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John Aylesworth
John Aylesworth
John Aylesworth
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John Bansley Aylesworth (August 18, 1928 – July 28, 2010) was a Canadian television writer, producer, comedian, and actor, best known as co-creator of the American country music television variety show Hee Haw, which appeared on network television for two years and then ran for decades in first-run syndication.[1]

Key Information

Early career at CBC

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The son of Fredrick and Marie Aylesworth,[2] John Bansley Aylesworth was born on August 18, 1928, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and performed on radio as a child. He left high school before graduating and went into the advertising business, joining MacLaren Advertising as a writer, where he worked together with Frank Peppiatt. His wife recalled that they "were total cutups at the agency" and were approached by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation based on their reputation to write sketches for the late night variety program After Hours.[3] At this point they officially became the comedy team of Peppiatt and Aylesworth. Peppiatt & Aylesworth were Canada's first television comedy team. They also wrote and performed on the CBC programs The Big Revue and On Stage and Aylesworth created Front Page Challenge, a current events and history game show that ran on CBC Television from 1957 to 1995.[1][4]

Hee Haw

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Aylesworth and Peppiatt relocated to the United States in 1958 and got work writing for The Andy Williams Show.[3] They had worked together on The Jimmy Dean Show and wondered why a show hosted by a country music star didn't feature the country music more prominently.[4] Aylesworth's 2010 book The Corn Was Green: The Inside Story of Hee Haw published by McFarland & Company told how he and Peppiatt came up with the idea for Hee Haw after seeing "country banter" between Charley Weaver and Jonathan Winters on The Jonathan Winters Show, and seeing that the shows atop the Nielson ratings included The Andy Griffith Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Green Acres and Petticoat Junction, along with Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and the duo conceived immediately of the format of country variety.[3][5] Originally a summer replacement for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, Hee Haw was an immediate ratings winner throughout that first summer and was permanently added to the CBS schedule in December 1969.[4] Co-hosted by Roy Clark and Buck Owens, the hour-long program featured regulars Archie Campbell, Grandpa Jones, Minnie Pearl, Junior Samples, Lulu Roman and Gordie Tapp.[4][5]

Ron Simon curator of television and radio at New York's Paley Center for Media described their collaboration at Hee Haw as "an interesting hybrid of two of the most popular programs of the '60s, The Beverly Hillbillies and Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, and ironically outlasted both of them".[5] The show featured a sequence of brief sketches of cornball humor, combined with performances by top acts in bluegrass, country and western and gospel music. The show lasted for two seasons, starting in 1969 on CBS in prime time and lasted on network television until 1971 when CBS axed nearly all of its rural-oriented programming.[4] The show then ran in syndication for another 22 years, making it one of the longest-running programs in television history with 585 episodes.[1] Simon noted that Hee Haw featured performances by "Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash and Conway Twitty preserved in their prime".[3] They sold the show in 1982 for $15 million.

Later career

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Aylesworth and Peppiatt also wrote for other television programs, including The Jonathan Winters Show, The Judy Garland Show, Kraft Music Hall and Your Hit Parade, receiving Emmy Award nominations for The Julie Andrews Hour in 1973 and in 1976 for The Sonny and Cher Show.[3] They served as producers on several of those programs as well.

Aylesworth worked with Peppiatt on a stage musical DURANTE, based on the life of Jimmy Durante which played in several cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Toronto. In his later career he repeatedly tried to find work as a television writer, but couldn't find any. He gave up looking in the 1980s and filed a class action lawsuit against agents and the television studios claiming age discrimination.[1]

In 1996 Peppiatt and Aylesworth reunited for a tribute show in Canada honouring their long careers and great contributions to television and film. The program, "Adrienne Clarkson Presents- A Tribute to Peppiatt & Aylesworth: Canada's First Television Comedy Team" aired in October 1996 on the CBC and was rerun several times through 1997. It profiled their classic careers with interviews, clips, archive footage, Kinescopes, and new sketches shot just for the tribute. The duo was once again called back to Canada in 2005 for the production of Comedy Gold, a history of Canadian comedy featuring an All-Star cast. They also participated in a retrospective, The Joke's on Us: 50 Years of CBC Satire, in 2002.

In 1995 Peppiatt & Aylesworth were inducted into the CBC Comedy Hall of Fame at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

In 2022 the duo were inducted into the Canadian Comedy Hall of Fame on 11/16/22 in Toronto, ON (Canada), during a 3-Day comedy festival produced by Tim Progosh. In attendance to accept the awards were Frank Peppiatt's daughters Francesca Robyn Peppiatt and Marney Peppiatt, his third wife Caroline, as well as his four grandchildren. Bill Aylesworth accepted for his father on behalf of the Aylesworth family, including Linda, Bob, John, Cynthia, Thomas, Robert, and Anita.

