Comedy Show (1941 - 47 )

The Bob Burns Show was a comedy show that debuted in September 1941 as The Arkansas Traveler. It often featured the music of Spike Jones. Burns became well known for playing his “Bazooka,” a homemade instrument that he made from a whiskey funnel and two gas pipes. He invented the word “bazooka” and copyrighted it in 1920. During WWII, the soldiers began calling their rocket launchers “bazookas” thanks to their likeness to Bob Burns’ instrument. The Bob Burns Show was sponsored by Campbell’s Soup, Dreft, American Foods, Lever Brothers, and Lifebuoy Soap.

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Bob Burns' "Bazooka" musical instrument
which later inspired American WWII
soldiers to call their rocket launchers "Bazookas"

Bob Burns was born in Van Buren, Arkansas. He grew up with a love of music, tooting around on his cornet and trombone. By thirteen, he had his own stringed band. He discovered his trademark “Bazooka” instrument one evening while practicing in the back of the local Hayman’s Plumbing Shop. Legend has it that, much to the amusement of his fellow prepubescent band members, he tripped over some gas pipe in the middle of rehearsal. Falling to the floor, he didn’t miss a beat – as his trombone skittered across the linoleum, he put the gas pipe to his mouth and blew it to emit a noise much like an ailing moose. A small-time peanut farmer, WWI Marine Sergeant, and salesman, Bob Burns finally found his home in the radio and movie industry after a stint as a hillbilly and blackface in vaudeville. Burns played on the Rudy Vallee Show, giving long-winded political speeches much like Will Rogers. When Will Rogers died, however, he became so well known Burns had to change his act. Burns was later introduced by Bing Crosby on his Kraft Music Hall Show, which led to the creation of his own radio program. His favorite characters were his fake hillbilly relatives, Uncle Fud, Grandpa Snazzy and Aunt Doody.