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 countercul ...

and later with Avery Schreiber. 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 ...

'' 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 List of cities in Texas by population, fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the List of United States cities by population, 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, T ...

. After successful performances at a Fort Worth beat 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''. Longer lasting was a later teaming with Avery Schreiber, 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 sitcom, 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 colo ...

'', in an attempt to replace

Don Knotts Jesse Donald Knotts (July 21, 1924February 24, 2006) was an American actor and comedian. He is widely known for his role as Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife on '' The Andy Griffith Show'', a 1960s sitcom for which he earned five Emmy Awards. He als ...

' Barney Fife character after Knotts left the show, Burns was cast as Warren Ferguson, a dedicated but inept deputy

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

. 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''. 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 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, 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. Michaels currently serves ...

''. In the early 1980s, Burns became a writer, announcer and occasional performer on the ABC sketch comedy series '' Fridays''. He and comedian

Michael Richards Michael Anthony Richards (born July 24, 1949) is an American actor, writer, television producer, and comedian best known for playing Cosmo Kramer on the television sitcom ''Seinfeld''. He began his career as a stand-up comedian, first enterin ...

were involved in a staged on-air fight with Andy Kaufman, 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 Gerald David "Lorenzo" Music (May 2, 1937 – August 4, 2001) was an American actor, producer and writer. Music began his career in the late 1960s as a writer and a regular performer on the controversial CBS variety show ''The Smothers Brothers ...

to provide the voices for a pair of crash test dummies 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 and ...

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 belt A seat belt (also known as a safety belt, or spelled seatbelt) is a vehicle safety device designed to secure the driver or a passenger of a vehicle against harmful movement that may result during a collision or a sudden stop. A seat belt red ...

s. 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, Marge, Bart, ...

'' called " Beyond Blunderdome". 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