John Lennon Appears on Happy Days as Johnny Tuscadero

On this day in 1978, John Lennon appeared on the TV show Happy Days. 

Lennon was a big fan of the show and agreed to appear during season 5, as Johnny Tuscadero. Johnny, of course, was the bad boy, older brother of Pinky & Leather Tuscadero. The show’s creator was excited for the idea and jumped at the thought of a Beatle joining the cast.

The plot of the episode was that Johnny shows up in town during a cross country crime spree. Johnny and his partner ‘Yoko’, have murdered and robbed their way across 15 states and end up at Arnold’s drive in. Hilarity ensues.

Jailhouse Rock

Richie and the gang convince Johnny to perform a song with Leather and Pinky. Much to the chagrin of Officer Kirk. Kirk attempts to arrest them all but Johnny has other plans and shotguns Kirk to death. Johnny and the girls then perform “Roll Over Beethoven” and “Jailhouse Rock”. Yoko screeches in the background, driving the locals to insanity.

Johnny then saves Potsie from being sodomized by The Malachi Brothers as they were preparing to give Weber ‘The Malachi crunch. He intervenes and proceeds to bash their brains in with a tire iron while Yoko giggles. 

Yoko & Johnny then speed out of town in a 55 Chevy, while the gang performs ‘Johnny B Goode’. The band is a supergroup consisting of, Leather on Bass, Potsie on vocals, ‘Sticks Downey’ on drums, ‘Bag Zombroski’ on Piano, Ralph on Guitar, Richie on Sax and Joanie and Pinky on backing vocals. 

The controversial episode was only aired once and never replayed. The subject matter was so shocking at the time that Garry Marshall was brought up on indecency charges by the bunko squad and had to spend 6 weeks in jail. 

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