This morning came with the news of Ed McMahon’s death. Fighting bone cancer and pneumonia Ed passed away shortly after midnight at the Ronald Reagan/UCLA Medical Center.
Ed McMahon is probably most widely known as the side kick to Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show.” Ed McMahon also hosted “Star Search” and was the face of “America’s Publishers Clearinghouse” sweepstakes.
A talented pitch man, Ed McMahon was born Edward Leo Peter McMahon Jr. on March 6, 1923 in Detroit, but it was in Lowell, Massachusetts this pitchman honed his chops. At the tender age of 15 Ed took his first job behind the microphone for a circus visiting his home town. And that is how he began.
An engaging laugh, jokes, skits and trademark phrases like, “H-e-e-e-e-e-r-e’s Johnny” and “Hi yo” (we call them memes in social media) Ed was a forerunner of the early days of television and grew into a household icon. He will be missed.
