Best known as legendary talk show host Johnny Carson’s sidekick on The Tonight Show, Edward Leo Peter McMahon, Jr., was born March 6, 1923, in Detroit, Mich., and grew up in Lowell, Mass. A graduate of Boston College and The Catholic University of America, McMahon began his television career in Lowell at a small AM station. He’d later join WCAU in Philadelphia as, primarily, a game show host.
It was as a game show announcer that McMahon met Johnny Carson. Carson was the host, and the game show was Who Do You Trust?. The dynamic duo left the game show to take on The Tonight Show. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Throughout the years, McMahon has made a larger name for himself as a pitchman and variety show host. For more than a decade, he was the host of Star Search, an ancestor to such shows as American Idol. He also starred alongside friend Dick Clark on the popular mid-80s to late-90s TV Bloopers and Practical Jokes. Did You Know?
- McMahon was once a bingo caller and a carnival barker during his teens.
- He served as U.S. Marine fighter pilot in World War II and the Korean War. He retired a Colonel in 1966.
- McMahon’s signature introduction – Heeeeeeere’s Johnny! a – was the subject of a song parody by Weird Al Yankovic.
- He was also co-host of the tongue-in-cheek TV Land talk show Alf’s Hit Talk Show.
- McMahon has authored two memoirs.
- He battled financial problems in mid-2008 after sustaining injuries that prevented him from working. Those problems included foreclosure proceedings on his California home and a civil lawsuit.
- Teemed with fellow talk show chum Jimmy Kimmel to pitch GM products.
