A bit over two years ago here, I linked to this article by Richard Zoglin which was headlined, "New Book Reveals Johnny Carson's Least Favorite Tonight Show Guest: Bob Hope." As I noted, the headline did not exactly reflect the article but the piece did say that Johnny didn't like having Bob on his program.
I've been watching the Carson reruns on Antenna TV and they seem to run a disproportionate number with Hope as a guest. (I just looked and another one is on tonight. The other guests are Liv Ullman and our friend we lost two months ago, Kevin Meaney.) I'm guessing the frequency of reruns with Ol' Ski-Nose is because whoever picks the reruns tries to avoid shows with a lot of music so as to not have to pay clearance fees. Ergo, you get a great many with comedians. They run an awful lot with Buddy Hackett and George Carlin, too.
I don't doubt what the sources told Zoglin but I have to say that watching those shows now, I don't see it. Johnny fawns a lot more over Hope than necessary and accommodates more plugging than he allowed most other guests. Hope usually showed up with some decent prepared material and often a few funny out-takes from the upcoming special he was there to promote. And Johnny was always primed to cue some anecdote about Hope's career that Bob would rattle off to the audience's delight.
They were usually pretty good segments and if Johnny really resented Hope coming on to do an infomerical for his special, he never did anything to stop it. I was at a taping once when Hope was a guest and after Johnny finished his show, he stayed around and helped (and heckled) as Hope used the Carson audience to tape the monologue for the upcoming special he was plugging. Johnny didn't have to do that.
The one place where those episodes now seem awkward is when Bob drifted into the political stuff. Then again, with hindsight, about 90% of what everyone said in public about Vietnam in the seventies now looks pretty naïve.
I'll watch the rerun that's on tonight with the same curiosity I have for all of Hope's appearances: Did Johnny really dislike this guy as much as some of his associates now say? Because he sure doesn't show it and there were times when you sensed that Mr. Carson didn't like a guest and they wouldn't be back. There was one on a few weeks ago with Milton Berle where I could practically read Carson's mind. He was thinking, "This is the last time he'll be on this show…and I have to make sure that when I'm that age, I don't embarrass myself like that."