Wikipedia's first sentence called it “legendary american vaudeville comedian who went on to work in movies”. Today it says “american comedian”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “American comedian, actor, and writer (1896–1996)”. It now reads “American entertainer (1896–1996)”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
George Burns in 1985, at 89 years of age. George Burns ( January 20 , 1896 – March 9 , 1996 ) was a legendary American vaudeville comedian who went on to work in movies, radio, and early television. He became well-known for his longevity despite an affinity for alcohol and cigars , and his miraculous career comeback at 79 years of age, arguably being more popular and well-known in his 80s and 90s than at any other point in his career.1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 15963079.
The opening as it stood in 2010 3 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
George Burns (January 20, 1896 – March 9, 1996), born Nathan Birnbaum , was an American comedian , actor , and writer .His career spanned vaudeville , film , radio , and television , with and without his wife, Gracie Allen .His arched eyebrow and cigar smoke punctuation became familiar trademarks for over three quarters of a century.Beginning at the age of 79, George enjoyed a career resurrection as an amiable, beloved and unusually active old comedian, continuing to work until shortly before his death, in 1996, at the age of 100.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 370676842.
The opening as it stood in 2015 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
George Burns (January 20, 1896 – March 9, 1996), born Nathan Birnbaum , was an American comedian, actor and writer. George Burns was one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville , film, radio, and television. His arched eyebrow and cigar-smoke punctuation became familiar trademarks for over three-quarters of a century. When Burns was 79, his career was resurrected as an amiable, beloved and unusually active old comedian in the 1975 film The Sunshine Boys , for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor . He continued to work until shortly before his death, in 1996, at the age of 100.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 669508667.
The opening as it stood in 2020 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
American comedian, actor, and writer George Burns (born Nathan Birnbaum ; ; January 20, 1896 – March 9, 1996) was an American comedian, actor, singer, and writer.He was one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville , radio, film and television. His arched eyebrow and cigar-smoke punctuation became familiar trademarks for over three-quarters of a century. He and his wife, Gracie Allen , appeared on radio, television, and film as the comedy duo Burns and Allen .At age 79, Burns had a sudden career revival as an amiable, beloved and unusually active comedy elder statesman in the 1975 film The Sunshine Boys , for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor .Burns, who became a centenarian in 1996, continued to work until just weeks before his death of cardiac arrest at his home in Beverly Hills.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 964056114.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
American comedian, actor, and writer (1896–1996) For other people named George Burns, see George Burns (disambiguation) . George Burns (born Nathan Birnbaum ; January 20, 1896 – March 9, 1996) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer, and one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville , radio, film and television. His arched eyebrow and cigar-smoke punctuation became familiar trademarks for over three-quarters of a century. He and his wife Gracie Allen appeared on radio, television and film as the comedy duo Burns and Allen . At the age of 79, Burns experienced a sudden career revival as an amiable, beloved and unusually active comedy elder statesman in the 1975 film The Sunshine Boys , for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor . Burns was only a Tony Award shy of being one of the few EGOT award recipients in the American entertainment industry, winning an Emmy, a Grammy, and an Oscar.Burns became a centenarian in 1996, continuing to work until just weeks before his death of cardiac arrest at his home in Beverly Hills, shortly after his hundredth birthday.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1176636039.
The opening as it stood in 2025 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
American entertainer (1896–1996) For other people named George Burns, see George Burns (disambiguation) . George Burns (born Nathan Birnbaum ; January 20, 1896 – March 9, 1996) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer, and one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville , radio, film, and television. His arched eyebrow and cigar-smoke punctuation became familiar trademarks for over three-quarters of a century. He and his wife Gracie Allen appeared on radio, television and film as the comedy duo Burns and Allen . At age 79, Burns experienced a sudden career revival as an amiable, beloved, and unusually active comedy elder statesman in the 1975 film The Sunshine Boys , for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1297529945. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “legendary american vaudeville comedian who went on to work in movies”. Today it says “american comedian”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “American comedian, actor, and writer (1896–1996)”. It now reads “American entertainer (1896–1996)”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
legendary american vaudeville comedian who went on to work in movies
Now
american comedian
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
