July 5, 2009:

Ponderings of a Pilgrim PASTOR

“On Being A Good Second Banana”

            “He . . . re’s Johnny!”  With those familiar words, Ed McMahon introduced decades of the Tonight show and Johnny Carson.  He was not just the show’s announcer but the perfect side-kick that show business calls “a second banana.”  His laugh made Carson’s jokes seem funnier; his straight-man cluelessness in the Carnac routines made Carson seem smarter; his willingness to play Carson’s greatest admirer made Johnny seem all that much better as a showman.

            He played his role as side-kick so successfully that the role seems essential in today’s talk-shows.  He mostly served to flatter Carson, laughing with sometimes exaggerated gusto even when the jokes didn’t particularly merit a laugh.  But he did it so sincerely we actually believed he thought the jokes were funny.  But at crucial times, he could also puncture pomposity before it could grow.

            Some of those willing to be second bananas for stars may long for more of the limelight for themselves but the great ones never do.  They know they will always shine in the reflected glory of the star.  Even more than that, they will have the opportunity to make the star look better than he or she is.  That takes a special kind of humility and skill.

            Few of us will ever be stars on life’s stage.  We just don’t have the gifts to do that.  But all of us can aspire to being a great second banana.  We all have the ability to make other people look good.  By the way we act around them, by the way we encourage and support them, we can make them be more than they might have been otherwise.  Not a bad legacy for any of us to leave behind, wouldn’t you say?  Great teachers like Chuck Lippy have that skill to their fingertips.

            I like to think when Ed McMahon showed up in that special afterlife reserved for entertainers, Johnny Carson yelled out, “He . . . re’s Ed!”

Love,

Pastor Dave