Conan O'Brien And 'Tonight' Pay Tribute To Ed McMahon (VIDEO)

(AP) LOS ANGELES "Tonight" host Conan O'Brien paid tribute to Ed McMahon as a "truly funny man" whose partnership with Johnny Carson on the late-night show is an indelible part of TV history.

"It is impossible, I think, for anyone to imagine `The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson' without Ed McMahon," O'Brien said during Tuesday's show.

"Ed's laugh was really the soundtrack to that show. For 30 years Ed played his part perfectly, he played it with effortless joy," said O'Brien, who became host of "Tonight" this month.

Sitting alongside Carson, McMahon was part of "the most iconic two-shot in broadcasting history. There will never be anything like that again," O'Brien said.

McMahon, who played second banana on "Tonight" until Carson retired in 1992, died early Tuesday at age 86 after prolonged illness.

"Tonight" paid tribute to McMahon with clip highlights of his years with Carson.

WATCH:

Follow HuffPo Entertainment On Twitter!

Comments

[Aramingo]

Thanks Ed.

[MizK]

I have one thing to say....


Hiiiiiiiiiiii---oh!

[thereallawrence]

Ed was seriously the ultimate.

[Big0725]

At least he got to outlive that POS Johnny Carson.

May you go with your god and be at peace.

[Alex Ayala]

He's all our God.

[thundermummy]

Zeus?

[Zofomofo]

He?

[Zofomofo]

Have you seen His weenie?

[XFilesTheTruthIsOutThere]

May you rest in peace Ed McMahon. You'll be missed.

[ramper]

Distinguished himself as a Marine fighter pilot in WWII winning 6 air medals. He flew again in Korea as a spotter pilot. Retired as a Colonel and attained the rank of Brig. Gen. in the Calif. National Guard.

[TLaw]

I've always been curious as to whether or not he and that Carson fellow were lovers..... anyone care to soothe my curiosity?

[Zofomofo]

You may want to see a therapist about that.

[countfloyd]

O'Reilly had the exact same clips. i'm not sure who has control of the tapes since Carson died.

[JMK62]

Carson's estate. Also--Carson didnt have control over his clips until later in his run because NBC let a ton of old footage either disappear or disintigrate. That is why you rarely see any the footage from their New York years. Gone. Carson stepped in and basically bought his show back from NBC.

[SherryIndianapolis]

Boy, I do remember The Tonight Show w/ Johnny Carson...

I was a "tween" in the 70's....I especially remember watching on Friday night after we cleaned the house, waiting for "The Midnight Special" to come on....

What a great tribute to Ed McMahon-Peace to his family at this time.

[lazercat2008]

Now who is gonna bring me my $10 million dollars?

[rabiddog6708]

LOL! I don't know how many times I was told that I may have won 10 million dollars. American Family Publishers was eventually sued for their misleading statements and apparently if you did not buy any magazines, they weren't even entering you in the sweepstakes.

[lazercat2008]

Then I should forget about that house in the country?

[Marnieblue]

I once saw a clip of Johnny Carson's show were is was very r@cist, jive talking and in black face! There was no irony in it, just out right r@cist. Maybe y0utube has the clip...

http://www.panopticist.com/2005/01/two_johnny_carson_clips_you_wont_see.php

[telemann]

Meh, out of 30 years of shows, someone finds two clips that are offensive. *Yawn*

Pretty tame stuff compared to things Dave Chappelle did on his show constantly.

[Marnieblue]

You think Dave Chappelle is a r@cist? Who cares if he's done shows for 30 years, it just takes the one show to prove he is a r@cist. You really might want to watch it before dismissing it. It is really quite hostile.

[Marnieblue]

I can see how a white man would be threatened by Dave Chappelle.

a white girl

[ChescoRes]

Not sure how old you are Marnieblue, but the only explanation is that it was just a different time. Johnny grew up in a time before such things would even get a double take from African Americans. In fact, as you can see in the clip explanation, "African Americans" were still just called "Black".

There's simply no way you can judge this based on early 21st century behavioral norms. Racial attitudes are constantly evolving. It's not like somebody flipped a switch after Brown vs. Board or even the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Just remember that at the time when these things happened, NO ONE said a word about it, and certainly no one called for Johnny to be fired.

[Marnieblue]

Just because it was the 70's doesn't make it right. No one calling for him to be fired was definately a sign of the times. It doesn't mean he wasn't r@cist because people put up with that kind of derogatory behavior then. It was pathetic and deplorable then and is pathetic and deplorable now to be as ignorant and r@cist as Johnny Carson was. He was acting "all American" and squeeky clean but he was a jerk.

[PaulThomson]

These NBC clips never ever ever play on my PC. Firefox, Explorer, Chrome...high speed connection. They just load and load forever.
Anyone else have that problem?

[LyndaV]

I have the same problem...The clips never load for me, either.

[firelord5000]

Same, and then NBC wonders why no one watches their shows.

[Jaqu]

These embedded NBC clips never work for me either. However, they work fine on their website for some reason. Just go to nbc.com/conan.

[wadenelson1]

Same here.

[youwrackdisiprine]

Using an ad blocker (like ad block pro) will cause the nbc clips to just appear like they're loading forever. Turn of any ad blocking software and the clips should work fine after that.