10 quick facts about the late Ed McMahon, one of pop culture’s all-time greatest sidekicks …

1. His full name: Edward Leo Peter McMahon, Jr.

2. McMahon is best known for The Tonight Show and his role as the American Family Publishers sweepstakes spokesman, but he was also a spokesman for Budweiser, co-host of the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon and hosted Star Search from 1983-1995, where he helped launch the careers of Search contestants like Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Drew Carey, Brad Garrett, Dave Chappelle, Kevin James, Martin Lawrence, Dennis Miller, Alanis Morissette, Rosie O’Donnell, Ray Romano, Adam Sandler and Usher.

3. The Tonight Show wasn’t the first McMahon/Johnny Carson co-starring gig. McMahon was hired as the announcer on the ABC game show Who Do You Trust?, hosted by Carson, in 1958.

4. Among his other jobs: a circus clown on a Philadelphia TV show, veggie slicer salesman on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, door-to-door cookware salesman, shoe shiner, dry cleaner, bingo caller and a World War II flight instructor and Korean War pilot.

5. His great-great-great-grandfather, Patrice de Mac-Mahon, duc de Magenta, served under Napoleon and later served as the President of France from 1873-1879.

6. McMahon claimed that mayonnaise was originally called “Macmahonaise” and was named after his great-great-great-grandfather, who loved the condiment.

7. McMahon’s classic “Heeeere’s Johnny!” catchphrase inspired the Weird Al Yankovic song “Here’s Johnny,” a parody of the El DeBarge Short Circuit movie soundtrack hit “Who’s Johnny.”

8. McMahon was a fan of The O.C.

9. He also co-hosted a TV Land talk show with ALF.

10. McMahon played Duncan, the big baddie who was causing trouble for Jim Brown‘s titular character in the 1973 blaxploitation flick Slaughter’s Big Rip-Off. “They’re gonna get Slaughter, or get slaughtered!” says the announcer in the movie’s trailer.

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• Filed in Late Night, TV List o' the Day
• Tags: Ed McMahon, Johnny Carson, Star Search, The Tonight Show

All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

– Ed McMahon, TV land’s greatest sidekick as Johnny Carson‘s announcer on The Tonight Show, has died at age 86. The Hollywood veteran had reportedly been battling bone cancer, among other illnesses.

– Yes, it’s true, we sadly haven’t seen the last of Jessica Simpson on reality TV. Simpson will star in The Price of Beauty for VH-1, where she’ll travel around the world and “study the local fashions, dietary fads and beauty regimes and even participate in some of the extreme practices she discovers.”

– Jon and Kate Gosselin confirmed that they’re separating on last night’s Jon & Kate Plus 8 (as if People.com’s confirmation that they’d filed divorce papers earlier in the day didn’t make their announcement moot), and now the speculation is already starting about a possible custody battle.

– Producer/writer Bryan Fuller has left Heroes again, which means there’s little chance of the tired show returning to its first-season glory.

– The View co-host, and Celiac disease book author, Elisabeth Hasselbeck is being sued by another Celiac disease book author, who claims E.H. stole her idea.

– Bravo is launching a new series in which host Andy Cohen will talk about … other Bravo series.

– And tonight in primetime:

– The fourth season premiere of America’s Got Talent (9PM ET, NBC), with newbie host Nick Cannon
– The series premiere of NYC Prep (10PM, Bravo)
– The Real Housewives of New Jersey Watch What Happens Reunion (9PM, Bravo)
– The second season premiere of The Cleaner (10PM, A&E)
– The premiere of the Battle of the Network Stars-ish The Superstars (8PM, ABC)
– Cloris Leachman and Theo Huxtable, a.k.a. Malcolm-Jamal Warner guest star on HawthoRNe (9PM, TNT)
– The finale of Life After People on History Channel (10PM)
– Rescue Me‘s creative resurgence continues on FX (10PM)
– And Ted learns about Phil and Lem’s fight club – make that a medieval fight club, in the Veridian basement – in a hilarious new episode of Better Off Ted (9:30PM, ABC)

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• Filed in TV News
• Tags: America's Got Talent, Andy Cohen, Better Off Ted, Bravo, Bryan Fuller, Cloris Leachman, Ed McMahon, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Hawthorne, Heroes, Jessica Simpson, Jon and Kate Gosselin divorce, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Nick Cannon, NYC Prep, Real Housewives of New Jersey reunion, Rescue Me, The Cleaner, The Price of Beauty