In the past week, I’ve begun to realize how important it is to have a sidekick.

Think about it. They laugh at all our jokes and provide fodder for more jokes. They’re the yin to our yang and our partners in crime, even when a crime isn’t taking place.

They’re also a key part to our success. Where would Michael Jordan be without Scottie Pippen? Where would Batman be without Robin? And where would Ernie be without Bert? MJ would have fewer championships, Gotham would have more crime and Ernie would be living in that two-person apartment all by himself.

Most importantly, however, sidekicks are always there for us, willing to help us do whatever we need to do – even if they don’t get any credit for the success themselves.

The sad part about sidekicks is that you don’t realize how important they are until they’re gone, and America lost a good one last Tuesday when Ed McMahon died at the age of 86.

McMahon wasn’t just a sidekick – he was THE sidekick, the man who fit the role so perfectly that it seemed built for him. It’s hard to picture the original “Tonight Show” without the paternership of McMahon and Johnny Carson.

And now he’s gone.

I lost my own sidekicks recently when my buddies moved on from college to the “real world.”

No, graduating isn’t as dramatic as dying, but my sidekicks are gone just the same. And I’m not sure how I’m going to survive in college without them. They helped me become who I am today and I’m going to miss them.

But I’ve discovered that’s what happens when you have sidekicks. You’re around them so much that eventually they become a part of you. That’s why you miss them so much when they’re gone: because it seems as though a part of you is gone, too.

Sure, some “dynamic duos” have broken up and done just fine separately. But for many others, life wasn’t the same without their partner. Think Abbott would have done nearly as well without Costello, or vice versa?

I’m sure my life will go on without my sidekicks. But it won’t be the same as it was when they were by my side. I miss them. Not because they laughed at my jokes (more often than not, they didn’t), but because they were more than sidekicks. They were my friends.

That’s the most important role of the sidekick – the reason why it’s so hard to live without them. They’re our friends – our best friends. As McMahon said himself, “Johnny once described our relationship by saying we were as close as two people could be without being married.”

Who doesn’t want a friend like that?

Doug Gulasy is a senior newspaper journalism major and columnist for the Summer Kent Stater. Contact him at [email protected].