As the nation continues its day of mourning for Ed McMahon, I’d like to shed light on something that likely won’t make McMahon’s list of credits: he hosted the second (and final) episode of “Legends of the Superheroes,” a 1979 special on NBC designed to be a live-action version of “Super Friends,” the popular cartoon featuring DC Comics’ famed Justice League of America.

McMahon’s purpose here?  Emcee of a roast of the Super Friends (minus Superman and Wonder Woman, who were busy with movie and TV commitments, respectively).  Sounds bad, right?  I haven’t even gotten to the “celebrity” “roaster”: supposed superhero Ghetto Man (Brad Sanders), a casually racist caricature of an inner-city black man in the ’70s.  Yikes.  You’ll notice NBC uses a laugh track here.  It works; I can’t imagine real laughter following these jokes.

(thanks to Mike for the tip)