Friends, colleagues remember Frank Shuster, legend of Canadian comedy

Frank Shuster, the straight man in a legendary comedy team that made generations of Canadians chuckle, died in hospital of pneumonia Sunday.

He was slightly taller and had a less-biting style than his sidekick, Johnny Wayne, who died in 1990 at 72.

Shuster could tell a joke on his own. But for most of his career, he set up his old high school friend, Wayne, to deliver the acerbic punch lines.

Their act worked well, Shuster once said, because their styles of comedy were so different: Wayne overplayed scenes while he underplayed them, giving audiences just the right balance.

• BACKGROUNDER: Frank Shuster
• COLUMN:Martin O'Malley on the legacy of Wayne and Shuster
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They met in Grade 10 in Toronto, and wrote their first script as boy scouts a working relationship that would continue non-stop for more than half a century.

They began broadcasting with CBC Radio in 1941, entertaining troops during the Second World War, before moving to television in the 1950s.

Wayne and Shuster became titans of Canadian comedy. Although they were also hits in the U.S., appearing 67 times on the Ed Sullivan Show, the pair decided to keep their acts and home north of the border.

They won many awards, and TV critics chose them as the best comedy team in North America twice. But they turned down film offers in the U.S., as well as contracts to work on Broadway and in Las Vegas.

Some of their skits became classics, including a spoof of the assassination of Julius Caesar. They had both studied English literature at the University of Toronto, and Shakespeare became a rich source of material including a skit about the "Stratford Nine," the bard's fictional baseball team.

They were still performing in 1989, when Wayne became ill. After his death, Shuster made numerous solo appearances and hosted CBC specials that replayed some of the team's best material.

Wisecracks were in his blood, and when he retired from the CBC Shuster made a typical joke. Afer 55 years on the air he complained, "I thought this would be a steady gig."

Shuster, 85, died Sunday afternoon at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. His funeral will be held on Wednesday afternoon at Toronto's Holy Blossom Temple.