Question: Is it true that Johnny Carson disliked Raymond Burr?
There’s no way to be certain at this late date as both men have been deceased for many years.
Johnny Carson had an unfortunate habit of allowing his staff to write weight and “sexuality hinting” “jokes” for his monologue. They were easy laughs ,and when Carson’s other material for the night was bombing, he’d step into more personal material much of which wasn’t particularly amusing, but which could generate a cheap laugh and “save” Carson from failing. He did this with William Conrad,Wayne Newton, and also Raymond Burr, among others.
Raymond was a closeted gay man (although it’s likely that someone at Carson’s level knew about his sexuality) and because he was bullied in his youth, he was sensitive about his lifelong issues with weight. Although for years Burr put up with the insults (He appeared on the Tonight Show about ten times) after a certain point he grew tired and angry about them and from that point forward, he refused to appear on the show as a guest any longer. Since Carson left in 1992 and Burr died the following year, it seems apparent that they never resolved their personal issues.
Carson may indeed have disliked Burr, querent.
He may also have simply used him to gain laughs at his expense.
Here’s a photo of the men together.
It’s from a longer video.
Carson mentions that its been some time since Burr was on the series and Burr agrees stating that it was “eight or nine years”. Burr also reminds Carson that it was in “New York” which along with Carson mentioning that Burr was then starring in the briefly aired series Mallory, sets the interview sometime in 1976 and their previous encounter as 1968 or 1969.
It’s clearly a tense encounter as Burr never gets comfortable during it (It’s on YouTube)