Godspeed Jack Burns

Jack Burns, who was a comedy partner to both George Carlin and Avery Schreiber, was a writer on The Muppet Show, and appeared on TV shows from The Andy Griffith Show to Fridays, died on January 26 2020 at the age of 86.

Jack Burns was born in Boston, Massachusetts on November 15 1933.  In 1952 he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and served in the Korean War. Following his service Jack Burns studied radio at the Leland Powers School in Boston. He became news director at WEZE in Boston, where he met George Carlin, who was an announcer and disc jockey at the station. The two bonded and two formed a comedy team, doing routines on the air. After George Carlin was fired from WEZE, the two of them moved to KXOL in Fort Worth, Texas. In 1960 Burns and Carlin moved to Los Angeles where they went to work for radio station KDAY. That same year the comedy team made their television debut on an edition of Tonight Starring Jack Paar.  Burns and Carlin's material would appear on the 1963 record album Burns and Carlin at the Playboy Club Tonight, even thought the team had broken up in 1962.

It was also in 1962 that Jack Burns joined the Second City comedy troupe in Chicago. It was there that he met Avery Schreiber and the two formed the team of Burns and Schreiber. In the Sixties the team appeared on The Jack Paar Show, Oh My Word, The Kraft Summer Show, The John Gary Show, The Roger Miller Show, The Perry Como Show, The Merv Griffith Show, The Kraft Music Hall, The Glenn Campbell Goodtime Hour, The Ed Sullivan Show, and The Hollywood Palace. Burns and Schreiber hosted the variety show Our Place. Jack Burns also appeared on shows without Jack Burns. He appeared solo in episodes of The Entertainers and Happy Days (the 1970 variety, not the better known sitcom).

In the Sixties Jack Burns also began acting. He was Deputy Barney Fife's short-lived replacement, Warren Ferguson, on The Andy Griffith Show. He guest starred on Occasional Wife, Premiere, The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, and Hee Haw. Mr. Burns also appeared in movies, including Goldstein (1968) and The Night Raided Minsky's (1968). It was also in the Sixties that Jack Burns began writing for television. He wrote for The Kraft Music Hall, The Glen Campbell Comedy Goodtime Hour, and Hee Haw.

In the Seventies Jack Burns was a regular on the short-lived sitcom Getting Together and a regular voice on the animated sitcom Wait Till Your Father Gets Home. He guest starred on the show The Partridge Family; Nanny and the Professor; and Love, American Style. Burns and Schreiber appeared in their own television special, The Burns and Schreiber Comedy Hour in 1973. Burns and Schreiber appeared on the shows The David Steinberg Show, The Midnight Special, Jack Paar Tonite, The Dean Martin Show, Flip, The Mike Douglas Show, ABC's Wide World of Entertainment, and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. He appeared solo on Saturday Night Live and Hee Haw. As a writer he worked on The ABC Comedy Hour, The Melba Moore-Clifton Davis Show, The Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine, and We've Got Each Other. He was one of the original writers of both The Muppet Show and Fridays. He co-wrote The Muppet Movie (1979).

In the Eighties Jack Burns was a regular on Fridays. He guest starred on Brothers; The New Love, American Style; and CBS Comedy Playhouse. He was a writer on Brothers, It's Garry Shandling's Show, and Dolly. In the Nineties he was a guest voice on Darkwing Duck, Mother Goose and Grimm, and The Simpsons. Jack Burns was the voice of Sid the Squid on Animaniacs. He guest starred on Silk Stalkings. He appeared in the film Sour Grapes (1998). In the Naughts he guest starred on the sitcom The Pitts.

Whether as part of the comedy teams of Burns and Carlin or Burns and Schreiber or on his own, Jack Burns was a comedic genius. With Avery Schreiber, Jack Burns created cutting edge routines and played everything from a racist cab driver to a dishonest evangelist. Jack Burns was equally impressive as a solo act. While there was no way that he could fill Don Knotts's shoes on The Andy Griffith Show, his character Warren Ferguson was a funny character. He played a by-the-book county official on The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, a fast-talking used cars salesman on Nanny and the Professor, and the fanatical anti-Communist Ralph Kane on Wait Till Your Father Gets Home. As a writer Jack Burns was responsible for some of the funniest bits on shows ranging from Hee Haw to The Muppet Show. He was an extraordinary comedic talent.