John Bansley Aylesworth (August 18, 1928 – July 28, 2010) was a Canadian television writer, producer, comedian, and actor, best known as co-creator of the American country music television variety show ''

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 ...

'', which appeared on network television for two years and then ran for decades in first-run syndication.

Early career at CBC

The son of Fredrick and Marie Aylesworth, John Bansley Aylesworth was born on August 18, 1928, in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada, and performed on radio as a child. He left high school before graduating and went into the advertising business, joining MacLaren Advertising as a writer, where he worked together with

Frank Peppiatt Frank Peppiatt (March 19, 1927 – November 7, 2012) was a Canadian (naturalized American) television producer and screenwriter, considered a pioneer of the variety show genre. His credits included ''The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour''. Most notably ...

. His wife recalled that they "were total cutups at the agency" and were approached by the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

based on their reputation to write sketches for the late night variety program '' After Hours''. At this point they officially became the comedy team of

Peppiatt and Aylesworth Peppiatt and Aylesworth were a Canadian television comedy team. The team consisted of Frank Peppiatt (March 19, 1927 – November 7, 2012) and John Aylesworth (August 18, 1928 – July 28, 2010). John Aylesworth was born on August 18, 1928, in ...

. Peppiatt & Aylesworth were Canada's first television comedy team. They also wrote and performed on the CBC programs '' The Big Revue'' and On Stage and Aylesworth created ''

Front Page Challenge ''Front Page Challenge'' was a Canadian panel game about current events and history. Created by comedy writer/performer John Aylesworth (of the comedy team of Frank Peppiatt and John Aylesworth) and produced and aired by CBC Television, the se ...

'', a current events and history game show that ran on CBC Television from 1957 to 1995.

Hee Haw

Aylesworth and Peppiatt relocated to the United States in 1958 and got work writing for ''

The Andy Williams Show ''The Andy Williams Show'' was an American television variety show that ran from 1962 to 1971 (alternating during the summer of 1970 with ''Andy Williams Presents Ray Stevens'')Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time N ...

''.Hevesi, Dennis
"John Aylesworth, a ‘Hee-Haw’ Creator, Dies at 81"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', August 3, 2010. Accessed August 4, 2010. They had worked together on ''

The Jimmy Dean Show ''The Jimmy Dean Show'' is the name of several similar music and variety series on American local and network television between 1963 and 1975. Each starred country music singer Jimmy Dean as host. Daytime ''The Jimmy Dean Show'', initially call ...

'' and wondered why a show hosted by a country music star didn't feature the country music more prominently. Aylesworth's 2010 book ''The Corn Was Green: The Inside Story of Hee Haw'' published by McFarland & Company told how he and Peppiatt came up with the idea for ''Hee Haw'' after seeing "country banter" between

Charley Weaver Clifford Charles Arquette (December 27, 1905 ⁠– September 23, 1974) was an American actor and comedian. Famous for his persona Charley Weaver, played on numerous television shows. Early life and career Cliff Arquette was born on Decemb ...

and

Jonathan Winters Jonathan Harshman Winters III (November 11, 1925 – April 11, 2013) was an American comedian, actor, author, television host, and artist. Beginning in 1960, Winters recorded many classic comedy albums for the Verve Records label. He also h ...

on ''

The Jonathan Winters Show ''The Jonathan Winters Show'' is the first of two American television network Variety show television programs to be hosted by comedian Jonathan Winters. The television series was broadcast from October 1956 to June 1957 on NBC. Synopsis This ' ...

'', and seeing that the shows atop the

Nielson ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rati ...

included ''

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 ...

'', ''

The Beverly Hillbillies ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on CBS from 1962 to 1971. It had an ensemble cast featuring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer Jr. as the Clampetts, a poor, backwoods family f ...

'', '' Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.'', '' Green Acres'' and ''

Petticoat Junction ''Petticoat Junction'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from September 1963 to April 1970. The series takes place at the Shady Rest Hotel, which is run by Kate Bradley; her three daughters Billie Jo, Bobbie Jo, and ...

