Wayne and Shuster are widely acknowledged as the founding fathers of English Canadian television comedy. Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster met at the Harbord Collegiate Institute in Toronto. They both studied at the University of Toronto where they wrote and performed for the theatre, and in 1941, they began their first radio show for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
They enlisted in the Canadian army during World War II and performed for the troops in Europe. They wrote and starred in The Invasion Review, the first show to hit the beaches of Normandy after D-Day. They returned to Canada to create the Wayne and Shuster Show on CBC Radio in 1946.
In 1958, they got their real big break when they appeared for the first time on the Ed Sullivan Show. Sullivan’s ratings had been slipping and it is widely believed that the injection of Wayne and Shuster’s intellectual slapstick saved the show. They were given a one-year contract, renewed repeatedly, allowing them complete freedom for their sketchwriting. They set a record there by appearing 67 times over the next 11 years. In 1962 and 1963, Motion Picture Daily and Television Today ranked the duo as the best comedy team in America.
The Wayne and Shuster Show was a perpetual favourite on CBC from 1954 to 1989. Frank Shuster played the perfect straight man to Johnny Wayne’s manic man.
