Ed McMahon, Johnny Carson's sidekick, passed away today

I just found out that Ed McMahon, Johnny Carson's sidekick, passed away at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. He was fighting cancer and had also suffered with pneumonia. I read that he would have had his 86th birthday today.

This makes me really, really sad. I feel like one of the purer, more innocent, parts of my past has just been taken from me.

I grew up watching Ed McMahon on the Johnny Carson Show. I used to mimic his phrase, "Heeeeeeeeere's Johnny!" as a kid all the time. God! What a fast-motion film of memories this terrible news is prompting to run inside my head!

I know that watching the people you grew up around die off is a part of living, but it brings so many odd feelings when it happens. Part of me tastelessly feels glad it was him and not me, but that same part knows it will be me one day. The better part of me grieves.

What control do we really have in our lives? Just the small goals we plan. For the big picture, we are basically on a train to nowhere and we can't stop it.

If you are reading this and have never seen an episode of The Tonight Show featuring Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon, take a look into a this small window of what you missed. This probably aired after I left the USA in 1973, but the spirit is perfect for what I remember.



(Photo by Alan Light.)