On May 4, 1958, Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster, Canada’s most famous and successful comedy duo, make their much-anticipated debut on the Ed Sullivan Show. They went on to appear on his show 67 times, more than another other performers.

They started on radio and their humour was partly adapted from vaudeville. Their most famous sketch was Rinse The Blood Off My Toga, their take on Shakespeare’s own adaptation of the Julius Caesar story. Johnny Wayne’s witty use of “martinus” as the singular of “martini” quickly became a catchphrase with some New York bars advertising “Martinus Specials.”