Ed McMahon, who died Tuesday morning in a Los Angeles hospital, was a carnival barker, game-show host and TV pitchman for Budweiser beer and American Family Publishers' Sweepstakes, but he will always be best remembered as Johnny Carson's sidekick for 30 years on NBC.
Mr. McMahon died at age 86 at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center with his wife, Pam, and other family members at his side, according to his longtime publicist, Howard Bragman.
Although Mr. McMahon left "The Tonight Show" with Carson in 1992, the fact that he managed to remain in the public eye owed to the savvy career moves and versatility that took him from selling vegetable slicers on the Atlantic City, N.J., boardwalk to his first job with Carson as the announcer on the game show "Who Do You Trust?" in 1957. Five years later, when Carson was tapped to take over the "Tonight" show from Jack Paar, Mr. McMahon took his seat on the couch next to Carson's desk.
Even today, four years after Carson's death and 17 since the duo left "The Tonight Show," few Americans would fail to identify the phrase "Heeeeeeeere's Johnny!" with Mr. McMahon, whose post-monologue chats with Carson made him one of TV's greatest second bananas.
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