Paar was a full-blown eccentric, capable of switching from laughter to tears, from passionate statements to acerbic asides, and audiences watched, waiting for an emotional outburst, idly wondering if he might actually have a nervous breakdown on camera. John Lardner of THE NEW YORKER decried his "unacceptably sullen, tired and arrogant tone," but Paar was a hit from the beginning, assembling what would amount to his own personal repertory company, entertainers like squeaky-voiced comedienne Dody Goodman, French actress Genevieve, Cliff Arquette as Charley Weaver and the magnificently mad Jonathan Winters. Paar conducted the first interview with Robert Kennedy after his brother John's death, showed film of a Beatles performance months before they arrived in this country and introduced new talents like Bill Cosby and Liza Minnelli. He waged memorable wars with rival host Ed Sullivan and columnists Walter Winchell and Dorothy Kilgallen and also stood on principle, walking off the show one evening in 1960 because the network had edited out what they deemed an offensive joke about a water closet.
Paar's parting shot that night had been, "There must be a better way of making a living than this." Three weeks later when he returned riding the wave of press attention, his opening line was: "As I was saying before I was interrupted . . ." He remained another two years before turning the reins over to Johnny Carson for his 30-year run, moving to a Friday night primetime slot for "The Jack Paar Program" (NBC, 1962-65). After that, his only semi-regular venture was "Jack Paar Tonight" (1973), appearing under the umbrella of "ABC Late Night", although he hosted numerous specials, including "Jack Paar Comes Home" (1986), when in keeping with the "Come Home to NBC" campaign, he returned to the network after a 15-year absence. In 1997, shortly after the Museum of Television and Radio honored him for his distinguished career, Paar was the subject of an "American Masters" (PBS) documentary, "Jack Paar: As I Was Saying . . ."