The main difference between The Happy Gang and The Wayne and Shuster Show, was that the latter was the first successful Canadian program to achieve top-ten ratings on radio, as well as on television.

in 1941, "The boys" started as a writing team with Toronto radio station CFRB. Wife Preservers, which consisted of household hints, was sponsored by Javex, and was heard three times a week. They were so successful that the station moved them to a nighttime variety show called Co-eds and Cutups. At the same time, Maurice Rosenfeld gave them a CBC show called Blended Rhythms, sponsored by Buckingham cigarettes. When the boys left to join the army's entertainment unit during the war, Alan Young replaced them. On their return to Canada in 1945, they wrote and produced The Johnny Home Show, a clever and comical propaganda show about repatriation. A year later, they started The Wayne and Shuster
Show, once again sponsored by Buckingham cigarettes, with Herb May as their announcer.
They wrote all of their own material, which included situation-comedy sketches and comedy dramas. Two of their original songs included their theme, I'm A Booster for Wayne and Shuster, and a swinging version of the American folksong, Frankie and Johnny. For support, they created such characters as a deaf postman played by Bernie Braden, a male war bride played by Eric Christmas. Christmas also assumed the role of Madame Humperdink, who always greeted the boys with a loud "How do you doo!" The first of many forays into the U.S. Was as a summer replacement for The Life of Riley. Despite their success south of the border, they remained fiercely loyal to Canada.