Later life

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Aylesworth was a resident of Palm Desert, California. He died at age 81 on July 28, 2010, at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, due to complications of pneumonia as a complication of pulmonary fibrosis.[1] He was survived by his fourth wife, Anita Rufus, as well as by a daughter Linda and son Robert from his first marriage and a daughter Cynthia and two sons John and Bill Aylesworth from his second wife Nancy Lee Eberle, along with one grandson Robert Karow. Another son Thomas died in 2003.[4] His longtime friend and partner, Frank Peppiatt, died on November 7, 2012, at the age of 85.[6]

References

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John Aylesworth

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''John Aylesworth'' is a Canadian television writer and producer known for co-creating the long-running country music and comedy variety series Hee Haw with his longtime collaborator Frank Peppiatt. Born on August 18, 1928, in Toronto, Ontario, Aylesworth began his career in Canadian television, contributing to programs such as Front Page Challenge before partnering with Peppiatt to write and produce variety specials and series in the United States. Their work included contributions to The Julie Andrews Hour and The Sonny and Cher Show, the latter earning him a Primetime Emmy nomination for outstanding writing in a comedy-variety series. The duo's signature achievement, Hee Haw, debuted in 1969 and blended rural-themed humor, cornball sketches, and performances by country music artists, becoming one of the most successful syndicated television programs and running for more than two decades. Aylesworth later authored books, including a memoir detailing the creation and history of Hee Haw. He died on July 28, 2010, in Rancho Mirage, California, at age 81 from complications related to pulmonary fibrosis.

Early life

Early years and education

John Aylesworth was born on August 18, 1928, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Aylesworth left high school before graduating and became a high school dropout. During his teenage years, he developed an early interest in entertainment and had already begun participating in Canadian radio as an actor on the series "Penny’s Diary" and later was the voice of a daily show called “High Newsreel.”

Career

Early career in Canadian television

John Aylesworth began his career in Canadian television in the early 1950s as a writer and performer on CBC programs. He broke into the medium in 1953 with the sketch comedy series After Hours, which he co-created and starred in alongside Frank Peppiatt, featuring comedy sketches integrated with film clips of major recording artists performing their hits. This program marked CBC's first television comedy series and established the foundation for their collaborative work. Aylesworth continued contributing to CBC variety programming, serving as a writer and performer on The Big Revue in 1954, a prominent show directed by Norman Jewison. He followed this with similar roles on On Stage in 1956, further developing his skills in sketch comedy and variety production during the formative years of Canadian television. These early credits, primarily through his partnership with Peppiatt, built a reputation that led to opportunities beyond Canada. By the late 1950s, Aylesworth's success in Canadian broadcasting facilitated a transition to the United States, where he pursued broader opportunities in American television production and writing. This shift marked the end of his primary focus on Canadian television work and the beginning of his more prominent international career.

Partnership with Frank Peppiatt

John Aylesworth and Frank Peppiatt formed a successful writing and producing partnership that shifted to American television in the late 1950s. Aylesworth relocated to the United States in 1958 to write for the CBS series Your Hit Parade, where he began collaborating closely with Peppiatt again. The duo reteamed in 1959 to write for The Andy Williams Show, a summer replacement series that marked their entry into U.S. network variety programming. During the early 1960s, they contributed as writers to several prominent variety programs and specials. They served as writers on The Judy Garland Show (1963–1964), a musical variety series featuring Garland's performances and guest stars. Their credits also included writing and producing work on Perry Como’s Kraft Music Hall, the teen-oriented music series Hullabaloo, The ABC Comedy Hour, and specials for artists such as Frank Sinatra. As part of the era's top variety show contributors, they specialized in blending comedy sketches with musical elements typical of network specials and series. Their collaborative efforts in American variety television during the 1960s laid the groundwork for further projects. This partnership culminated in co-creating Hee Haw.

