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|'''Rocky''' in ''The Shakespearean Baseball Game: A Comedy of Errors, Hits, and Runs''}}
An early sketch comedy series that went through a number of different incarnations. Hosted by the comedy team of Johnny Wayne (28 May 1918 – 18 July 1990) and Frank Shuster (5 September 1916 – 13 January 2002). The earliest version was ''Shuster & Wayne'', a radio program they were given as a result of their earlier radio work ''The Wife Preservers''. The next show was ''The Wayne and Shuster Show'' created for [[CBC]] radio in 1946 after they left the army after the second world war. There was a weekly television series in the 1950s, but that gave way to the better known appearances on ''The [[Ed Sullivan Show]] '' (where they appeared ''67'' times!) and their monthly CBC specials that ran from the early 1960s to the 1980s.
Their comedy has been referred to as literate comedy combined with a liberal amount of slapstick. They often mixed classic references, genre parodies, silly puns and bloodless violence in equal parts. A famous example being the retelling of [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Julius Caesar]]'' as the modern, [[Film Noir|noir-ish]] detective story ''Rinse the Blood off My Toga''. They also parodied and spoofed then current events and popular culture such as ''All in the Royal Family'' (''[[Hamlet]]'' with ''[[All in The Family]]'') and ''[[Star Trek|Star Schtick]]'' and even ''[[Macbeth]]'' done as an in-period [[Police Procedural]].
While some of the sketches might be slightly dated, and the style of comedy can seem a little old fashioned, much of their work is still side-splittingly funny and should be watched when the chance is given.
An incomplete list of their shows can be found [http://www.tvarchive.ca/database/18984/wayne_and_shuster_show,_the/episode_guide/ at TVarchive.ca]
{{tropelist}}
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Sam the first, Bill the second,
and [[Richard III|Richard the third]].}}
** 1957's "[[The Scarlet Pimpernel|The Brown Pumpernickel]]"
** 1958's "The Mark of [[Zorro|Zero]]"
** 1967's "[[The Bridge on the River Kwai|Kwai Me a River]]"
** 1976's "[[Cinderella|Cinder]][[Elton John|elton]]"
** 1973's "[[My Fair Lady|My Fair Partner]]", which tells how Frank turned garbageman Johnny into a comedy star.
** 1978's "[[The Last of the Mohicans|The Least of the Mohicans]]"
* [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]]: occasionally, the boys notice the audience, the sound effects, the soundtrack...
** From ''The Six Hundred Dollar Man'':
{{quote|'''General:''' [[The Six Million Dollar Man|That]] was just a television show!
'''Scientist:''' Well, what's this, the O'Keefe Center?}}
* [[Camera Screw]]:
* [[Deal with the Devil]]: The feature story of one episode was about a musician selling his soul to the Devil in exchange for becoming the greatest player for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: 1973's "The Stratford Murder Mystery," where Johnny played [[Columbo|a detective who wore a messy trenchcoat]].
* [[His Name Is--]]: A running joke in ''Rinse the Blood off My Toga''.
* [[Killed Mid-Sentence]]: Also a running joke in ''Rinse the Blood off My Toga''.
* [[Large Ham]]: Oh, yes. Usually Johnny, often Frank.
* [[Long Runners]]: Wayne and Shuster's first show, ''The Wife Preservers'', aired in 1941. If it wasn't for [[World War II]], they would have been on the air for a half-century, not counting re-runs.
* [[Mind Screw]]: Several. A [[Running Gag]] example, from ''Rinse the Blood off My Toga'':
{{quote|'''Brutus''' ''(Shuster):'' Are you sure we're alone?
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'''Brutus''' Yes. ''But can I be trusted?''}}
** [[It Was His Sled|He couldn't.]]
* [[Radio]]: The duo started out with radio shows.
* [[Running Gag]]: Constantly, sometimes including callbacks to previous running gags.
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