Johnny Wayne

Johnny Wayne played the manic side of the comedy duo, Wayne and Shuster. The two men had met at Toronto’s Harbord Collegiate and worked together at making people laugh until Wayne died in 1990. In addition to their long-running series on CBC they also made a record-breaking 67 appearances on the CBS Network’s Ed Sullivan Show. The fledgling comedy team began life as Weingarten and Shuster, then they tried Frankie and Johnny, then Shu and Lew and, eventually by 1941 had settled on Wayne and Shuster. They made their professional radio debut on Toronto’s CFRB where they wrote and performed The Javex Wife Preservers, dispensing humour and household tips geared to Canadian housewives, earning all of $12.50 per week. They soon caught the attention of Canada’s national network and were hired away by the CBC beginning an association that lasted for decades.