Heeeeeeeeeeeere's Ed McMahon!

Ed McMahon                                                                                               (AP Photo)

America remembers Edward Leo Peter "Ed" McMahon, Jr., an American comedian, game show host, announcer, and television personality. Most famous for his work on television as Johnny Carson's announcer on The Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992, also as the host of the talent show Star Search from 1983 to 1995, also co-hosting with Dick Clark on TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes from 1982 to 1986, he also became well-known as the presenter of the now-defunct American Family Publishers sweepstakes (not, as is commonly believed, its main rival Publishers Clearing House).

Ed McMahon annually co-hosted the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon. He performed in numerous television commercials, most notably for Budweiser. In the 1970s and 1980s, he anchored the team of NBC personalities conducting the network's coverage of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

McMahon appeared in several films, including The Incident (1967), Fun With Dick and Jane (1977), Full Moon High (1981), and Butterfly (1982), as well as briefly in the film version of Bewitched (2005). According to Entertainment Weekly he is considered one of the "greatest sidekicks".

McMahon's first broadcasting job was at WLLH-AM in his native Lowell and he began his television career in Philadelphia at WCAU-TV.

McMahon and Johnny Carson first worked together as announcer and host on the daytime game show Who Do You Trust? (1957-1962). McMahon and Carson left the show to join The Tonight Show in 1962. Ed McMahon describes what happened when the pair first met, the whole meeting being

... about as exciting as watching a traffic light change."

For more than 30 years, McMahon introduced the Tonight Show with a drawn-out "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Johnny!" His booming voice and constant laughter alongside the "King of Late Night" earned McMahon the nickname the "Human Laugh Track" and "Toymaker to the King".  Ed McMahon was a show business icon!

As part of the introduction to The Tonight Show, McMahon would state his name out loud, pronouncing it as Ed "Mc MAH yon", but neither long-time cohort Johnny Carson nor anyone else who interviewed him ever seemed to pick up on that subtlety, usually referring to him as Ed "Mc MAN".

[In reference to Ed McMahon] I don't have a sidekick - no Ed McMahon. So when I go out there, I'm lonely. It's scary." - Carson Daly

The extroverted McMahon served as a counter to the notoriously shy Carson. Nonetheless, McMahon once told an interviewer that after his many decades as an emcee, he would still get "butterflies" in his stomach every time he would walk onto a stage, and would use that nervousness as a source of energy. He's what television used to be.

McMahon was the long-running co-host of the annual Labor Day weekend Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. His 41st and last appearance was in 2008, making him second only to Lewis himself in number of appearances.  McMahon also worked along side Dick Clark hosting the television series (later special broadcast) TV Bloopers And Practical Jokes on NBC from 1982 until 1998, when Clark decided to move the production of the series to ABC.

In 2004, McMahon became the announcer and co-host of Alf's Hit Talk Show on TV Land. He has authored two memoirs, Here's Johnny!: My Memories of Johnny Carson, The Tonight Show, and 46 Years of Friendship as well as For Laughing Out Loud.  Over the years, he emceed the game shows Missing Links, Snap Judgment, Concentration, and Whodunnit!.

McMahon also hosted Lifestyles Live, a weekend talk program aired on the USA Radio Network. He also appeared in the feature documentary film, Pitch People, the first motion picture to take an in-depth look at the history and evolution of pitching products to the public.

In the early 2000s McMahon made a series of Neighborhood Watch public service announcements parodying the surprise appearances to contest winners that he was supposedly known for.

Current Tonight host Conan O'Brien paid tribute to McMahon on his show later that night saying,

It is impossible, I think, for anyone to imagine The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson without Ed McMahon. Ed's laugh was really the soundtrack to that show. McMahon, with Carson, created 'the most iconic two-shot in broadcasting history. There will never be anything like that again'."

Since Mr. McMahon's passing, two more entertainers have left us - Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. They will be missed.