Ed McMahon dies at 86
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
By: Peter Crimmins
pcrimmins@whyy.org
Before Ed McMahon became the voice of the Tonight Show for 30 years, he was scratching out a living on Philadelphia television. He passed away yesterday at age 86. McMahon worked for every TV studio in the city in the early 1950's.
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In the early days of TV, Ed McMahon was on any way, every way he could be – he did news commentary, he did weather, he sold cars. In an recent interview for CBS, McMahon remembers his days as a clown.
McMahon: I could do a pratfall, I could take a pie in the face, I could big hit with one of those big wooden paddles. I loved those times. I did it for 8 years.
He had a job with channel 10 for a while and was always doing freelance gigs. That's how retired broadcaster Lew Klein came to know him.
Klein: He could meet and interview people in an easygoing way. He was a comfortable, informal personality. Very much the way he was with Johnny Carson.
Klein says McMahon was working as a maitre'd in Valley Forge before joining Carson.