Johnny Carson Jokes About ‘Toilet Paper Shortage’ Of 1973 And It’s So Relevant To Today

A short video of Johnny Carson has just surfaced on YouTube in light of the coronavirus pandemic. As many know, people have been panic-buying household essentials, one of those many items being toilet paper. Why? No one really knows, but store shelves in that specific aisle in the grocery stores are completely empty. So, it’s the perfect time for this video to make its way around the Internet.

On December 19th, 1973, Carson joked about the “recent toilet paper shortage.” It was posted from the official YouTube channel for Johnny Carson. The description says, “There was actually not a toilet paper shortage, but after Johnny delivered this joke people ran out to the stores to stock up!” How relevant is that to today’s world?

Johnny Carson jokes about the “toilet paper shortage”

People have been flooding the comments section about how much they miss Carson and also their experiences with people hoarding TP. “I remember going to play at my friend’s house and his folks had hoarded so much toilet paper we were using the rolls as building blocks to make a castle wall. They probably have not run out yet,” someone writes.

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Another fan shares quite a story. “When Johnny Carson made this joke about a toilet paper shortage, I was in my second year of college and working part-time at a Safeway grocery store. Even though there was not a toilet paper shortage, Johnny created panic buying and hoarding of it. I was a cashier and people were filling up shopping carts with toilet paper and soon the shelves were empty. When customers saw the empty shelves, this seemed to confirm the shortage, and the hoarding continued for several more weeks. RIP Johnny, you were my favorite late-night talk show host of all time!!!”

“I want to tell you, it is serious, I just saw a commercial,” Carson says in his joke. “Where Mrs. Olson comes in with a shopping bag and the housewife says, ‘Forget the coffee, just give me the shopping bag!'” Watch the whole video below, and get ready for a much-needed laugh during this time!