Johnny Carson Show Icon Who Worked With Richard Pryor Makes Rare Public Appearance

A legendary late-night television performer has been seen during a rare public appearance in Los Angeles.

The actress trained in Chicago before moving into Hollywood, where she made her television debut on Three’s Company.

Her film credits include Transylvania 6-5000, The Toy and National Lampoon’s Movie Madness.

Many viewers may know her best from her numerous guest appearances and comedy sketches on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

She also built a successful voice-acting career, lending her talents to Pixar productions including WALL-E, Monsters, Inc., Up and Toy Story 3, among others.

Now 69, she was photographed in Los Angeles wearing a crochet sweater and jeans while carrying several belongings. Can you identify the star?

The answer is Teresa Ganzel.

Ganzel was seen strolling through Los Angeles on Monday, appearing relaxed and effortlessly stylish during the outing.

Our News Outlet has contacted representatives for Ganzel for comment.

Across television, film and voice acting, Ganzel has entertained audiences of all ages throughout her long career.

On Monday, she continued that work in front of a live audience at the Toluca Lake HOA’s Story Slam, where she appeared to take part in the storytelling event.

‘Storytelling! I loved it so much. Thank you Toluca Lake HOA for the opportunity and it was an honor to share the stage with you,’ she wrote on Instagram.

Ganzel has spent decades appearing on screen, with credits including The Love Boat, Married…. with Children, Despicable Me 3, Monsters University, Cars and Mr. Belvedere.

Her acting breakthrough came with the role of Gretchen on Three’s Company. She later played Fancy Bates opposite Richard Pryor in The Toy, Elizabeth Ellison alongside Jeff Goldblum in Transylvania 6-5000 and appeared in National Lampoon’s Movie Madness.

She became a familiar face on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson after securing a role on Teachers Only.

Although Teachers Only, which also featured Hacks star Jean Smart, was canceled after only 13 weeks, the series helped lead Ganzel to the set of The Tonight Show.

While on The Tonight Show, Ganzel appeared in numerous sketches over the years, including the notable part of Tea Time Lady. 

Recalling how she landed the gig , she told Pop Geeks the process all unfolded ‘very organically’. 

‘What happened was I did a sitcom. It was a Carson Production called “Teachers Only,”‘ she said. 

‘It ran for 13 weeks before it got cancelled. It was Lynn Redgrave, Jean Smart, myself, and some other great actors, too, Tim Reid, Joel Brooks, Norman Fell…It was a great cast. Anyway, it was a half-hour sitcom and it was a Carson production.

‘Johnny never came to the set, but one day, I got a phone call saying that Johnny wanted me to do “The Tonight Show”. This was not to do a sketch…It was to do the panel to promote the series. I did the interview, and it went really well.

‘Johnny and I definitely had chemistry. It was very funny and, once again, I was really nervous, but my nerves worked for me. Johnny got a kick out of it.

‘My first interview was very funny and good. Several weeks later, I got a phone call to do “The Tonight Show” again, the panel. I said “I don’t have anything to promote. The series has been cancelled”.’

But that didn’t stop her from returning to the show, with Carson impressed by her humor. 

‘The powers that be at “The Tonight Show” said “Johnny knows that. It’s his show, but he just thinks you’re funny. He just thinks you’re great on panel”. He had me come back out again, and had me tell funny little stories about what was going on in my life. He’d ask me who I was dating or what was up, and I would just tell silly stories.

‘I started to get some other work and that was great. There were many times I would get these phone calls out of the blue to come on and do panel, and so I would just go on. Sometimes I would have something to promote, sometimes I wouldn’t, but he would have me on just to talk to me.

‘One day, during the commercial break of doing an interview with him, he said “Would you be interested in doing sketch work with me?”. I said “Are you kidding me? I would LOVE to do sketch work with you”, and then he said, “You know the Tea Time Movie sketch?”. I said, “Of course!”.

‘He said, “Would you like to do that?” and I said, “Yes!”, so the next time I did the show, I was doing that sketch.’