A spokesman for Ed McMahon says a lengthy hospital stay hasn't dampened his spirits one bit as he prepares to mark his 86th birthday, drinking like a fish.
"We keep hearing him in there behind the door telling visitors that they may have already won one million dollars", stated a hospital aid that asked that her name not be released, Ms. Helen Belcher.
The veteran TV personality plans to observe his birthday Friday in an undisclosed Los Angeles hospital, Cedars-Sinai, with friends and family on hand, says his spokesman, Howard Bragman.
McMahon, the longtime sidekick and therefore the butt of many jokes, of talk-show host Johnny Carson, has been hospitalized for several weeks, suffering from pneumonia and other ailments too hard to spell, but improving every day, according to Bragman.
Meanwhile, Johnny Carson is still at the Pearly Gates waiting for McMahon to introduce him to Saint Peter.
"I hope he rots up there. Let him shout that 'Heeeeeeere's Johnny' crap and feel like an idiot!" came loudly from behind the closed door according to the unnamed aid, Helen Belcher.
