McMahon, 86, was a household name for 30 years as the announcer and sidekick to Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. His trademark opening "Heeeeeere's Johnny!" became part of the cultural lexicon, echoed most memorably by Jack Nicholson in 1980's The Shining.
He was one of the great all-time straight men, and he had what had to be the best belly laugh in the business -- a belly laugh that enabled him to endlessly endure Carson's steady stream of clever insults without seeming to be affected at all. One of my favorite examples occurred during the "Deep Throat" era, when I heard Carson speculate that if McMahon had been in the film, they'd have had to titled it "Deep Fat." To which McMahon roared louder than I'd ever heard him. The fact that he roared with laughter at such personal insults made them much funnier than they'd otherwise have been. Of course, between having worked as a street barker and served for years in the Marines, he had probably had lots of practical experience enduring insults worse than anything Carson could dish out:
Born in Detroit and raised in New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, McMahon began training for his future career by calling bingo games as a teen and hawking vegetable slicers on the Atlantic City boardwalk to pay college expenses.
He served as a pilot in the Marine Corps in World War II before graduating from Catholic University and starting his announcing career in Philadelphia. He went back to Marine service during the Korean War, flying reconnaissance missions.
I cannot remember a time in my life where Ed McMahon wasn’t at least a distant part of chi flat irons.
It is like a part of myself has died along with him runescape gold.
Have a great afterlife Ed.
The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler
Don?t bang your head!
I believe that his wingman was Ted Williams, in Korea. I also believe that he flew the Corsair, one of the best fighters in WWII.