Ed, Farrah, and Michael.
I don’t have really anything to add that you haven’t already heard regarding the recent passings of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson. That’s a pretty large swath of pop culture celebrity to be cut away from the world, and one I would have felt funny just ignoring and moving on with the funnybook talk.
I remember Ed as, what else, Johnny Carson’s support crew, always on the chair/couch there next to Johnny’s desk, ready with a hearty chuckle or a well-timed straight line. Not so much a relationship between sidekick and host as it was a finely-honed comedy team. I loved Johnny, and Johnny loved Ed, and if Johnny loved Ed, then that was good enough for me…I loved Ed, too.
Oddly enough, when I think of Farrah Fawcett, I don’t think of her famous pin-up poster, or of her role on Charlie’s Angels. I think of some six-or-eight page color insert in…Omni Magazine, I want to say, though I’m pretty sure that’s wrong…advertising the then-upcoming surely-spectacular hit film Saturn 3, in which she starred. I’m not even sure I ever got around to seeing Saturn 3 all the way through on cable, but I do remember how fascinated I was with that magazine preview insert, and that weird robot. …That’s not really saying much about Farrah, specifically, I realize.
And Michael Jackson…it’s hard to say where I fall on my opinion on Michael Jackson. There’s no denying his impact and importance on the music industry, as well as there’s no denying his peculiar exploits over the years, or the outright scandals. It’s a strange mix of admiration, revulsion, and pity. While he created some wonderful things (I mean, look at this track listing…you know nearly all of these songs), his existence seemed to be an endless succession of near-caricatural examples of the extremes of celebrity.
Anyway, my condolences to their friends and families. So long, Ed. So long, Farrah. So long, Michael.
