Ed McMahon dies

Ed McMahon has died in hospital in Los Angeles after a long illness. Ed McMahon was best known for serving as Johnny Carson's sidekick for many decades on the Tonight Show, but he has a successful TV career over and above that one job as well.

Ed McMahon, who steadfastly introduced Johnny Carson through the host’s nearly 30 year run on “The Tonight Show,” died Tuesday morning, NBC said. Mr. McMahon was 86. A full obituary can be found here. Though Mr. McMahon had also been a host of the talent program “Star Search” and the prank show “TV Bloopers and Practical Jokes,” he is best remembered for his years as Mr. Carson’s announcer and sidekick, and for a deep resonant laugh that unfailingly followed even the worst of Mr. Carson’s jokes.

Hmm, not sure about that "worst" of Johnny Carson's jokes. Shaggy dog stories, certainly. But none of them were bad jokes. The LA Times calls Ed McMahon "The King of the Sidekicks":

Although he did other things in his 86 years, Ed McMahon, who died Tuesday in Los Angeles, will be remembered mostly as the man who sat next to Johnny Carson, except when more important celebrities came between them.

Notwithstanding the dozen years of hosting "Star Search," a role in the 1997 Tom Arnold sitcom "The Tom Show," a high-profile Cash4Gold ad during the last Super Bowl and all that knocking on people's doors in the name of the Publishers Clearing House, McMahon was a professional sidekick, a less-than-equal partner in an enterprise of which he was nevertheless a vital part: Thinking of Johnny, one proceeds quickly and naturally to Ed, who by dint of association was almost as famous as his boss -- I say "almost" to include that fraction of the world that may have seen or heard of Carson but never watched his show.

While sad, of course, Ed McMahon's death can't be seen quite as a tragedy: 86 years is a pretty good showing after all. And we've known that it was coming for some time now. He went into hospital back in February:

Super sidekick Ed McMahon, 85, is in serious condition in a Los Angeles hospital, suffering from pneumonia and bone cancer.

Still, expected or not, a surprise or not, RIP Ed McMahon.