Ed McMahon, perennial and preeminent sidekick and pitchman, is dead

I cannot imagine Jay Leno’s Kevin, Conan O’Brien’s Andy or David Letterman’s Paul ever becoming as much of a celebrity in his own right as Johnny Carson’s Ed had become.

In fact it is arguable that Ed McMahon was known as much for hosting Star Search (the precursor to American Idol) and serving as pitchman for American Family Publisher’s sweepstakes, as for introducing Carson with his signature, “H-e-e-e-e-e-ere’s  Johnny!” on the Tonight Show for 30 years.

Moreover, McMahon can be forgiven for regarding his role every bit as indispensable to the success of this show as the A-list celebrities who came on to hawk their latest project:

We would just have a free-for-all. Now to sit there, with one of the brightest, most well-read men I’ve ever met, the funniest, and just to hold your own in that conversation… I loved that.

There’s no denying though that the Tonight Show sustained Ed.  And nothing demonstrates this quite like the fact that after it ended in 1992, Ed made headlines more for his real-life medical and financial woes than for anything he did on TV. Specifically, these lame years were highlighted by a broken neck he suffered after a fall in 2007 and the near-foreclosure on his mansion in Beverly Hills last year.   

At any rate, what I find most notable about his life is that he served as a fighter pilot during the World War II and Korean War and was the longtime anchor for the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon.

McMahon died yesterday at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center from a “multitude of health problems,” including bone cancer. He is survived by his third wife, Pam, and five children.  He was 86.

With that, let’s hope an angel introduced him to Saint Peter by intoning, H-e-e-e-e-e-ere’s Eddy!

Farewell Ed