John Francis Burns (November 15, 1933 – January 27, 2020) was an American comedian, actor, voice actor, writer, and producer. During the 1960s, he was part of two comedy partnerships, first with

George Carlin George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American comedian, actor, author, and social critic. Regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of countercu ...

and later with

Avery Schreiber Avery Lawrence Schreiber (April 9, 1935 – January 7, 2002) was an American actor and comedian. He was a veteran of stage, television, and movies who came to prominence in the 1960s in a comedy duo with Jack Burns. He acted in an array of roles ...

. By the 1970s, he had transitioned to working behind the camera as a writer and producer on such comedy series as ''

The Muppet Show ''The Muppet Show'' is a sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and featuring the Muppets. The series originated as two pilot episodes produced by Henson for ABC in 1974 and 1975. While neither episode was moved forward as a s ...

'' and ''

Hee Haw ''Hee Haw'' is an American television variety show featuring country music and humor with the fictional rural "Kornfield Kounty" as the backdrop. It aired first-run on CBS from 1969 to 1971, in syndication from 1971 to 1993, and on TNN from 1 ...

''.

Biography

Burns enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1952. It wasn't long before Burns realized a military life was not for him: "the first week of boot camp changed my mind." He served in Korea, rose to the rank of sergeant, and was discharged around 1954. Burns began his comedy career in 1959, when he partnered with

; both were working for radio station KXOL in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accord ...

. After successful performances at a Fort Worth

beat Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery (c ...

coffeehouse, The Cellar, Burns and Carlin headed for California in February 1960 and continued to work together for two more years. An album containing some of their material was released in 1963, titled ''

Burns and Carlin at the Playboy Club Tonight ''Burns and Carlin at the Playboy Club Tonight'' is the 1963 first and only album by the short-lived comedy duo of Jack Burns and George Carlin. The album's title is technically a slight exaggeration, because the album was actually recorded at a ...

''. Longer lasting was a later teaming with

, whom he met when they were both members of

The Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise and is the oldest ongoing improvisational theater troupe to be continually based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre o ...

, a live comedy and improv troupe based in Chicago. Burns and Schreiber were best known for a series of routines in which Burns played a talkative

taxicab A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choi ...

passenger, with Schreiber as the driver. During the summer of 1973, the two appeared on the ABC TV variety series ''The Burns and Schreiber Comedy Hour''. During the first half of the 1965–1966 season of ''

The Andy Griffith Show ''The Andy Griffith Show '' is an American situation comedy television series that aired on CBS from October 3, 1960, to April 1, 1968, with a total of 249 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons—159 in black and white and 90 in color. The ...

'', in an attempt to replace Don Knotts'

Barney Fife Bernard "Barney" Fife is a fictional character in the American television program ''The Andy Griffith Show'', portrayed by comic actor Don Knotts. Barney Fife is a deputy sheriff in the slow-paced, sleepy southern community of Mayberry, North Car ...

character after Knotts left the show, Burns was cast as Warren Ferguson, a dedicated but inept deputy sheriff. His character was not popular, and was dropped after 11 appearances. In 1967, he was cast as "Candy Butcher" in ''

The Night They Raided Minsky's ''The Night They Raided Minsky's'' is a 1968 American musical comedy film directed by William Friedkin and produced by Norman Lear. Based on the 1960 novel by Rowland Barber, it is a fictional account of the invention of the striptease at Mins ...

''. In 1971, he was cast as Mr. Kelly in ''

The Partridge Family ''The Partridge Family'' is an American musical sitcom starring Shirley Jones and featuring David Cassidy. Jones plays a widowed mother, and Cassidy plays the oldest of her five children, in a family who embarks on a music career. It ran from S ...

'' episode "Dora, Dora, Dora", (S2/Ep1). Hanna-Barbera gave the voice of Harry Boyle's reactionary neighbor, Ralph Kane, to Burns in the short-lived syndicated prime-time cartoon ''

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home ''Wait Till Your Father Gets Home'' is an American comedy animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that aired in first-run syndication in the United States from 1972 to 1974. The show originated as a one-time segment on ''Love, ...

