Celebrities Who Are Banned From Popular Late Night Shows

Celebrities often come on talk shows to promote themselves and their upcoming movies or albums. Late Night Talk Shows are often used as a famous marketing tool. It’s also a good way to connect to the fans. And also the talk show hosts use the opportunity to get to know juicy stories about the celebrities. But certain celebrities end up doing something so unexpected that they get banned from the show.

Most of the time a celebrity is banned from late-night talk shows is because of their behavior. The job of a talk show host can be tricky, as they have to get corral famous people and also stick to the schedule. But sometimes celebrities make their job hard and then end up getting banned from the show.

Harmony Korine Was Banned From The ‘Late Show with David Letterman’

Kown for his film Spring Breakers, director Harmony Korine got himself banned from the Late Show with David Letterman. David Letterman had the director as a guest quite a few times on his Late Show during the mid to late 90s. At the time he used to be high on crack and heroin. But the one appearance that made the host ban him. The host, finally, in 2013 revealed the reason behind the ban, when James Franco, a friend of the banned director asked for it. He told, “I went upstairs to greet Meryl Streep and welcome her to the show. I knock on the door and she wasn’t in there. And I looked around and I found Harmony going through her purse. True story. And so I said: “That’s it, put her things back in her bag and then get out.”

Bobcat Goldthwait was Banned from ‘The Tonight Show’

On one of his appearances on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the comedian Bobcat Goldthwait set the show on fire, quite literally. In the year 1994, the comedian and Jay Leno were in a conversation and having a good time, giving the audience a laugh. That’s when Goldthwait set the chair he was sitting on fire. It might sound like an accident but it wasn’t. The comedian had come prepared with lighter fluid and lighter. The host and the other guest managed to put out the fire with water they had available. But the host ensured that Goldthwait never came back. He also was charged with a $3,880 fine. It was used to replace the chair and pay the PSA.

Dax Shepard Was Banned From ‘Late Night With Conan O’Brien’

It is no secret that Dax Shepard had a phase where he became highly addicted to drugs and alcohol. As a result, Conan O’ Brien banned him from his show till he sobered up. In a podcast, Pursuit of Healthiness in 2004, Dax shared his disastrous experience at the talk show. He shared “I had done the pre-interview in a blackout and I woke up to the hotel security shaking me awake, and I was with a stranger and the stranger had peed the bed, or I had peed the bed. Someone peed the bed.” And this occurred 20 minutes before his appearance. And he did not remember the pre-interview with made the appearance even worse.

Jay Leno was not welcome at ‘Late Night with Conan O’ Brien

One of the biggest and most bitter talk show host feuds has to be the one between Jay Leno and Conan O’ Brien. In 2010, Jay Leno had been hosting The Tonight Show on NBC since 1992. And In the 2000s Conan O’ Brien was getting offers from other studios to become the host for them. In an attempt to not lose the talk show host, NBC promised him Jay Leno’s place when his contract expired in 2009. But it did not go quite as planned. Now, in an attempt to keep Leno to themselves NBC gave him his own show, while O’ Brien was given the Tonight Show. But it messed up the entire schedule and NBC had to give The Tonight Show back to Leno. This made Conan upset and hence Jay Leno got banned from the show.

Gary Busey was banned from ‘The Howard Stern Show’

In his 2001 appearance at The Howard Stern Show, the actor Gary Busey tried to wrestle with the host of the talk show. The actor forgot the bounds of personal space. The actor created a huge mess on the set of the show as he picked on the co-host, Robin Quivers. And did not stop at that, he tried to wrestle Howard Stern on the floor. He chased the poor host across the entire set in an attempt to do so. When asked about it, Gary Busey’s answer was just as shocking as his behavior. He said, “I have 13 separate personality parts that I know of. That personality you saw on Howard Stern that day is ‘Pesky, the Excitable Boy.’”