Ed McMahon (1923-2009) Interview On Johnny Carson, His Bankruptcy

American icon Ed McMahon, Johnny Carson’s sidekick on The Tonight Show, died at age 86 in 2009. Watch him answer questions from users of Uinterview, one of his last interviews.

Q: I hear that you’ve been rapping for freecreditreport.com. Is this a new calling for you?

A: My plans didn’t include rapping in my life. My plans were to just do what I do. I sing the blues. I know how to do that. I never thought that you could actually sing rap. I admire these guy, and I’d say, How in the world do they do that It turned out I could do that. I could do rap songs. I’m very proud of that. I’m a rapper!

Q: Are there any other rappers you’d like to work with? Where can I see your videos?

A: A pal of mine years ago was Coolio. We became buddies and worked together and he was kind of a guy that had that nailed down pretty good. He tried to teach me rap. This was way back many years ago but he tried to teach me rapping. The thing about rapping is you wake up in the morning and you plan not to breathe for the rest of the day. It’s so tough to rap ’cause there’s no air. There’s no pauses. There’s no spaces in there. But I rap for two songs so I don’t think that’s too bad on my part.

Q: There are a lot of Americans that can identify with the financial problems you’ve been having. Can you explain exactly what happened to you?

A: That’s a good question because you get busy with what you’re doing. You concentrate on what you’re doing. My doing was being a performer. My doing was a person selling a product or doing the best I could in regard to my style of entertaining. Other people kind of handled things for me and I put my trust in them. They weren’t bad, but things started to fall apart and all of a sudden there I was. I had these financial problems and I also broke my neck in the meantime and it took me a year and a half to get that fixed but I’m now working my way through that problem and I’m coming out hopefully on the other side. That’s my plan. It’s one of those things that happens in life and you do the best you can.

Q: Can you explain what happened with Donald Trump offering to buy your house and then lease it back to you? – Steve, Washington, D.C

A: That’s very murky, Steve. That didn’t work out. That’s kind of one of those things that didn’t quite gel properly so we have to address some other things about that regard.

Q: During all those years on The Tonight Show, what was the most memorable thing Johnny ever did? – Steve, Washington, D.C.

A: That’s a good question, there are so many memorable things from that. But let me tell you as I sit in this chair right now, you’re seeing this in some way that you look at this and find me. This is a day in history and it’s two days away from another day, October 13th. 50 years ago, on October 13th, it was a Monday, and I walk out on stage at the little theater on 44th Street right across from the Hubert Theater, there I was standing on the stage. Johnny Carson was over here about nine feet from where I was. This was my first opportunity to say Welcome to Who Do You Trust starring Johnny Carson! And I'm doing now the credits of the advertisers on the show that day. I had to say, The cake mixers you can trust! I had six of them. I’m not on camera yet, I’m just in the little theater, 400-seat theater, and I’m doing this. Johnny Carson walked from over there over to my script and set fire to my script. This was my very first day working with Johnny Carson 50 years ago and I’m reading charcoal at the bottom of this paper and I realized then that we were in for something. Luckily, it lasted for 34 years we worked together. So the most memorable part of our relationship was that burning charcoal in my hands.

Q: What plan do you have to bounce back from your financial setback? – Josh, Los Angeles

A: I’m doing everything I can to make it right. I’m trying to fix the cracks, the leaks, whatever happened in life. For me personally, I’m trying to do it better than I did before. I want to expand my abilities. I’m working again, I feel better, I’ve had three operations on my neck, and it’s now fixed so I’m now me again. I’m back and I’m going to repair things as best I can.

Q: Do you have any advice for the people who are suffering from the mortgage meltdown right now? – Josh, Los Angeles

A: As you know, changes are being made and as we speak there are more changes coming to us. I think that this is a great land. This is a place where anything can happen. Anybody can start here. They come from all over the world to be here. They want to be part of this. They get a chance to get started and the utilize that and get to the next thing. They get better at the thing they do. I think everybody out
there who’s looking for something to help them, I think they have that attitude of Do this and you do it well and then they get the chance to do it better. My father used to say something to me that was so great. He said, Take every stumbling block and make that a stepping stone. I think that’s the best advice I could give anybody right now Take what you think is a stumbling block and make that a stepping stone to step into something better and more wonderful for you.

Q: What was the craziest act you ever saw on Star Search?

A: I would say the strangest act. But when you look back at all the people we discovered: Beyonce and Usher and you look at Ray Romano – I wonder whatever happened to him, he must be around – anyway you got people like Drew Carey and Dennis Miller, Sinbad. There were so many stars that came out of that. We did that for 13 years and we had a whole galaxy of stars that came out of that. The strangest act was a dance team. The guy had a routine where he threw his partner up. They must have had an argument earlier that morning because he didn’t catch her. We think that just happened, his arm hurt or something. But he threw her up and he wasn’t there to catch her. He was standing right there, she was up, that was the only time they were on the show. It was amazing that they never came back. Well that can happen I guess.