He was 86.

“Ladies and gentlemen, before we go any further tonight we’re going to change gears here because there’s something very important I do need to talk about. As you’ve probably all heard, Ed McMahon passed away last night and this is obviously a very sad day,” Conan said. “It is impossible I think, for anyone to imagine the ‘Tonight Show With Johnny Carson’ without Ed McMahon. Ed’s laugh was really the soundtrack to that show.”

“For 30 years Ed played his part perfectly, he played it with effortless joy and sitting alongside Johnny, Ed was an indelible part of what I think is the most iconic two-shot in broadcasting history,” Conan said. “There will never be anything like that again. Now everybody here at the ‘Tonight Show’ mourns the lose of this warm and really truly funny man. Our thoughts go out to his family and to his fans everywhere… Ed, you will be missed.”

Britney Spears is opening up about the passing of one of the nation’s most beloved television icons. Ed McMahon passed away in Los Angeles after a lengthy illness. He was 86.

The former product pitchman and Tonight Show announcer is best remembered to children of the ’80s and ’90s as the very well-dressed host of the TV talent competition Star Search – a gig that gave the star the opportunity to meet some of today’s biggest pop crooners before they were famous.

Britney Spears was one of them and the singer credits McMahon with giving her her “first shot” as an artist. A 10-year-old Britney appeared on the McMahon-hosted program in 1992, turning in a performance of “Love Can Build A Bridge.”

“I am deeply saddened by today’s news about Ed McMahon,” Britney tweeted Tuesday. “He is responsible for giving so many artists their first shot including myself. He was a wonderful man and will be greatly missed.”

Sad news to report this Tuesday: Late-night TV legend Ed McMahon has passed away. According to a publicist for the star, McMahon lost his battle with cancer just after midnight at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Ed McMahon was best known for his work as Johnny Carson’s sidekick on the The Tonight Show and as the host of the classic TV talent show Star Search. The jovial funnyman was also a popular product pitchman, most notably as spokesman for the Publishers’ Clearinghouse $1 Million Sweepstakes in the 1980s.

He was 86.

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Ed McMahon’s house will go on the auction block later this month, RadarOnline has learned.

Where are those damn Publishers Clearing House people when you need them?

The ailing Hollywood legend has been battling to save his Hollywood mansion for months after falling $644,000 behind on a $4.8 million mortgage.

The 85-year-old television legend will reportedly be evicted when the house is sold, unless he can come up with enough money to pay off his debt by the sale date.

Sad!

How is TV icon Ed McMahon doing since his recent diagnosis with pneumonia and bone cancer?

The 85-year-old former Tonight Show sidekick is in the intensive care unit at an L.A.-area hospital, and despite reports that he may have only days left to live, the legend’s rep says Ed’s “still fighting the good fight.”

“I’m not a medical doctor, I’m a spin doctor,” publicist Howard Bragman said in a statement Monday, “so I’m not able to give a diagnosis here. But, what I can tell you is this: I’ve seen many people come up to Ed over the years and say, ‘You were a Marine.’ Ed would look them in the eye and say, ‘I AM a Marine.’ What that means for his current medical challenges is the same thing it’s meant for every challenge he’s ever faced in life. It means he’s a fighter — not a quitter. It means he’s confronting it head-on with strength, courage and dignity. I would ask that those who care about Ed say a prayer, remain hopeful and send their good wishes, because Colonel McMahon is still fighting the good fight. Ed, his family, and friends are looking forward to celebrating his 86th birthday Friday.”

Sad times….Ed McMahon has been hospitalized in a Los Angeles area medical center for nearly a month. The 85-year-old television icon is being treated for pneumonia and systemic bone cancer, according to reports from TMZ.com and Entertainment Tonight.

The former Tonight Show sidekick, who has been in the news for an assortment of very public financial struggles in the past year, is listed in serious condition in the intensive care unit.

Poor Ed! Sending a thousand Get Well wishes to one of our nation’s most beloved elders. He’s had enough bad luck recently for ten men….

Cash-strapped former entertainment stars Ed McMahon & MC Hammer starred in Super Bowl ad promoting Cash4Gold.com.

Has-beens making a daytime out of their fall from grace has become its own lucrative career.

Here’s a video of the new ad.

Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing “Ed McGangsta.” Somebody is going to Hell for this.

Freecreditreport.com has released the first set in a series of new commercial promos starring cash-strapped television icon Ed McMahon. Experian Credit Bureau, who is sponsoring the ad campaign, hopes Ed’s “performance” will serve as a lesson to us all about what can happen when we shop ourselves out of house and home.

We’re filing this under “Oh My God, Are You Serious?”

Proving that desperate times call for desperate measures, cash-strapped Ed McMahon has become a rapper. The 85-year-old former host of Star Search will star in two viral rap videos for FreeCreditReport.com, a financial Web site owned by credit bureau Experian.

Poor Ed. The things an out-of-work pitchman has to do for a buck these days. Isn’t this some form of elder abuse?

“I knew I could sing the blues, but I didn’t know I could rap,” Ed said Wednesday.

The videos feature a blinged-out Ed and a pair of video hoes being chauffeured around Los Angeles in a Cadillac Escalade golf cart while rhyming about recent money woes.

“When I retired, I was famous,” Ed raps in the video. “I had money and glory/I bought a house for 6 mill/I thought nothing could touch me/Until my credit went south, and debt started to crunch me/Next thing I know, instead of playing gin rummy, I was scrambling just to make ends meet/It wasn’t funny.”

“Got a bump from the media chumps, but that was temporary/Wife with bad credit was scary, so I got wise/I may have fallen, but I got back up/Now I’m back on the attack, like a ninja swinging nunchucks/I told the haters, ‘Go on, take a hike’/It’s my show now, and I can do what I like.”

Ed’s rap videos will appear online in October.

Saved By The Donald! Donald Trump is buying Ed McMahon’s house to save it from foreclosure. According to the Los Angeles Times, the New York real estate magnate has agreed to buy the legendary pitchman’s Beverly Hills mansion while leasing it back to him for an undisclosed amount. This way Ed and his family can avoid foreclosure and continue to live in there home.

Trump and McMahon do not know one another, but after hearing about the cash-strapped TV icon’s recent financial struggles, Donald felt compelled to lend a hand.

Wow, that’s very uncharacteristically nice of Donald.

Ed, 85, who was Johnny Carson’s sidekick on The Tonight Show for three decades, has been unable to work for about 18 months due to a neck injury. He defaulted on $4.8 million in mortgage loans with Countrywide Financial Corp and is currently facing a host of unrelated lawsuits.

The former Star Search host bought the six-bedroom, five-bathroom, 7,000-square-foot house in January 1990.

“I don’t know the man, but I grew up watching him on TV,” Trump explains. Helping out would “be an honor.”