Waylon Jennings was scheduled to be a guest on the Late Late Show with Tom Snyder TV show in 1998. The evening started rocky, as Jennings wasn't the only guest of the night.
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"He really didn't want to do the Tom Snyder show unless he could be the only guest on the show," his publicist Schatzi Hageman shared on a CMT special.
The first guest of the night was Dr. Laura, but her interview took longer than it was supposed to. It began eating into the 30 minutes of air time promised to Jennings, and he immediately became very unhappy about the situation. "He's sitting there watching Dr. Laura and Tom talk. 'In 20 minutes,' he says, 'we're leaving'," Jessi Colter told CMT.
Dr. Laura and Tom continued the interview after a commercial break, and Jennings had had enough. "Somebody came over and said, "It's not gonna be very long, just a few minutes," Colter shared. "So we sat there. At about 35 minutes, he said, 'call the car.' And Waylon Jennings walks out on Tom Snyder."
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When it's time for Jennings to join Snyder on set, Snyder was shocked that someone had to nerve to walk out on him. "Waylon Jennings walked out of here about five to 10 minutes ago. He is not here," Snyder told the audience with an "I can't believe this" look on his face. "There's nobody in the chair," Snyder states again as the camera pans to an empty chair.
A few industry peers shared their thoughts on the Jennings and Snyder quarrel:
"Classic moment in television history." -- Trace Adkins
"I just don't think you do that to Waylon Jennings!" -- Mary Murphy
"Had it not happened, it would have been just another television show that Waylon did. But since it did, everyone talks about it!" -- Willie Nelson
Snyder continued, "I have never had anybody leave before they came on." The late-night talk show host was left with 18 minutes of downtime to occupy since the country music singer/songwriter walked out. If that ain't outlaw country, I don't know what is!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNAM3Z7gCQ8
