Betcha Didn't Know Ed McMahon's Story

Given all the untimely deaths happening at once, poor Ed was being upstaged by Michael, Farrah, and Billy. We would have been very remiss not to still give him his props.

Ed McMahon has passed away at 86. While that is a reasonable age to die, I suppose, there was something so timeless about him. It’s so hard to imagine that such an icon will no longer be with us; that we’ll no longer hear his familiar voice. Indeed, it was a voice that resonated in everyone’s lives. A voice that as Dave Letterman has said, “was a signal that something great was about to happen.”

A legendary talent, in his own rite, he was famous for being a supporting character, for making others look good. He is probably best known as Johnny Carson’s co-host on The Tonight Show, but even those who are too young to remember that are, no doubt, familiar with his voice. “Heeeeeeeeere’s Johnny!” is a recognizable tag line in most societies.

He died at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in California on June 23, 2009 in his sleep. Ed was obviously very old and was fighting many health problems, including cancer, but what ultimately got him was pneumonia.

His stellar career started when he was 15 years old. He was a “caller” at a bingo game in Maine. He spent the next three years performing as a clown in the state fair and carnival circuit. The second World War interrupted his clowning antics, and he became a Marine fighter pilot. He studied architecture at a Catholic University in Washington DC. He supplemented his education by selling vegetable slicers on Atlantic City’s boardwalk. He actually had no aspirations of stardom at this age. He was a natural at math and engineering, so a career as an architect seemed ideal.

However, the lure of the microphone won out over stability.

In the 50s, along with the 13 television shows he had consistent roles on, he hosted his own 3 hour daily interview show, not unlike The Tonight Show, in Philadelphia. Televisions were such a rarity then, he joked that it didn’t matter if he made mistakes.

However, after dusting his clown shoes off for the show Big Top (1950), his next assignment was flying planes in the Korean War. He came back from the war to cancelled shows. He scraped together bit parts. When he landed one on Who Do You Trust? with Johnny Carson, he finally found his niche.
Their chemistry was so good that when Johnny landed The Tonight Show in 1962, he took Ed with him.

McMahon has said, “You can’t imagine hooking up with a guy like Carson. There’s the old phrase, hook your wagon to a star. I hitched my wagon to a great star.” In fact, the two used to joke that their partnership outlasted their multiple marriages.

He has added so much to all sorts of shows, including Hee Haw, Celebrity Family Feud, Just Shoot Me, and The Simpsons. His reoccurring role? Himself. It was an easy role to play. He remained the same down to earth, likable guy in real life too.

Weatherman, Gene Crane recalls, “Ed sometimes filled in for me as emcee on Fame and Fortune Talent Show, which included doing commercials for the sponsor, Erlanger Beer. They made him do the commercial over and over, each time drinking a beer. He was a little bombed when he returned to the show, but was a pro. Ed was fun and worked harder than any of us.”

Jerry Lewis of The Muscular Dystrophy Association Telethon, which he co-hosted with Ed said, “On the telethon, he was my right-hand man. It’s hard to imagine doing the show without him.”

And then we can’t forget TV Bloopers and Practical Jokes, co-hosted with Dick Clark. Most also remember him hosting the primitive American Idol, Star Search, where stars such as Britney Spears, Drew Carey and Arsenio Hall got their first breaks. Both Bloopers and Star Search were favorites at my house. In fact, my friends and I used to do was pretend we were contestants on Star Search.

McMahon suffered a broken neck in March 07, as well as financial problems. He filed lawsuits related to the injury as well as the faulty medical care he received, which included two botched spine operations, and a misdiagnosis. His not being able to work due to injuries only exacerbated the problem.

He lived a full life that most can envy. I think a lesson we can all take away from his example, would be to always strive to make the other person look good. In a world where everyone is trying to make themselves look good, we definitely could use a lot more Ed McMahons. I know I’m going to try to be one. And Ed would concur with a resounding, “YES!”