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Ed McMahon
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Edward "Ed" Leo Peter McMahon, Jr. (born March 6, 1923) is an American comedian, game show host, announcer, and television personality most famous for his work on television as Johnny Carson's announcer on Who Do You Trust? from 1957 to 1962 and on the Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992, and as the host of the talent show Star Search from 1983 to 1995. He later also became well-known as the presenter of American Family Publishing sweepstakes (not to be confused with Publishers Clearing House), which arrives unannounced at the homes of winners.
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Encyclopedia
Edward "Ed" Leo Peter McMahon, Jr. (born March 6, 1923) is an American comedian, game show host, announcer, and television personality most famous for his work on television as Johnny Carson's announcer on Who Do You Trust? from 1957 to 1962 and on the Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992, and as the host of the talent show Star Search from 1983 to 1995. He later also became well-known as the presenter of American Family Publishing sweepstakes (not to be confused with Publishers Clearing House), which arrives unannounced at the homes of winners. He subsequently made a series of Neighborhood Watch Public Service Announcements reprising that role in parody.
He also cohosts the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon, and has 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 has 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 one of the "greatest sidekicks."
Early years
McMahon was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Eleanor (née Russell) and Edward Leo McMahon, who was a fund-raiser and entertainer. He was raised in Lowell, Massachusetts, and attended Boston College and The Catholic University of America, majoring in speech and drama. At The Catholic University of America, he joined the Phi Kappa Theta fraternity and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1949.
McMahon began his career as a bingo caller in Maine when he was 15. Prior to working as the announcer, he worked as a carnival barker for three years during his teenage years in Mexico, Maine, and put himself through college as a pitchman for vegetable slicers on the Atlantic City boardwalk.
His first broadcasting job was at WLLH-AM in Lowell, Massachusetts, and he began his television career in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at WCAU-TV. In the 1960s, he emceed the game shows Missing Links (when the show moved to ABC, Dick Clark replaced him), Snap Judgment, Concentration and Who Dunnit?,
Military service
During World War II, McMahon was trained as a United States Marines fighter pilot and also served as a flight instructor and test pilot. He was discharged in 1946, remaining in the reserves.
After college, McMahon was re-activated into active Marine duty. He was sent to Korea in February 1953. He flew unarmed O-1E Bird Dogs on eighty-five tactical air control and artillery spotting missions. He remained in the Marine reserves, retiring with the rank of Colonel in 1966 and was then commissioned as a Brigadier General in the California Air National Guard.
Several of his ancestors, including the Marquis d'Equilly, also had long and distinguished military careers. Patrice MacMahon, duc de Magenta was a Marshal of armies in France, serving under Napoleon III, and later President. McMahon once asserted to Johnny Carson that mayonnaise was originally named Macmahonnaise in honor of this ancestor, referring to him as the Comte de MacMahon. In his autobiography, McMahon said that it was his father who told him of this relationship and he went on to suggest that he was not certain of the truth of the story.
Entertainment career
The Tonight Show
McMahon and Johnny Carson first worked together as announcer and host on the daytime gameshow Who Do You Trust? (1957-1962). McMahon and Carson left that to do The Tonight Show in 1962.
For more than 30 years, McMahon introduced the Tonight Show with a drawn-out "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Johnny!" His booming voice and constant laughter earned him the nickname the Human Laugh Track.
As part of the introductory patter to The Tonight Show, McMahon would state his name out loud, pronouncing it as Ed "Mc MAH yon", but neither his long-time cohort Johnny Carson nor seemingly anyone else who interviewed him ever seemed to pick up on that subtlety, usually referring to him as Ed "Mc MAN".
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.
Star Search
He was also offered the job as host of the successful weekly syndicated series Star Search, which began in 1983 and helped launch the careers of numerous actors, singers, choreographers and comedians. He stayed with the show until it ended in 1995, and in 2003, he made a cameo appearance on the revival of the CBS show, hosted by Arsenio Hall, who was his successor.
Other roles
McMahon and Dick Clark hosted the TV 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, he 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.
McMahon currently hosts Lifestyles Live, a weekend talk program aired on the USA Radio Network. He also appears 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.
McMahon recently appeared playing a rapper for a FreeCreditReport.com commercial and in a Cash for Gold commercial alongside MC Hammer. McMahon is also the Spokesman for Pride Mobility, a leading power wheelchair and scooter manufacturer.
