Burnand also translated or adapted for the London stage several French operettas by Offenbach, Edmond Audran, Charles Lecocq and Robert Planquette. At the same time as his busy theatrical career, he was a member of the staff of "Punch" under Lemon and his successors, Shirley Brooks and Tom Taylor, writing a regular stream of genial articles. His best-known work for the magazine was the column "Happy Thoughts", in which the narrator recorded the difficulties and distractions of everyday life. A. A. Milne considered it "one of the most popular series which has ever appeared in "Punch""; alongside it, he rated as Burnand's best comic contributions his burlesques of other writers, such as "The New History of Sandford and Merton" (1872) and "Strapmore" by "Weeder" (1878).