Jenna McMahon was a writer and actress best known for her work on The Carol Burnett Show, and for co-creating the comedies The Facts of Life and Mama’s Family.
McMahon was nominated for eight Emmy Awards, winning three of those times for her writing on The Carol Burnett Show. She shared the honor with the show’s writing staff, including her longtime comedy writing partner Dick Clair. After meeting in 1961, she and Clair created a comedy act, played nightclubs and eventually appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Merv Griffin Show, What’s It All About World? and The Funny Side.
While working on The Carol Burnett Show, the duo created characters for a recurring sketch called “The Family,” which would ultimately become the NBC show Mama’s Family, and run for six seasons. Together they also created It’s a Living, which ran for six seasons, and The Facts of Life, which ran for nine seasons and was nominated for three Emmy Awards. They also wrote a 1987 variety special starring Carol Burnett, Carl Reiner, Whoopi Goldberg and Robin Williams, who won an Emmy for his performance.
McMahon had small acting parts on several shows, including Dennis the Menace, The Twilight Zone, The Bob Newhart Show and Welcome Back, Kotter. She is also credited with producing several episodes of Mama’s Family.
Jenna McMahon was a writer and actress best known for her work on The Carol Burnett Show, and for co-creating the comedies The Facts of Life and Mama’s Family.
McMahon was nominated for eight Emmy Awards, winning three of those times for her writing on The Carol Burnett Show. She shared the honor with the show’s writing staff, including her longtime comedy writing partner Dick Clair. After meeting in 1961, she and Clair created a comedy act, played nightclubs and eventually appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Merv Griffin Show, What’s It All About World? and The Funny Side.
While working on The Carol Burnett Show, the duo created characters for a recurring sketch called “The Family,” which would ultimately become the NBC show Mama’s Family, and run for six seasons. Together they also created It’s a Living, which ran for six seasons, and The Facts of Life, which ran for nine seasons and was nominated for three Emmy Awards. They also wrote a 1987 variety special starring Carol Burnett, Carl Reiner, Whoopi Goldberg and Robin Williams, who won an Emmy for his performance.
McMahon had small acting parts on several shows, including Dennis the Menace, The Twilight Zone, The Bob Newhart Show and Welcome Back, Kotter. She is also credited with producing several episodes of Mama’s Family.
McMahon died March 2, 2015, in Monterey, California. She was 89.