'', along with ''

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' (often simply referred to as ''Laugh-In'') is an American sketch comedy television program that ran for 140 episodes from January 22, 1968, to March 12, 1973, on the NBC television network, hosted by comedians Da ...

'' and the duo conceived immediately of the format of country variety.Oermann, Robert K. (1998). "''Hee Haw''". In ''The Encyclopedia of Country Music''. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 235–6. Originally a summer replacement for ''

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour ''The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour'' was an American comedy and variety show television series hosted by the Smothers Brothers and initially airing on CBS from 1967 to 1969. The series was a major success, especially considering it was sc ...

'', ''Hee Haw'' was an immediate ratings winner throughout that first summer and was permanently added to the CBS schedule in December 1969. Co-hosted by Roy Clark and

Buck Owens Alvis Edgar Owens Jr. (August 12, 1929 – March 25, 2006), known professionally as Buck Owens, was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and band leader. He was the lead singer for Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, which had 21 No. 1 hits on ...

, the hour-long program featured regulars Archie Campbell,

Grandpa Jones Louis Marshall Jones (October 20, 1913 – February 19, 1998), known professionally as Grandpa Jones, was an American banjo player and "old time" country and gospel music singer. He is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.McCall, Michael; ...

Minnie Pearl Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon (October 25, 1912 – March 4, 1996), known professionally as her stage character Minnie Pearl, was an American comedian who appeared at the Grand Ole Opry for more than 50 years (1940–1991) and on the television ...

Junior Samples Junior Samples, born Alvin Samples Jr. (April 10, 1926 – November 13, 1983) was an American comedian best known for his 14-year run as a cast member of the television show ''Hee Haw''. Early years A sixth-grade dropout, Samples was a stock car ...

Lulu Roman Lulu Roman (born Bertha Louise Hable on May 6, 1946) is an American comedian, singer, and author. She is known as a regular on the comedy-music show ''Hee Haw'', which debuted in 1969. Roman was born with a thyroid dysfunction in a home for un ...

and

Gordie Tapp Gordon Robert Tapp, (June 4, 1922 – December 18, 2016) was a Canadian entertainer, best known as a radio and television presenter, comedian and a CBS broadcaster. He was introduced to U.S. President Gerald Ford as the world's funniest storyte ...

. Ron Simon curator of television and radio at New York's

Paley Center for Media The Paley Center for Media, formerly the Museum of Television & Radio (MT&R) and the Museum of Broadcasting, founded in 1975 by William S. Paley, is an American cultural institution in New York with a branch office in Los Angeles, dedicated to ...

described their collaboration at ''Hee Haw'' as "an interesting hybrid of two of the most popular programs of the '60s, ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' and ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'', and ironically outlasted both of them". The show featured a sequence of brief sketches of cornball humor, combined with performances by top acts in bluegrass, country and western and gospel music. The show lasted for two seasons, starting in 1969 on CBS in prime time and lasted on network television until 1971 when CBS axed nearly all of its rural-oriented programming. The show then ran in syndication for another 22 years, making it one of the longest-running programs in television history with 585 episodes. Simon noted that ''Hee Haw'' featured performances by "

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Haggard was born in Oildale, California, toward the end of the Great Depression. His childhood was troubled a ...

, Johnny Cash and Conway Twitty preserved in their prime". They sold the show in 1982 for $15 million.

Later career

Aylesworth and Peppiatt also wrote for other television programs, including ''

'', ''

The Judy Garland Show ''The Judy Garland Show'' is an American Variety show, musical variety television series that aired on CBS on Sunday nights during the 1963–1964 television season. Despite a sometimes stormy relationship with Judy Garland, CBS had found succes ...

'', '' Kraft Music Hall'' and ''

Your Hit Parade ''Your Hit Parade'' was an American radio and television music program that was broadcast from 1935 to 1953 on radio, and seen from 1950 to 1959 on television. It was sponsored by American Tobacco's Lucky Strike cigarettes. During its 24-year ru ...

