Byrnes introduced the Reg'lar Fellers characters in 1917. In 1919 he created Wide Awake Willie, a Sunday page in the New York Herald, which also featured the Reg'lar Fellers characters. In 1920, Reg'lar Fellers was distributed by the Bell Syndicate as a daily strip. Byrnes changed the name of the Sunday strip to Reg'lar Fellers.