Carson & McMahon Together Again

Ed McMahon, who for 30 years rode shotgun to Johnny Carson on NBC’s legendary Tonight Show and became the model for a generation of talk show sidekicks, is dead at 86.

McMahon died at the Ronald Reagan Medical Center in Westwood, Calif., according to NBC, the network for whom he worked more than three decades. The entertainer and TV pitchman had been seriously ill for several years. He had been at the UCLA medical facility for the past three weeks being treated for pneumonia, according to a spokesman. He also had been diagnosed with bone cancer.

With all the change in late night TV theses days, it is hard to remember what a reliable, inviting and reassuring place McMahon and Carson made their faux couch and desk set seem like from 1962 to 1992 -- one of the longest and most successful runs in TV history. McMahon played a large role in that popularity with his deep voice, ready laugh and trademark "Heeeeeerrrrrreeee’s Johnny" nightly introduction.

While Carson was a a perfectionist who make life difficult for those who worked with him, McMahon said in repeated interviews over the years that his job as sidekick was "the world's greatest job."

"You can't imagine hooking up with a guy like Carson," McMahon said a 1993 AP interview. "There's the old phrase, hook your wagon to a star. I hitched my wagon to a great star."