On December 19, 1973, Johnny Carson gave his opening monologue on the Tonight Show. The late-night comedian said the following:
“You know, we’ve got all sorts of shortages these days. But have you heard the latest? I’m not kidding. I saw it in the papers. There’s an acute shortage of . . . toilet paper!”
After his twenty-million viewers heard this and spread the word, actual fears soon materialized.
Americans rushed to stores and filled their carts with tee-pee.
When Carson returned to the show after his Christmas vacation, he was forced to apologize for his joke. But the damage was done. There was never any shortage of tee-pee! Here we go again!
