Wayne and Shuster

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Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster, entertaining the troops during World War II.

So fair a foul I have not seen! Ancient knave with heart as black as coat you wear upon your back, get thee a pair of glasses, get thee to an optometrist! —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 and Frank Shuster. 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, 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 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.

Tropes used in Wayne and Shuster include:

• Anachronism Stew: Rule of Funny prevails in most cases.
• Aside Comment, Aside Glance: frequently, especially in Noir parodies.
• A Worldwide Punomenon: They never pass up an opportunity. Ever.
  • From The Shakespearean Baseball Game: A Comedy of Errors, Hits, and Runs, discussing the starting lineup:

Manager (Shuster): Thou at the shortstop’s spot shall play. And you three guarding your accustomed bags: Sam the first, Bill the second, and Richard the third.

• Breaking the Fourth Wall: occasionally, the boys notice the audience, the sound effects, the soundtrack...
  • From The Six Hundred Dollar Man:

General: That was just a television show! Scientist: Well, what's this, the O'Keefe Center?

• Camera Screw: An early silent sketch involving the two painting the interior of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The camera is on an angle so that the tower looks vertical, but the pair and their equipment are constantly leaning / falling over / sliding around.
• 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.
• 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.
• Mind Screw: Several. A Running Gag example, from Rinse the Blood off My Toga:

Brutus (Shuster): Are you sure we're alone? Flavius Maximus (Wayne): Yes. Brutus Then who's that beside you? Flavius Maximus Beat That's you! Brutus Yes. But can I be trusted?

• • He couldn't.
• Radio:The duo started out with radio shows.
• Running Gag: Constantly, sometimes including callbacks to previous running gags.