Today is the first official day of autumn, so you celebrities out there can finally exhale: the seasonal orgy of death has come to a close. I’ll always remember summer ’09 for the days that Twitter taught me how to grieve: for David Carradine’s apparent Michael Hutchence impression, for Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson on the same day, for a 4th of July marred by Steve McNair’s murder.

Some people will tell you that there wasn’t a death trend, and you need to seek out those contrarians and hammer their gonads with a rubber mallet. Jezebel recently made the mistaken claim that because a couple people who were most famous in the ’70s and ’80s died, today’s writers — mostly in their 30s and 40s — waxed nostalgic and thus it was misdiagnosed as a trend.

In 2008, for example, we lost Studs Terkel, in his nineties, like Cronkite; Paul Newman at 83, like [Dominick] Dunne; Michael Crichton of cancer in his sixties, like Fawcett; Tim Russert of a heart attack in his late fifties, like Hughes and Carroll; Bernie Mac unexpectedly at age 50, like Jackson; not to mention Jeff Healey and Brad Renfro, respectively far too young and far, far too young. Beloved Golden Girl Bea Arthur died in 2009 — and beloved Golden Girl Estelle Getty died in 2008. So what’s the big deal about this year?

Oh, I’m sorry. Help me out. Which former All-Pro and NFL MVP was shot in the chest at age 36 by his mistress in 2008? Which badass actor died of autoerotic asphyxiation in Thailand in 2008? You’re telling me this was normal? You can blame a celeb-obsessed culture and Twitter all you want, but there’s no getting around the fact that a high number of celebrity deaths were grouped unusually tightly over the course of a season.

And now it’s over. I’m kind of nostalgic for it already.

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YES!  HA!  HA!  HA! The top ten Ed McMahon moments, including the above video, a 1968 Budweiser ad with Frank Sinatra.  Cheers, Ed.  Hope you and Old Blue Eyes are getting loaded in heaven as I type.  [Best Week Ever]

I don’t know what’s going on this picture. But I like it. [Unicorn Wolf Lazers F-ck You]

The ‘Homer’ got snubbed! Television’s 20 coolest cars.  What, no hybrids? Eh, I guess the Flintstones’ ride was environmentally friendly.  [Gunaxin]

Your favorite movie sucks. These A-holes hate the best movies ever made.  [Unreality]

That’s a spicy meat-a-ball! Photo of Perez Hilton getting punched.  It’s like seeing an angel riding unicorn giving Perez the finger.  [Philly D TV]

Statute of Limitations on Spoilers: You got one week to get caught up, sailor. This video from College Humor is for the commenter who got bent out of shape for the “spoilers” in the trailer for BSG’s “The Plan.” Even though he’s three years behind on watching the show.

In case you missed it: Conan O’Brien doing his Jay Leno impression on “The Tonight Show.” Starts around the 1:50 mark. [Hulu]

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)

Entertainer Ed McMahon, best known as Johnny Carson’s sidekick for 30 years on “The Tonight Show” and his famous “Heeeeeeeeeere’s Johnny!” introduction, has passed away at the age of 86 from cancer.  He is survived by his wife Pamela and their six adult children.

McMahon did more than set up Carson’s jokes, however.  He also hosted “Star Search” and served in the Marine Corps during both World War II and the Korean War.  And knowing that I’ve lost a fellow Marine, I bid adieu to Ed with his own words, the final words in the historic Cash 4 Gold Super Bowl ad, spoken to a golden toilet: “Goodbye, old friend.”

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