Personal life
McMahon has three daughters and three sons:
- Claudia McMahon
- Katherine McMahon — born December 2, 1983; currently living in Beverly Hills, California
- Linda McMahon
- Jeffrey McMahon
- Michael Edward McMahon — born 1951, died of cancer July 28, 1995
- Lex McMahon — Pam's biological son that Ed adopted after their wedding
Health problems
On April 20, 2002, McMahon sued his insurance company for more than $20 million, alleging that he was sickened by toxic mold that spread through his Beverly Hills house after contractors cleaning up water damage from a broken pipe botched the job.
McMahon and his wife, Pamela, became ill from the mold, as did members of their household staff, according to the Los Angeles County Superior Court suit. The McMahons also blame the mold for the death of the family dog, Muffin. Their suit, the latest of many in recent years over toxic mold, was filed against American Equity Insurance Co., a pair of insurance adjusters and several environmental cleanup contractors. It seeks monetary damages for alleged breach of contract, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. A spokeswoman for the insurance company declined to comment.
On March 21, 2003, the long battle ended with Ed McMahon reaping $7 million from what was later discovered to be several companies who were negligent for allowing mold into his home. Their dog's death was confirmed to be caused by mold.
In March 2008, it was announced McMahon was recovering from a broken neck and two subsequent surgeries. He was injured in 2007 in a fall. He later sued Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and two doctors, claiming fraud, battery, elder abuse and emotional distress and accusing them of discharging him with a broken neck after his fall in 2007 and later botched two neck surgeries.
On February 27, 2009 it was reported that McMahon has been in an undisclosed Los Angeles hospital for almost a month. He is currently listed in serious condition and is in the intensive care unit. His publicist told reporters that he was admitted for pneumonia, but could not confirm, nor deny reports that McMahon has been diagnosed with bone cancer.
Financial problems
In June 2008, it was announced that McMahon was $644,000 behind on payments on $4.8 million in mortgage loans and is fighting to avoid foreclosure on his multimillion-dollar Beverly Hills home. McMahon has also been sued by Citibank for $180,000. McMahon appeared on Larry King Live on June 5, 2008 with his wife to talk about this situation. In the interview, McMahon's wife Pamela said that people assumed that the McMahons had so much money because of his celebrity. Pamela McMahon also commented that they do not have "millions" of dollars.
On July 30, 2008, McMahon's financial status suffered another blow. According to Reuters, McMahon failed to pay divorce attorney Norman Solovay $275,168, according to a lawsuit filed in the Manhattan federal court. McMahon and his wife, Pamela, hired Solovay to represent Linda Schmerge, his daughter from another relationship, in a "matrimonial matter," said Solovay's lawyer, Michael Shanker.
On August 14, 2008, real estate mogul Donald Trump announced that he would purchase McMahon's home
from Countrywide Financial and lease it to McMahon, so the home would
not be foreclosed. McMahon has agreed instead to a deal with a private buyer for his hilltop home, said Howard Bragman, McMahon's former spokesman. Bragman declined to name the buyer or the selling price, but he said it isn't Trump. "For Mr. Trump, this acquisition was not business-related, but, as he has stated, was meant to help out an American icon," said Michael Cohen, special counsel to Trump. "If another buyer should emerge who will create the benefit Mr. Trump sought for Ed McMahon, then he is clearly pleased." In early September, after the second buyer's offer fell through, Trump renewed his offer to purchase the home.
Trivia
Comedian Garry Shandling has stated in interviews that the relationship between fictional talk show host Larry Sanders and his side-kick Hank Kingsley in the hit sitcom The Larry Sanders Show is largely based on that between McMahon and Carson.
Jack Nicholson's character in The Shining famously shouts "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Johnny!" while holding an axe and attempting to kill his wife.
Musical comedy icon "Weird Al" Yankovic wrote a parody of El Debarge's hit "Who's Johnny" entitled "Here's Johnny" about Ed McMahon and his signature catchphrase. It appeared on his 1986 album Polka Party!
Books
- For Laughing Out Loud: My Life and Good Times (Warner Books, 1998), co-written with David Fisher
- Here's Johnny! My Memories of Johnny Carson, The Tonight Show, and 46 Years of Friendship (Berkley Publishing Group - Penguin Group (USA, Inc.), 2005).
External links
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