I only gave Ed three stars, cause I never did win any of the publishers clearinghouse million dollar prizes.... dang it.... LOL

Ed McMahon seemed like an alright guy. He always wore those big old people glasses, so giving him any less than three stars would be an injustice that I just couldn't comment further on. McMahon also introduced the idea of large novelty checks that none of us will ever see.

This guy had gigs to get me to buy crap for my entire life, and yet he died broke? How was that possible?

He just cramped Johnny's style.

Major icon in the television world. Some of the things he was famous for was "The Tonight Show", "Star Search", and he co-hosted on the Jerry Lewis telethon. He was a pretty busy man. I don't think there's much of anybody that hasn't heard the name Ed McMahon. He will be missed.

Great guy and a real trooper, I remember seeing him on a special Family Fued , with his neck in a brace, he broke his neck and still did the show, even at his age! Also, he was a fixture on shows like Star Search and the Tonight Show, and of course, the Publishers Clearing House commercials. I think he may be missed the most, though, on the Jerry Lewis MDA Telephon, were he helped out for years, even with his health problems. This is a sad loss for Jerry and his kids.

I think of Carson and McMahon as a sort of white noise that was faint but often present in the background of my life up until fairly recently, when Carson retired and then expired. My parents watched the show...not religiously, but often enough so that if I woke up in the middle of the night as a kid, I could sometimes groggily hear the "Heeeerrrreeee's Johnny!!!" or Doc Severinsen's brassy Las-Vegas style band music, like some nocturnal accompaniment to a nightmare I hadn't yet had. When I became old enough to stay up late, I would sometimes watch part of the show if Carson had on a guest that I liked (I always tried to catch Don Rickles, or Robert Blake, or Richard Pryor). Carson always seemed to be noted more for his impeccable "timing" than because of any outstanding comedic talent, but he did make me laugh fairly often, whether it was because the jokes were supposed to be funny and usually weren't, or just because of some inherent, enigmatic quality that he possessed. There came a time, though, where I'd actually try to catch his opening monologue...not to the point where I'd leave a party if one happened to be in progress at that late hour, or the bar(s) if I happened to be "painting the town red", but if I was at home, and awake, I'd watch Carson's opening 5 minutes. McMahon? I wish I could speak as kindly and generously of him, but I tend to agree with the "luckiest man alive" assessment. He was the Ringo Starr of late-night TV announcers, an Atlantic City shill who miraculously hit the jackpot. The parody of him that John Candy played on SCTV (a fawning, servile, talentless "William B." to Joe Flaherty's "Sammy Maudlin") was spot-on. In his declining decades, he was ubiquitous as a shill on increasingly tiresome TV commercials, and then I heard about his financial difficulties, and his declining health. I felt bad for him, and couldn't imagine how someone in his position could be having such difficulties at this stage of his life, but I wasn't interested enough to really follow the stories. I'm sorry when anyone dies, and while the name of "Ed McMahon" is as familiar to me as is the name of "Captain Kangaroo", I can't say that his passing is any great loss to the world of arts and entertainment. Still, his family will miss him, and in some sense I guess he has to be acknowledged as a cultural icon of some sort. And he never seemed to be an arrogant jerkoff about his lucky break in life, so why begrudge him his good fortune? R.I.P., Ed. As John Donne said, "Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

Didn't he hang up his celebrity in 1993?

In response to Ridgewalker's question: Chris Matthews? Maybe. Keith Olbermann? Almost. Hey, wait! I know...............Ben Affleck! How'd I do? ;^)

Won't miss him. Haven't since Johnny retired from the show. No reason to start now. I wish him the best in his after life. But, he has always made me think...

Anyone want to create a list of "The Luckiest White Men in America"?

I'll start with Ed. Next up? George Noory.

Anyone? Anyone?

Can't say I miss him, but you've got to give the guy credit for making the most of a career that mostly consisted of going "Here's Johnny!"

The golden years of The Tonight Show were before my time, but Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon were still legendary public figures when I was growing up. McMahon was a likable character who probably worked harder than most people thought to help Carson look so good. He was always doing something on TV, and he was just one of those personalities everybody knew. His passing isn't too shocking since he hasn't been seen much of lately, and news of his health struggles had been publicized.