Mourning Celebrities

What exactly is the proper response to the news that the most famous and most talented accused-child molester in America has died? Talk about mixed emotions.

Like most shallow, self centered knuckleheads in show business, I place an inordinate importance on talent. I love talent! It’s the one thing I wish dearly I had more of (and, on many nights, comedy club audiences throughout the tri-state area have wished the same…)

I’m a great audience member. I laugh easily, I applaud heartily. I’m always impressed with performers who can do things I can’t (which is why I’m impressed with most performers). Show me the hackiest ventriloquist act in the business, and I’m just amazed they can talk with their mouth closed. I once sang and danced in a Broadway musical (I played Vince Fontaine, the libidinous deejay, in the 90’s revival of Grease – ramma lamma lamma ka dingidy ding da dong…). I can’t sing or dance. I love people who can, even those who can’t do it very well. (more…)

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Tags: Cory Kahaney, Dave Konig, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Grease
Posted Jun 27th 2009 at 6:47 am in Celebrity News, Featured Story | 171498One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dkonig/2009/06/27/dead-celebrities/Mourning+Celebrities2009-06-27+13%3A47%3A18Dave+Konig

Gold Star Mother: Deborah Tainsh

Betrayed by Liberal Hollywood

Psychologists say that a parent’s grief over the death of a child is “the most difficult loss to endure and surely among the most difficult to integrate into one’s life” because our children are an enormous part of our legacy, and “in their deaths, a large part of our own future dies.”  The natural order of our lives has been turned upside down, bringing on an emotional chaos.

For the parents of military men and women who have died after volunteering to serve their country and walking into the face of death in the 21^st century’s war on terror, this grief and chaos has been exponentially multiplied by liberal Hollywood.  But one has to actually walk this path to understand it.  The anti-war sentiment and films that have spewed from liberal actors, producers, and directors have burdened our hearts unspeakably as they have served only to aide the greatest enemy our country has ever faced and to deface and demoralize the greatest ambassadors our country has: the men and women who wear the uniforms of the United States military. (more…)

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Tags: Betty Grable, bob hope, Charles Durning, Ed McMahon, gene hackman
Posted Jun 25th 2009 at 4:59 pm in Entertainment, Featured Story, Military | 168922No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/gsmothers/2009/06/25/gold-star-mother-deborah-tainsh/Gold+Star+Mother%3A+Deborah+Tainsh2009-06-25+23%3A59%3A45Gold+Star+Mothers

McMahon’s Affability Demonstrated Real Virtues

The death of television personality Ed McMahon at the age of 86 marks the passing of a true original. McMahon was one of the very first Americans to enjoy the postmodern status of being a celebrity solely by virtue of being famous.

As announcer and second banana to host Johnny Carson during the NBC Tonight Show’s years of greatest prominence and cultural influence, McMahon exemplified what was then a relatively new phenomenon: the ability to become famous, wealthy, and admired without having any particular talent.

That’s not to say there was anything dishonorable about his career or something wrong with McMahon’s public persona. Quite the contrary. He was quite likable, pleasant, well-mannered (an underrated virtue these days), and overall a boon companion both for Carson and the audiences in the studio and at home.

However, he was liked for what he was, not what he could do. He couldn’t sing, dance, tell a joke, or even read the news. His turns as straight man to Carson’s various comical characters were most notable for their, well, charming ineptitude. (more…)

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Tags: Ed McMahon, johnny carson, Star Search, tonight show, virtues
Posted Jun 24th 2009 at 5:53 pm in Entertainment | 168578One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/stkarnick/2009/06/24/mcmahons-affability-demonstrated-real-virtues/McMahon%27s+Affability+Demonstrated+Real+Virtues2009-06-25+00%3A53%3A26S.T.+Karnick

Ed McMahon – When Late Night Television Was Young

Picture it.  After passing through the Pearly Gates, Ed McMahon spots his long time friend and TV partner.  With a wide grin and outstretched arms, he greets him. “Heeere’s Johnny!” The affable, genial, self-described “Second Banana” to Johnny Carson on the “Tonight Show,” has passed away at age 86.

In a November 2007 radio interview I did on The Andrea Shea King Show with McMahon to talk about his then newly published book “When Television Was Young, Live, Spontaneous and in Living Black and White,” we talked about his life, and what it was like to share the NBC “Tonight Show” set with The King of Late Night.

McMahon was dealing with a bout of layrngitis, but it didn’t stop him from opening the interview with the famous words that announced to American viewers it was time for their eagerly anticipated nightly entertainment — “Heeere’s Johnny!” (more…)

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Tags: bette midler, Ed Ames, Ed McMahon, johnny carson, Robin Williams
Posted Jun 23rd 2009 at 12:20 pm in Classic Hollywood, Featured Story | 1673468 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/asking/2009/06/23/ed-mcmahon-when-late-night-television-was-young/Ed+McMahon+-+When+Late+Night+Television+Was+Young2009-06-23+19%3A20%3A26Andrea+Shea+King