# Was there ever a defining "Ed McMahon being drunk" moment on The Tonight Show? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 29, 2007, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-defining-ed-mcmahon-being-drunk-moment-on-the-tonight-show/405973 "2007-05-29T19:22:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Hildo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@Johnny\_Hildo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Hildo)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-defining-ed-mcmahon-being-drunk-moment-on-the-tonight-show/405973/1 "2007-05-29T19:22:31Z")
It was a running gag on Carson’s _Tonight Show_ that Ed really liked the sauce. In fact, I can remember when the show itself would play clips from past episodes where Ed was acting pretty loopy. But I seem to have a niggling feeling that Ed had a defining, spectacular flameout moment where he either cursed a blue streak or ripped into Johnny or did something else that was highly embarassing and inappropriate. I’ve tried looking online but can’t seem to find anything. Are there any religious watchers of the show that remember anything like that? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-defining-ed-mcmahon-being-drunk-moment-on-the-tonight-show/405973/2 "2007-05-29T19:59:04Z")
Hmmmm… I recall one particular outake from a blooper show where he was almost certainly drunk. No total embarrassing blow out or anything, just some mumbling and incoherent thought processes. ---
**Author:** ![anamnesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@anamnesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anamnesis)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-defining-ed-mcmahon-being-drunk-moment-on-the-tonight-show/405973/3 "2007-05-29T20:16:16Z")
McMahon was on the air with Roe Conn on WLS 890AM in Chicago a few weeks ago. I’m an avid listener, hehe. I recall him sharing tales about his various outings with Carson where alcohol was involved, and I specifically remember him talking at length about how Carson was a veritable teetotaller. In addition to being notoriously shy around people who weren’t close friends, he also was a bit of a lightweight … or at least, alchohol made him behave in ways he didn’t want to behave. He didn’t go into too much detail about his own drinking on-air, but alluded to it. I was able to find [this](http://www.tubearoo.com/articles/5606/Ed_Mcmahon_drunk_on_the_Tonight_Show_in_the_80s.html), though. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-defining-ed-mcmahon-being-drunk-moment-on-the-tonight-show/405973/4 "2007-05-31T03:38:39Z")
O my God, **anamnesis** , that’s incredible! It’s like something straight off of _Larry Sanders_. (Actually, I think that was probably the direct inspiration for several scenes in _The Larry Sanders Show_.) I’m amazed they let Ed back on TV after that. If that isn’t a defining “Ed McMahon being drunk” moment, I don’t know what would be. And Johnny was absolutely merciless! He kept his good humor the whole time as if he were just laughing it off, but I bet he was seriously pissed. If he hadn’t brought Joan Embry out when he did, I think Ed was going to start bawling. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-defining-ed-mcmahon-being-drunk-moment-on-the-tonight-show/405973/5 "2007-05-31T03:46:05Z")
[Johnny Carson] “Very funny, Ed, but the dog was supposed to eat the Alpo.” [/JC] ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-defining-ed-mcmahon-being-drunk-moment-on-the-tonight-show/405973/6 "2007-05-31T03:59:00Z")
And what’s Ed doing now? [The jokes write themself.](http://www.mcmahonvodka.com/) ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2007, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-defining-ed-mcmahon-being-drunk-moment-on-the-tonight-show/405973/7 "2007-06-02T11:33:40Z")
Dang that was funny. I forget how bad Johnny was. I also can’t believe it was Johnny not Ed, when talking about the S Diego zoo woman said “she does three horse shows per day” pregnant pause “at the wild animal park.” ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2007, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-defining-ed-mcmahon-being-drunk-moment-on-the-tonight-show/405973/8 "2007-06-02T15:32:58Z")
[QUOTE=Alan Smithee] I’m amazed they let Ed back on TV after that. [/QUOTE] You shouldn’t be amazed about it because given the tenor of the times back then, it wasn’t that remarkable. Dean Martin and Foster Brooks were both very popular and each used being drunk (or more acting like a drunk, more accurately) as part of their schticks. MADD didn’t exist. Three martini lunches were part of the culture. Excessive alcohol use wasn’t forbidden or looked down on. If Ed was drunk on air, he and everyone else laughed it off. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2007, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-defining-ed-mcmahon-being-drunk-moment-on-the-tonight-show/405973/9 "2007-06-02T17:03:40Z")
This was the early 80s, not the late 60s. MADD was founded in 1980, and the three martini lunch was past its prime. Martin and Brooks never appeared on stage actually drunk, and never did anything as unintentionally embarrassing as Ed. Being drunk os one thing, disrupting the show is another. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2007, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-defining-ed-mcmahon-being-drunk-moment-on-the-tonight-show/405973/10 "2007-06-02T19:37:08Z")
Wow, that clip makes so much more sense now. The Carson collection that was released several years ago has the latter half of that clip with Ed on the couch up until Joan Embrey comes out, and their behavior never made sense to me until now.