Everything about John Byner totally explained
John Byner (born
June 28,
1938) is an American
actor,
comedian, and
impressionist who has had a lengthy television and movie career. His voice work includes the long-running cartoon series
The Ant and the Aardvark, in which the title characters are voiced by Byner's dead-on impressions of
Dean Martin and
Jackie Mason, respectively.
Biography
Personal life
Byner was born
John Biener in
New York City, the son of Christina, a mental hospital attendant, and Michael Biener, a truck mechanic. He is currently married to his fourth wife, Anne Gaybis, and has at least 4 children from his first marriage.
Career
On
The Ed Sullivan Show, where he made his first early TV appearances, he mimicked
Ed Sullivan as well as anyone, including the "master" Sullivan impersonator,
Will Jordan. His other impressions included
John Wayne and sang as
Dean Martin and
Johnny Mathis. His ability to mimic "Toastmaster General"
George Jessel came in handy during his appearances on panel programs such as celebrity "roasts" and other tributes.
On a
1967 episode of
Get Smart, Byner played a
KAOS agent who made a phone call to the Chief of
CONTROL (played by
Edward Platt), performed a perfect impression of President
Lyndon B. Johnson, and told the Chief he was fired and replaced with agent
Maxwell Smart (
Don Adams). Smart, the Chief and
Agent 99 (
Barbara Feldon) foiled this plot to undermine CONTROL, and Byner's character was arrested.
In 1970, he hosted about 25 episodes of a syndicated half-hour musical variety series called
Something Else. He then hosted his own show in 1972 called the "John Byner Comedy Hour", where the character
Super Dave was first introduced. In the late 1970s, he'd a featured role as Detective Donahue on the tv series
Soap. In the 1980s he hosted the Canadian TV comedy series,
Bizarre. That show re-introduced many people to hapless daredevil
Super Dave Osborne, played by
Bob Einstein. Over the years he's done straight acting work and also light characters in otherwise serious dramas, such as the mostly-harmless con artist "Cotton Dunn" in the 1990s cop series
Silk Stalkings.
One voice of his own invention is a high-pitched, raspy voice that defies easy description. It is vaguely similar to
Donald Duck, only more intelligible. He has sometimes given that voice a character to go with it, "Felix Fossididdi". It was actually a voice that he and his brother came up with, which they'd sometimes use when ordering in restaurants in order to try to spook the waitress. He used the voice for the character
Gurgi in the
Disney animated feature film The Black Cauldron.
In 2007, he appeared on
The Late Show with David Letterman's
Impressionist Week 2, in a fitting situation similar to his earlier appearance on
The Ed Sullivan Show.
In 2008, he stars in
RoboDoc.
Further Information
Get more info on 'John Byner'.
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