ED McMAHON BIO
His 30 year stint as announcer on THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JOHNNY CARSON, plus numerous performances as host on specials and telethons, and his activities in TV and radio commercials make McMahon more familiar to most Americans than their own next-door-neighbor.
McMahon’s first professional stint as an announcer, at the age of fifteen, was on the sound-truck of a carnival, ballyhooing the midway attractions. By eighteen he’d had three summers as announcer for a traveling bingo game and had earned enough money to enroll in Boston College. He also landed a job announcing on radio station WLLH in Lowell.
McMahon joined the Marines, got his wings at Pensacola Naval Base, and became a Fighter-pilot Instructor where he taught young students carrier landings and was a test-pilot in fighters, including the sophisticated Corsair. McMahon flew 85 combat missions and rose to the rank of full Colonel.
After his military service he returned to school as a Speech and Drama major at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. Ed moved to Philadelphia and soon became host, writer and producer of more than a dozen different, TV shows: a breakfast show, a cooking show at noon, host for a movie program, a pop-music record program, etc. He was Philadelphia’s “Mr. Television.”
He returned to Philadelphia and while preparing for a show one day, his attention was distracted by a figure on the station’s CBS monitor, a wiry young man giving off some hilarious body language. McMahon turned up the volume in time to hear the tiny image say, “My name is Johnny Carson. Within a year, McMahon got to meet Carson in-person when the latter, then hosting a daytime quiz show called WHO DO YOU TRUST? was searching for a new announcer.
After four years of polishing their interplay, the team of Carson and McMahon took over THE TONIGHT SHOW.
McMahon hosted the popular syndicated show (and weekend ratings winner), ED McMAHON’S STAR SEARCH. Over 100,000 performers have auditioned and STAR SEARCH has been the launching pad for the careers of many successful show business personalities including Lara Flynn Boyle; Sinbad; Dennis Miller; Rosie O’Donnell; Jenny Jones; Britney Spears; Sawyer Brown; Martin Lawrence, Drew Carey and a myriad of others.
Ed has co-hosted with Dick Clark the NBC specials TV’s BLOOPERS AND PRACTICAL JOKES. In 1991, he hosted HOW DO THEY DO THAT? on the NBC radio network. McMahon was host of the game show WHODUNNIT? and of countless special events such as the annual MACY’S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE; AMERICA’S JUNIOR MISS PAGEANT; THE MOTHER’S DAY SHOW; and the NIGHT OF STARS.
He is commercial spokesman for several major corporations. His thirty-year stint with Anheuser Busch has made him as closely associated with the popular brew as their trademark Clydesdale horses. He has appeared in commercials for Mercedes Benz, Nabisco, Choice Hotels, Wickes Furniture, Colonial Penn Life Insurance and spokesman for the new Neighborhood Watch Program.
In 1981, McMahon was nominated for a Grammy for his rendition of Twas’ the Night Before Christmas (Orson Wells took the Grammy). He’s authored four books: HERE’S ED, an autobiography, THE ART OF PUBLIC SPEAKING, SUPERSELLLING, and FOR LAUGHING OUT LOUD...MY LIFE AND GOOD TIMES, his recent autobiography, co-written with best- selling author, David Fisher.
McMahon acknowledges the duty involved with fame and puts his popularity to work for good causes. He has co-hosted the annual JERRY LEWIS MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY TELETHON for 35 years, and is a Board Member of the Muscular Dystrophy Association
He was recently named honorary chairman of the Flying Leatherneck Marine Museum at MCAS Mira Mar
He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Horatio Alger Association. He received their award in 1984 and each year he produces and emcees their Awards Dinner in Washington, DC.
McMahon is descended from the great Napoleonic General Patrick Maurice McMahon, later premiere of France. Through his grandmother, Katherine Fitzgerald McMahon, he is a cousin of the Kennedy clan. Ed resides in Beverly Hills, CA with his wife, Pam. He has five children: Claudia, Jeff, Linda, Katherine Mary and Alex (also a Marine) and six grandchildren. He also had a son, Michael who died of cancer in 1995.
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