''. The series was a forerunner of

adult animation Adult animation, also known as mature animation, and infrequently as adult-oriented animation, is any type of animated motion work that is catered specifically to adult interests, and is mainly targeted and marketed towards adults and adolescent ...

comedies. Burns was the headwriter for the first season of ''

'' and ''

''. Schreiber appeared on an episode with ''The Muppet Show'' during that first season. Burns also co-wrote ''

The Muppet Movie ''The Muppet Movie'' is a 1979 American musical road comedy film directed by James Frawley, produced by Jim Henson, and the first theatrical film featuring the Muppets. A co-production between the United Kingdom and the United States, the fil ...

'' (with

Jerry Juhl Jerome Ravn Juhl (July 27, 1938 – September 27, 2005) was an American television and film writer, best known for his work with The Muppets. Biography Juhl was born in St. Paul, Minnesota; his family moved to Menlo Park, California, when ...

, his successor as head writer of ''The Muppet Show''). He hosted a 1977 episode of

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...

''. In the early 1980s, Burns became a writer, announcer and occasional performer on the ABC sketch comedy series '' Fridays''. He and comedian Michael Richards were involved in a staged on-air fight with

Andy Kaufman Andrew Geoffrey Kaufman ( ; January 17, 1949 – May 16, 1984) was an American entertainer and performance artist. While often called a "comedian", Kaufman preferred to describe himself instead as a "song and dance man". He has sometimes b ...

, later re-created in the Kaufman biopic '' Man on the Moon'' (with Kaufman's longtime friend

Bob Zmuda Bob Zmuda (born December 12, 1949) is an American writer, comedian, producer, and director best known for his friendship with comedian Andy Kaufman. Biography Bob Zmuda occasionally portrayed Kaufman's Tony Clifton character on stage and for tel ...

portraying Burns.) Burns teamed with Lorenzo Music to provide the voices for a pair of

crash test dummies Crash Test Dummies are a Canadian rock band from Winnipeg, Manitoba. The band is most identifiable through Brad Roberts (vocals, guitar) and his distinctive bass-baritone voice. The band members have fluctuated over the years, but its best kno ...

named Vince and Larry, respectively, in a series of

United States Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States a ...

public service announcement A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. In the UK, they are generally called a public information film (PIF); in Hong Kong, ...

s that promoted the use of seat belts. Distributed by the

Ad Council The Advertising Council, commonly known as the Ad Council, is an American nonprofit organization that produces, distributes, and promotes public service announcements on behalf of various sponsors, including nonprofit organizations, non-governme ...

, the

advertising campaign An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ideas, beliefs, and conc ...

ran from 1985 to 1998. In 1993, he starred in the animated series ''

Animaniacs ''Animaniacs'' is an American animated comedy musical television series created by Tom Ruegger for Fox Broadcasting Company's Fox Kids block in 1993, before moving to The WB in 1995, as part of its Kids' WB afternoon programming block, until ...

'', as the voice of Sid the Squid, giving the character a raspy,

Daffy Duck Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character created for Leon Schlesinger Productions by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett. Styled as an anthropomorphic black duck, he has appeared in cartoon series such as ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Mel ...

kind of voice. Schreiber also appeared on the show as the voice of Beanie the Brain-Dead Bison. Burns was a guest voice in a 1999 episode of ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...

'' called "

Beyond Blunderdome "Beyond Blunderdome" is the eleventh season premiere of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox Network in the United States on September 26, 1999 and was watched in around 8.1 million homes ...

". Burns died from respiratory failure on January 27, 2020, at age 86, in Los Angeles, California.

References

External links

*
The Revenge of Warren Ferguson on the Andy Griffith Show
of a two-part Jack Burns Biography * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Jack 1933 births 2020 deaths 20th-century American comedians 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American male actors American male comedians American male screenwriters American male television actors American male television writers American male voice actors American television writers Burials at Los Angeles National Cemetery Deaths from respiratory failure Male actors from Boston Screenwriters from Massachusetts United States Marine Corps personnel of the Korean War United States Marines