'', receiving Emmy Award nominations for ''

The Julie Andrews Hour ''The Julie Andrews Hour'' was a television variety series starring Julie Andrews that was produced by ATV and distributed by ITC Entertainment. It aired on the ABC network in the United States. Known as the Julie Andrews Show in the UK and air ...

'' in 1973 and in 1976 for '' The Sonny and Cher Show''. They served as producers on several of those programs as well. Aylesworth worked with Peppiatt on a stage musical DURANTE, based on the life of Jimmy Durante which played in several cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Toronto. In his later career he repeatedly tried to find work as a television writer, but couldn't find any. He gave up looking in the 1980s and filed a class action lawsuit against agents and the television studios claiming age discrimination. In 1996

reunited for a tribute show in Canada honouring their long careers and great contributions to television and film. The program
"Adrienne Clarkson Presents- A Tribute to Peppiatt & Aylesworth: Canada's First Television Comedy Team"
aired in October 1996 on the CBC and was rerun several times through 1997. It profiled their classic careers with interviews, clips, archive footage, Kinescopes, and new sketches shot just for the tribute. The duo was once again called back to Canada in 2005 for the production o
Comedy Gold
a history of Canadian comedy featuring an All-Star cast. They also participated in a retrospective
The Joke's on Us: 50 Years of CBC Satire
in 2002. In 1995 Peppiatt & Aylesworth were inducted into the CBC Comedy Hall of Fame at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In 2022 the duo were inducted into the Canadian Comedy Hall of Fame on 11/16/22 in Toronto, ON (Canada), during a 3-Day comedy festival produced by

Tim Progosh Tim Progosh (born December 21, 1957) is a Canadian actor and the creator and original producer of the Canadian Comedy Awards, an annual awards presentation that celebrates Canadian comedy in a variety of media (TV, radio, film, the Internet, etc. ...

. In attendance to accept the awards were Frank Peppiatt's daughters Francesca Robyn Peppiatt and Marney Peppiatt, as well as his grandchildren Liam, Freya, Laura, and Stuart. Bill Aylesworth accepted for his father on behalf of the Aylesworth family, including Linda, Bob, John, Cynthia, Thomas, Robert, and Anita.

Later life

Aylesworth was a resident of

Palm Desert Palm Desert is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley, approximately east of Palm Springs, northeast of San Diego and east of Los Angeles. The population was 48,445 at the 2010 census. The city has been ...

, California. He died at age 81 on July 28, 2010, at

Eisenhower Medical Center The Eisenhower Medical Center (EMC) is a not-for-profit hospital based in Rancho Mirage, California, serving the Coachella Valley region of Southeastern California. It was named one of the top one hundred hospitals in the United States in 2005. ...

Rancho Mirage, California Rancho Mirage is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. The population was 17,218 at the 2010 census, up from 13,249 at the 2000 census, but the seasonal (part-time) population can exceed 20,000. Incorporated in 1973 and locate ...

, due to complications of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

as a complication of

pulmonary fibrosis Pulmonary fibrosis is a condition in which the lungs become scarred over time. Symptoms include shortness of breath, a dry cough, feeling tired, weight loss, and nail clubbing. Complications may include pulmonary hypertension, respiratory failu ...

.Schudel, Matt
"John Aylesworth dies; co-creator of 'Hee Haw'"
''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', August 1, 2010. Accessed August 4, 2010. He was survived by his fourth wife, Anita Rufus, as well as by a daughter Linda and son Robert from his first marriage and a daughter Cynthia and two sons John and Bill Aylesworth from his second wife Nancy Lee Eberle, along with one grandson Robert Karow. Another son Thomas died in 2003.McLellan, Dennis
"John Aylesworth dies at 81; co-creator of TV's 'Hee Haw'"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'', July 31, 2010. Accessed August 4, 2010. His longtime friend and partner,

, died on November 7, 2012 at the age of 85.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aylesworth, John 1929 births 2010 deaths American male television actors Television producers from California American television writers American male television writers Canadian emigrants to the United States Deaths from pneumonia in California Deaths from pulmonary fibrosis Canadian television writers Male actors from Toronto Writers from Toronto People from Palm Desert, California CBC Television people Screenwriters from California