On September 15, 1965 Johnny Carson made disparaging remarks about the just announced scheduled November 22nd Heavyweight Championship Fight between challenger, Floyd Patterson and Champion Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali).
Four minutes into his opening monologue Johnny spends over a minute and a half criticizing Ali.
He states, "Whoopie, here we go again. I think we are going to be taken again, folks." " We are being set up for another farce."
NOTE: The entire Johnny Carson opening 9:22 monologue is heard.
The following night, September 16, 1965 Muhammad Ali makes a surprise visit to The Tonight Show and gets back at Johnny with ribald remarks and comedic banter.
This appearance would only be his second on The Tonight Show, his first appearing in 1963. Johnny takes all of Ali's acerbic "attack" in good fashion and plays along with a combative Muhammad who explains that he was enjoying eating his ice cream at home last night and watched himself being ridiculed.
Additional topics discussed include Ali's respect for challenger Floyd Patterson, his admiration for Johnny and what he does night after night, challenges with 70% taxes taken from him by Uncle Sam, staying in shape, never being scared of a fight but being nervous before each fight, losing a fight never a consideration, no longer predicating outcomes of his fights but predicting Patterson fight will go six or seven rounds, mentioning of his LP record, "I Am The Greatest," and praise for his music producer Dave Kaplan who is in the audience, and discusses the KO punch that floored Sonny Liston.
After Ali leaves the stage, Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon praise Ali for being a very nice person, and that after tonight's appearance people will have a different impression of him.
NOTE: This rare, and forgotten surprise appearance by Muhammad Ali runs for 13 minutes. It is not listed in journals or reference books, or even notated within Ali's 23 Tonight Show appearances when searching IMDb.