Born and raised in Manhattan, New York, Abe Burrows was a Pulitzer Prize winning comedian and playwright. He moved to Hollywood in 1939 and found work writing for radio. 

He began by writing for shows such as The Texaco Star Theater, This is New York, and he wrote many of the jokes, alongside Frank Galen, which were bought and used on the Rudy Vallee radio show. His big break as a writer came when he helped to create Archie, a character from Ed Gardner's Duffy's Tavern. From there he went from strength to strength, being made the head writer of the show in 1941. 

After writing a serial of his own, Holiday & Company, he later wrote the Joan Davis program, which is where his career as a performer began. He was a popular guest on the Hollywood party circuit, and performed many of his own satirical songs, including the unforgettable songs of Tin Pan Alley, which he sang along to his own self-taught piano accompaniment. His outstanding performances with Davis, and razor sharp quips, led to the commission of his own series in 1947, the Abe Burrows Show, a 15-minute weekly comedy in which Burrows also wrote and directed. The series won a Radio Critics Circle Award in 1948, before being canceled soon after. 

The show was later renamed as Breakfast with Burrows, which ran from July to October 1949. The format was identical to the Abe Burrows Show, but in a longer format.