Top 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsMost Popular Video GamesMost Popular Music VideosMost Popular Podcasts
    Release CalendarBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersEmmysSTARmeter AwardsSan Diego Comic-ConNew York Comic-ConSundance Film FestivalToronto Int'l Film FestivalAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Biography
  • Awards
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Avery Schreiber(1935-2002)

  • Actor
  • Writer
  • Soundtrack
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
Avery Schreiber
Home Video Trailer from Warner Home Video
Play trailer0:49
A Pup Named Scooby-Doo (1988–1991)
5 Videos
10 Photos
Avery Schreiber's 1960s and 1970s partner on the comedy stage was Jack Burns, the slimmer, chatty, clean-cut, better-looking dunderhead. Avery Schreiber was the Oliver Hardy counterpart who bore the brunt of Burns' verbal drone. This rumpled, gap-toothed, hefty-sized master of the slow boil stood out among the crowd with his huge trademark walrus mustache, thick thatch of curly black hair, slim teddy bear eyes and mischievous grin. Together the pair became a staple of TV variety shows, mainstays on such classic entertainment as "The Ed Sullivan Show," "The Dean Martin Show" and "The Hollywood Palace."

Born in 1935 in Chicago, Illinois, of modest means, Schreiber's father was a common laborer while his mother made do as a secretary. At 17 Schreiber enlisted in the Armed Services and eventually became a part of the All-Army Talent Show. This satisfaction of putting on variety shows and entertaining prompted his move into a career of comedy. Winning a scholarship to the Pasadena Playhouse, he instead decided to stay closer to home and attend night school at the University of Chicago while studying his craft at the Goodman Theatre. A cabaret show brought him to the attention of the renown improv troupe Second City in 1960, where he remained for five years developing sketches and characters.

It was at Second City that Schreiber met Jack Burns, a former Boston news anchorman, in 1962. The Irish/Jewish duo began performing together on cruise ships and elsewhere. Jack Paar first introduced "Burns & Schreiber" to TV on his "Tonight Show" program in 1964. The duo's most identifiable skit was the "taxi cab" routine with Avery as a beleaguered cabbie at the mercy of Burns' relentlessly gabby and nonsensical customer, with Burns punctuating every conversation with a repeated "Huh?...Huh?...Huh?" Political satire was also a strong, popular platform for Schreiber both with Burns (the album "The Watergate Comedy Hour") and without. Schreiber was at his very best skewering politicos.

Both trained actors, they also gave each other the freedom to work solo. Burns would repeat as Deputy Warren Ferguson on The Andy Griffith Show (1960) for a time and Schreiber was a regular as the broadly villainous Captain Mancini on My Mother the Car (1965), now better known as the Edsel of 60s TV shows.

At their peak, the duo appeared as regulars on the summer replacement musical variety series Our Place (1967), then earned the right to front their own summer series with The Burns and Schreiber Comedy Hour (1973). It was hard to figure out who in this duo was the funnyman and who was the straightman although Avery was considered the more reactive of the two.

Breaking up once in 1968 because they felt stale, they reteamed for a time in 1972, but split again later when Burns decided to leave the limelight and devote himself exclusively to writing. Schreiber continued providing guest comedy relief on "Alice," "The Rockford Files" and "The Dukes of Hazzard" and sitting on game show panels.

He also kept close ties to the stage throughout his career. Directing a Broadway revue entitled "How to Be a Jewish Mother" in 1967, he performed in (Second City) Paul Sills' production of "Ovid's Metamorphosis." Schreiber also performed in productions of "Hamlet," "Showboat" and "Fiddler on the Roof." He last appeared on Broadway in "Welcome to the Club" in 1989, which was a short-lived Cy Coleman musical.

Households knew him best for his various Doritos corn chip ads in a sundry of disguises (chef, sultan, pilot), all of them perturbed by people loudly crunching on the popular snack. In addition to acting, Schreiber taught improv theater in and out of his L.A.-based area.