Hee Haw

Hee Haw was co-created by John Aylesworth and his longtime writing partner Frank Peppiatt in 1969 as a country-flavored comedy-variety series blending rural humor with country music performances. The show premiered on CBS on June 15, 1969, as a summer replacement for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and immediately drew strong ratings, tying with Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In in its debut week and remaining a hit through the summer. CBS added it to its regular primetime schedule in December 1969, but canceled it in 1971 during the network's "rural purge" that also axed other rural-themed programs. After the CBS cancellation, Aylesworth, Peppiatt, and producer Nick Vanoff continued the series in first-run syndication through their company Yongestreet Productions, which produced the show through the mid-1980s. Hee Haw ran in syndication until 1993, with a total of 585 one-hour episodes taped primarily in Nashville, Tennessee—initially at WLAC-TV (now WTVF) and later at the Opryland Complex starting in 1980. Production was cost-efficient, with Aylesworth and Peppiatt traveling to Nashville twice a year to tape batches of 13 shows each trip, which were edited in California to produce 26 episodes annually plus summer reruns. Aylesworth contributed extensively to Hee Haw as executive producer on 178 episodes from 1969 to 1985, supervising writer on 73 episodes from 1971 to 1975 and writing supervisor on 15 episodes into 1980, and on-air announcer in 92 episodes from 1969 to 1975. He also co-produced the series alongside Peppiatt, shaping its content through writing and creative oversight. Co-hosted by Buck Owens and Roy Clark, the series featured live performances by nearly every major country music artist of the era and recurring cornball comedy sketches set in the fictional Kornfield Kounty. Signature segments included jokes delivered in a cornfield setting with an animated donkey braying "hee haw," the quartet lament "Gloom, Despair and Agony on Me," "Pickin' and Grinnin'," and appearances by regulars such as Minnie Pearl, Grandpa Jones, Junior Samples, and the scantily clad "Hee Haw Honeys." At its peak, Hee Haw reached approximately 15 million viewers weekly and helped popularize country music on a national scale.

Later career

After his partnership with Frank Peppiatt ended in 1985, Aylesworth stepped back from regular television production but continued with select projects. He wrote a final independent script for an episode of the anthology series New Love, American Style on ABC in 1985–1986. His last U.S. network credit came as a writer for the Dolly Parton-hosted variety series on ABC during the 1987–1988 season. In the late 1980s, Aylesworth returned briefly to Canada to conduct interviews for the BCTV Vancouver half-hour series The Performers. He also collaborated with Peppiatt on the stage musical Durante, which opened in Toronto and later played in Vancouver, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Settling in the Palm Springs area, he wrote and directed the comedy-musical Palm Springs Confidential, which drew packed audiences during its local run. In his later years, Aylesworth focused on writing, completing the memoir A Job Laughing in 2006 about his experiences in comedy as a performer and writer. He finished The Corn Was Green: The Inside Story of Hee Haw, published in 2010 by McFarland shortly before his death. He made occasional television appearances in retrospectives, including a 1996 CBC episode of Adrienne Clarkson Presents dedicated to his and Peppiatt's work as Canada's first television comedy team, and the 2006 CBC mini-series Comedy Gold on Canadian comedy history.

Personal life

Family and personal interests

John Aylesworth was married four times, with his first three marriages ending in divorce. His fourth and final marriage was to Anita Rufus, who survived him. He had six children, to whom he was devoted and who adored him. He was survived by his wife, Anita Rufus; his daughters, Linda Aylesworth and Cynthia Heatley; his sons, Robert Aylesworth, John Aylesworth, and Bill Aylesworth; and one grandson. A son, Thomas, predeceased him in 2003. In his later years, he lived in Palm Desert, California.

Death

Death and memorials

John Aylesworth died on July 28, 2010, at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, at the age of 81. The cause of death was pneumonia, as reported by his wife, Anita Rufus. He passed away peacefully in the evening, surrounded by his family, reportedly remaining humorous and quipping to the end. No public memorial service was planned. In lieu of flowers, contributions were requested for Macular Degeneration Research. He was survived by his wife, Anita Rufus, and his children.

Legacy

Recognition and influence

John Aylesworth and his longtime collaborator Frank Peppiatt received notable industry recognition for their pioneering work in variety television. The Country Music Association named them Men of the Year in acknowledgment of their creation of Hee Haw, which brought country music and rural-themed comedy to a broad audience. He also shared Emmy Award nominations for outstanding writing on The Julie Andrews Hour in 1973 and The Sonny and Cher Show in 1976. In 2022, Aylesworth and Peppiatt were posthumously inducted into the Canadian Comedy Hall of Fame as Creator Inductees, with their partnership described as encompassing "practically a history of variety TV itself" through their work on shows that defined the genre across several decades. This honor particularly highlighted their creation of Hee Haw, recognized as one of the most popular syndicated series in television history, with its 22-year run underscoring its enduring appeal. Hee Haw's blend of country music performances and unapologetic rural humor exerted considerable influence on variety programming and the presentation of country music on television. By capitalizing on the growing popularity of country music during the late 1960s and providing a dedicated platform for artists in a format that combined quick comedic sketches with musical segments, the show helped mainstream rural comedy and country culture in American media. Its successful transition to syndication after a brief network run demonstrated the potential for long-term viability in niche-targeted variety formats, paving the way for later syndicated programming that prioritized regional and genre-specific audiences. Posthumous obituaries emphasized Aylesworth's role in shaping this distinctive style of entertainment, noting how Hee Haw achieved lasting cultural resonance through its mix of cornball humor and musical showcase.
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