 From about 1896 until 1921 he played in vaudeville skits, trading jokes with his wife Mary and their on and off partner Charles Henry Burke.The shows included slapstick, low-brow gags, Irish nostalgia, and a piping finale to which Mary Touhey danced.Chicago Police Chief Francis O'Neill, the prominent compiler of Irish dance tunes, called him, "the genial wizard of the Irish pipers .