In 1994, Schreiber suffered a heart attack, aggravated by his diabetes. Although he survived triple by-pass surgery, he never fully recovered. He died at age 66 in Los Angeles of a heart attack and was survived by his wife of 40 years, Rochelle Isaacs, and their two children, Jenny and Joshua.
BornApril 9, 1935
DiedJanuary 7, 2002(66)
BornApril 9, 1935
DiedJanuary 7, 2002(66)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank

Photos10

Richard Haydn, Alex Henteloff, and Avery Schreiber in McCloud (1970)
Avery Schreiber in The Krofft Supershow (1976)
Jack Burns and Avery Schreiber
Owen Orr and Avery Schreiber in Monster Squad (1976)
Avery Schreiber in Wonderbug (1976)
Dick Dinman, Ted Noose, and Avery Schreiber in Wonderbug (1976)
Avery Schreiber in The Silent Scream (1979)
Juli Andelman, Rebecca Balding, Steve Doubet, and Avery Schreiber in The Silent Scream (1979)
Richard Dawson, Fannie Flagg, Jo Ann Harris, Gene Rayburn, Charles Nelson Reilly, Avery Schreiber, and Brett Somers in Match Game (1973)

Known for

Cary Elwes in Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
6.7
  • Tax Assessor
  • 1993
The Concorde... Airport '79 (1979)
The Concorde... Airport '79
4.4
  • Coach Markov
  • 1979
Mel Brooks, Leslie Nielsen, Lysette Anthony, Peter MacNicol, Steven Weber, and Amy Yasbeck in Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995)
Dracula: Dead and Loving It
5.8
  • Peasant on Coach
  • 1995
Galaxina (1980)
Galaxina
3.6
  • Capt. Cornelius Butt
  • 1980

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Actor

  • Dying on the Edge (2001)
    Dying on the Edge
  • Pedestrian (2000)
    Pedestrian
  • Rebel Yell
  • Terry Farrell, Ted Danson, Alex Désert, Shawnee Smith, and Hattie Winston in Becker (1998)
    Becker
  • Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction (1997)
    Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction
  • The Russian Room
  • Sally Kellerman in The Lay of the Land (1997)
    The Lay of the Land
  • Mel Brooks, Leslie Nielsen, Lysette Anthony, Peter MacNicol, Steven Weber, and Amy Yasbeck in Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995)
    Dracula: Dead and Loving It
  • Animaniacs (1993)
    Animaniacs
    • (voice)
  • Jenna von Oÿ, Joey Lawrence, Mayim Bialik, Michael Stoyanov, and Ted Wass in Blossom (1990)
    Blossom
  • Cary Elwes in Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)
    Robin Hood: Men in Tights
  • Days of Our Lives (1965)
    Days of Our Lives
  • Wake, Rattle & Roll (1990)
    Wake, Rattle & Roll
  • The Adventures of Don Coyote and Sancho Panda (1990)
    The Adventures of Don Coyote and Sancho Panda
    • (voice)
  • Fantastic Max (1988)
    Fantastic Max
    • (voice)

Writer

  • Zero Hour: ABC Television Special

Soundtrack

  • The Great Gonzo, Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, and Fozzie Bear in The Muppet Show (1976)
    The Muppet Show

Videos6

Trailer
Trailer 1:40
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 1:16
Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:30
Official Trailer
A Pup Named Scooby-Doo: Vol. 6
Trailer 0:49
A Pup Named Scooby-Doo: Vol. 6
A Pup Named Scooby-Doo: Vol. 5
Trailer 0:49
A Pup Named Scooby-Doo: Vol. 5
A Pup Named Scooby-Doo
Trailer 0:50
A Pup Named Scooby-Doo

Personal details

Edit
    • April 9, 1935
    • Chicago, Illinois, USA
    • January 7, 2002
    • Los Angeles, California, USA(heart attack)
    • December 16, 1962 - January 7, 2002 (his death, 2 children)
  • Other works
    "The Watergate Comedy Hour" (comedy album)
  • Publicity listings
    • 2 Articles

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Among the routines Avery developed during his years at Second City was the "samurai landlord" that John Belushi later made famous on Saturday Night Live (1975).
    • Huge girth, walrus mustache and unkempt black curly hair

Related news

Contribute to this page

Suggest an edit or add missing content
  • Learn more about contributing
Edit page

More to explore

Recently viewed

Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
Get the IMDb App
  • Get the IMDb App
  • Help
  • Site Index
  • IMDbPro
  • Box Office Mojo
  • IMDb Developer
  • Press Room
  • Advertising
  • Jobs
  • Conditions of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your Ads Privacy Choices
IMDb, an Amazon company

© 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.