actual shortage, famed anchorman Walter Cronkite eventually addressed “unfounded rumors” which created a strain. After that, Carson clarified, again on The Tonight Show.
“For all my life in entertainment, I don’t want to be remembered as the man who created a false toilet paper scare. I just picked up the item from the paper and enlarged it somewhat,” he explained, as reported by Snopes. “Apparently there is no shortage!”
But experts say it’s human nature to try to control things in times of uncertainty, as explained on CBS Sunday Morning. And for many people, that apparently meant buying up a store’s entire stock of toilet paper after hearing one of Carson’s famous jokes.
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