There's been a little back-and-forth on the Internet with reports of the passing of the fine comedy writer-performer Jack Burns. He had died, then maybe he had not died, then he'd died, then he was definitely still with us, then he'd died…this was all within about the last 18 hours. His manager has now confirmed that, sadly, the "he died" people were correct…but respect to those who were cautious and/or optimistic.
I knew Jack a little. He was a charming guy, even funnier off-stage than on…and he could be pretty darned funny on-stage. His career was pretty simple: He teamed with George Carlin for a two-man act that made a lot of noise. George later struck out on his own. Jack teamed with Avery Schreiber, who was probably a better contrast/complement. They were everywhere for a while but not exclusively. When Don Knotts left The Andy Griffith Show, Jack played Andy's new deputy for a while. It didn't work, mostly because Jack had committed the unforgivable sin of not being Don Knotts.
But he was still a fine comedy performer, prominent enough to host Saturday Night Live during its second season. And then he made the slow move to behind the camera as a producer and writer. On Fridays, ABC's knock-off of SNL, Jack was an off-camera producer-writer and an on-camera announcer. A lot of folks remembered his feigned on-camera fist fight with Andy Kaufman. He worked on Hee-Haw and The Muppet Show and even delved into voice work for cartoons now and then. He was on Wait Till Your Father Gets Home and on Animaniacs and I cast and directed him in the recurring role of Detective Fogarty on Mother Goose & Grimm…and that's only a partial list.
You can find out more about his career in this obit and I imagine there will be many more posted before the day is out.
I always liked the guy and from what I could see, everyone else did, as well. I remember one of his outstanding performances was as the M.C. at the memorial service for his late partner Avery Schreiber. He spoke with love and affection and also — and we all knew that Avery would have wanted it this way — got some enormous laughs. I hope someone does that for Jack.