I’ve been watching X-Play a lot in between looking for work and playing video games. Morgan Webb seems fond of making a bad pun then exclaiming, “Hai-oh!” Sometimes they use an audio clip of some guy saying it and then chuckling. So where does this come from?
Ed McMahon, Johnny Carson’s sidekick.
Listen to the Weird Al song “Here’s Johnny” and all will be revealed.
Well that didn’t take long. Thanks guys.
Has it been that long since Johnny Carson was on TV?
Ten years. Ayep.
And, if memory serves, this mannerism was played up by Phil Hartman in his imitation of McMahon on Saturday Night Live.
13 years.
And if I recall correctly, Ed McMahon said that he started doing it during the audience warm-up after a local television station showed Zulu or a similar movie, in which a native warrior and his tribesmen used it as a war call.
“You’re so young and I’m so old…”
Paul Anka
Hey, I’m not all that young. I just never watched the Tonight Show or Saturday Night Live all that much. There were many d20s that needed rolling.