John Byner

The proud owner of tons of dialects and hundreds of uncanny impersonations, the short (5'7"), slight, deadpan, rubber-faced, fair-haired funnyman 'John Byner' (qv) is the forerunner to such latter day gifted comic impressionists as 'Dana Carvey' (qv), 'Frank Caliendo' (qv) and 'Jim Carrey' (qv). Byner's spot-on impressions have run the entertainment and historical gamut -- from John Wayne, 'Ed Sullivan' (qv), Walter Brennan and George Jessel to U.S. Presidents Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson. As icing on the cake, he hilariously unleashed over-done singing vocals to such stylists as Johnny Mathis and 'Dean Martin' (qv). At his heyday in the late 60s and early 70s, John and 'Rich Little' (qv) were the cream of the mimicking crop -- deservedly recognized as the "Men of 1,000 Impressions".Born John Thomas Biener on June 28, 1938, in New York City, he was the son of Michael Biener, an auto mechanic, and Christina Biener, a mental hospital attendant. His stand-up comedy career began in New York's Greenwich Village where he worked for a year for Max Gordon at Gordon's jazz club "Village Vanguard". He then went on to open for some of the finest jazz greats of his time and steadily became a favorite New York nightclub fixture. As he rose to the top of his game, he opened or headlined prominent niteries throughout the country included headlining stints at Basin Street East, Copa Cabana, Latin Quarter, The Rainbow Room and at such showrooms as Harrah's, The Sahara, The Sands, Caesar's Palace, The Tropicana and Las Vegas Hilton.John's TV career break happened in New York City on 'Merv Griffin' (qv)'s "Talent Scouts Show" in 1964. After great exposure on both 'Garry Moore' (qv) and 'Steve Allen' (qv)'s variety shows in 1966 and 1967, he clowned around on 'Ed Sullivan' (qv)'s showcase program over two dozen times and 'Johnny Carson' (qv) late-night haunt over three dozen times. He added to the laughs on 'Carol Burnett' (qv), 'Mike Douglas' (qv) and 'Dean Martin' (qv)'s self-titled shows and became a veritable favorite with 'David Letterman' (qv) and 'Jay Leno' (qv) at night.John hosted and starred in his own summer variety series with The 'John Byner' (qv) Comedy Hour (1972) which focused on sketch comedy and sitcom spoofs. John's series "Comedy on the Road," which aired for four seasons on A&E earned him his second Ace Award. The first came for his uproarious series _Bizarre (1980)_ (qv), a half-hour sketch-styled program which aired for six seasons.John began on-camera acting in 1967. He began things off with a recurring part on the short-lived sitcom _Accidental Family (1967)_ (qv) starring 'Jerry Van Dyke' (qv) and as the sole voice in the cartoon segment _The Ant and the Aardvark (1969)_ (qv) of _The Pink Panther (1969)_ (qv) series. This segment had the title characters voiced by Byner, who gave dead-on impressions of 'Dean Martin' (qv) and 'Jackie Mason' (qv), respectively.From there, he provided many side-splitting moments on such established 60s and 70s shows as "Get Smart", "The Mothers-In-Law," "Love, American Style," "Hawaii 5-O," "The Odd Couple," "Maude" and "When Things Were Rotten," and added greatly to the zaniness as Detective Donahue in the hit spoof _Soap (1977)_ (qv) as well as the family sitcom _The Practice (1976)_ (qv) starring comic legend 'Danny Thomas' (qv). On the TV movie scene, John starred as a gangster in _McNamara's Band (1977)_ (qv), but it failed as a pilot to a prospective series. He also appeared in the comedies _The Man in the Santa Claus Suit (1979)_ (qv) and _Murder Can Hurt You! (1980)_ (qv), and the rare drama _Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy (1982)_ (qv) and played a failed ventriloquist in an episode of "Friday the Thirteenth: The Series."John made his film debut in a slightly noticeable bit in the 'Barbra Streisand' (qv)/'Ryan O'Neal' (qv) gagfest _What's Up, Doc? (1972)_ (qv). While he never found a strong footing in film, he managed to add second-banana fun to a handful of action comedies and slapstick vehicles such as _The Great Smokey Roadblock (1977)_ (qv) with 'Henry Fonda' (qv) and 'Eileen Brennan' (qv); the highly obscure _A Pleasure Doing Business (1979)_ (qv) with 'Conrad Bain' (qv) and 'Alan Oppenheimer' (qv); _Stroker Ace (1983)_ (qv) starring 'Burt Reynolds' (qv); and the comedy horror _Transylvania 6-5000 (1985)_ (qv) with 'Jeff Goldblum' (qv) and 'Ed Begley Jr.' (qv).John's penchant for creating voices led to an expansive career in animation for Disney _The Black Cauldron (1985)_ (qv) as well as the TV cartoon programs "Duckman," "Garfield," Angry Beavers" and "Rugrats" and a revamped "Felix the Cat."His continued visibility into the 90's millennium has included a recurring role in the crime drama series _Silk Stalkings (1991)_ (qv), as well as sporadic parts on "Married...with Children," "Dharma & Greg," "In the Heat of the Night" and "The First Family." He was also spotted in the fantasy comedy _Munchie Strikes Back (1994)_ (qv); the fantasy horror _Wishmaster (1997)_ (qv); the 'Rodney Dangerfield' (qv) slapstick farce _My 5 Wives (2000)_ (qv); and the National Lampoon offering _Robodoc (2009)_ (qv).Married four times, John has four children from his first marriage.::Gary Brumburgh / [email protected]