By the 1870s, Burnand was generating a prodigious output of plays as well as comic pieces and illustrations for the humour magazine "Punch". Among his 55-stage works during the decade was another frequently revived hit, "Betsy" (1879). For "Punch", among other things, he wrote the popular column "Happy Thoughts", in which the narrator recorded the difficulties and distractions of everyday life. Also admired were his burlesques of other writers' works. Burnand was a contributor to "Punch" for 45 years and its editor from 1880 until 1906 and is credited with adding much to the popularity and prosperity of the magazine. His editorship of the original publication of "The Diary of a Nobody" by the brothers George and Weedon Grossmith was a high point of his tenure in 1888–89. Many of his articles were collected and published in book form. His stage successes in the 1890s included his English-language versions of two Edmond Audran operettas, titled "La Cigale" and "Miss Decima" (both in 1891). His last works included collaborations on pantomimes of "Cinderella" (1905) and "Aladdin" (1909).