text: On February 11, 1960, Jack Paar unexpectedly walked off the show in the midst of the program – an absence that lasted almost a month – after NBC censors edited out a segment taped the night before about a joke involving a "WC" ("water closet", a polite term for a flush toilet) being confused for a "wayside chapel". As he left his desk, he said, "I am leaving The Tonight Show. There must be a better way of making a living than this". Paar's abrupt departure left his startled announcer to finish the late-night broadcast himself.
  Paar returned to the show on March 7, 1960, strolled on stage after the opening credits, struck a pose, and said, ". . . . As I was saying before I was interrupted . . . " After the audience erupted in applause, Paar continued: "when I walked off, I said there must be a better way of making a living. Well, I've looked  – – – and there isn't!" However, citing that he would prefer to do one prime-time show per week rather than five late-night installments, Paar eventually left the show two years later in March 1962, at the pinnacle of his success as host. The guests on the last show were Jack E. Leonard, Alexander King, Robert Merrill and Buddy Hackett. Among those appearing in taped farewell messages were Richard Nixon, Robert F. Kennedy, Billy Graham, Bob Hope and Jack Benny. Hugh Downs was the announcer, and José Melis led the band. The Jack Paar Show was moved to the evening's prime time (as The Jack Paar Program) and aired weekly on Friday nights through the 1965 season.
  Transition from Paar to Carson (1962)