Viewers of “The McLaughlin Group” did get to hear him during one of his trademark voiceovers, albeit with a voice weaker than his usual bombastic east coast accent. In early 1999 he hosted a short-lived MSNBC show called McLaughlin Special Report.
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McLaughlin died Tuesday morning, according to an announcement on the Facebook page of “The McLaughlin Group” series.
“For 34 years, TheMcLaughlin Group informed millions of Americans”, the statement continued.
His death was announced on his show’s Facebook page, saying their beloved host joined his dog, Oliver, in heaven.
In his 2000 book, Sound and Fury: The Making of the Punditocracy, Eric Alterman snarked that The McLaughlin Group panelists “always seemed to have just gotten off the phone with the guy in charge”.
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Television Personality John McLaughlin attends the party for “The McLaughlin Group” on October 6, 1991 at Chasen’s Restaurant in Beverly Hills, California. Before that, he worked as a speechwriter for President Richard Nixon in the 1970s, then wrote for National Review in the ’80s.
“As the panel’s recent absences attest, I am under the weather”, he wrote in an August 13 post on the show’s website.
McLaughlin said his aggressive, rapid-fire questions on the show served a goal. McLaughlin was best known for his Sunday panel show, which he created in 1982 and for which he had not missed a taping in 34 years – until this past Sunday, when he was too ill to appear.
Another Republican president, Ronald Reagan, was a fan, once describing “The McLaughlin Group” as “the most tasteful programming alternative to professional wrestling”. From 1989 to 1994, McLaughlin produced and hosted “McLaughlin“, a one-hour talk show.
The show became enough of an institution to inspire a “Saturday Night Live” parody, and continued into the 21st century. “We will miss his contagious spirit & tireless dedication”.
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McLaughlin was born in Providence in 1927 and later attended theological school at Boston College, where he also received degrees in English and philosophy.
