Sad news to share, goodly gentles. This from the Associated Press:

Ed McMahon, the loyal Tonight Show sidekick who bolstered boss Johnny Carson with jolly guffaws and the familiar resounding intro "H-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-ere's Johnny!" for some 30 years, died earlier this morning. He was 86.

McMahon died shortly after midnight, L.A. time, at Ronald Reagan/UCLA Medical Center, surrounded by his wife Pam and other family members, according to his publicist, Howard Bragman, who also refused to give a cause of death, saying instead that McMahon had had a "multitude of health problems [over] the last few months."

McMahon was also Jerry Lewis' co-host for the comedian's annual Muscular Dystrophy Labor Day Telethon. A statement from Jerry should be posted shortly at www.mda.org.

In a related tale, CBS News representatives are remaining silent concerning news that veteran anchor Walter Cronkite is apparently gravely ill. The 92-year-old former anchor of the CBS Evening News has likewise been ailing for some time. The legendary 'most trusted man in America' spent some two decades serving as the face of CBS News, leaving his familiar post in 1991. Until circa 2006, he spent his off-network duties hosting the annual New Year's Concert with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra --- one of the longest-running non-news hosting assignments in the history of public television.

Please join your humble Dragonmaster in honoring these two noble-hearted gentlemen: one, a merry court jester; the other, a noble and wise sage and chronicler. Their respective legacies shall leave their marks for all time.

Master Blackwolf