Carla Rea Remembers Her ‘First’ — It Was In Las Vegas

Back in the '90s, daytime talk shows were huge! And one of them was my "first."

They were appointment viewing - unless you were lucky enough to have a fancy $1000 VCR. If you did, you could tape at least one of those shows. Or, you just had to get home to watch the chairs fly, the "you're the father" announcements, and cool drag queens.

Phil, Oprah, Maury, Jerry, Sally, Geraldo, Montel - they were huge. As was the name Jenny.

The Jenny Jones Show was an American syndicated daytime tabloid talk show that was hosted by comedian/actress/singer Jenny Jones. It was synonymous with the words "daytime talk."  The show was one of the most popular daytime talk shows of the '90s. It ran an impressive 12 seasons, from 1991 through to 2003. The Jenny Jones Show saw the biggest syndicated launch in talk show history.

Like a lot of daytime talk shows, The Jenny Jones Show started out fairly tame, but got weirder as the show progressed. That seemed to be the trend.

Well before The Mike and Carla Morning Show, I was on one of Jenny Jones very first shows in 1991, when she taped in Las Vegas (at KVVU/Fox 5 Studios) for a short while. Jenny Jones was also a comedian, and she did a show featuring all female comedians, which was kind of a novelty at that time. Of course there were female comedians - but club owners would never allow more than one female to work on the same bill at that time.

As a very young comedian (with a bad perm) it was amazing to be on what ended up being one of daytime's biggest shows, hosted by someone who knew the business of comedy. Jenny Jones ran for 12 seasons, but like so many shows, declining ratings and a very competitive TV market eventually led to her show getting canceled.

If you want to see some not so great comedy, here it is. Along my sit-down with Jenny Jones. For me, it was a lot of fun, and my first 'big' TV appearance! But the hair...

-Carla Rea