Colonel Edward "Ed" Leo Peter McMahon, Jr. USMCR (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), Butterfly (1982) and in a brief bit in the film version of Bewitched (2005).
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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 as a teenager 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?,
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.
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", such as the first two syllables of "Mayonnaise" (see above "MacMahonaise" story), 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.
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.
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 1987 album Polka Party!
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.
In June 2008, it was announced that McMahon is $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.
Prior to McMahon's recent foreclosure problem, Wikipedia reported that "n the 1990s, McMahon was reputed to be worth in excess of US$200 million in real estate holdings (particularly in Malibu) and real estate partnerships, although his net worth declined somewhat, due to several divorce settlements and a nationwide drop in real estate." However, this claim was not sourced and appears to have been in error. This unsourced claim has been repeated often in media reports, see, e.g.,http://janetcharltonshollywood.com/gossip/ed_mcmahon/we_dont_feel_sorry_for_you_ed_mcmahon_20080606.php. Wikipedia's report was false and led to unfair speculation as to how the McMahons lost hundreds of millions of dollar they never had. In an interview with Larry King, 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. See full story here, http://uk.reuters.com/article/televisionNews/idUKN3047452120080731.
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.
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.
More recent appearances by McMahon include an appearance with his family in Celebrity Family Feud, and as the spokesman for Premier Bathtubs, a line of walk-in bathtubs.
McMahon has three daughters and three sons (one adopted):
