Did Conway crack up Korman more than he did you? - The Carol Burnett Show (1967) Discussion

[–] riccibilotta-167-829847 9 years ago

Carol seen the reaction from the audience and told Tim he could ad lib once in awhile. It was very funny. You can tell when Carol is trying not to laugh when she covers her mouth.

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[–] rerunwatcher 9 years ago

Vickie never laughed. Harvey of course laughed the most, Carol sometimes but Vicky never.

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[–] mrshvd3 9 years ago

Ironically, Vicky was the one who put them all on the floor in the "Mama" sketch when Tim was going on and on about the Siamese elephants.

Heck is where people go who don't believe in Gosh.

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[–] anthny_platt 8 years ago

Carol Burnett once said that you can tell when Mr. Tudball cracks her up because Mrs. Wiggins chews on her fingernail trying to keep a straight face.

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[–] moosefeathers 9 years ago

they used to place bets on how long it would take Korman to break.

Swing away, Merrill....Merrill, swing away...

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[–] RottyAngel777 8 years ago

Simpleminded, I'm all the way with you on this one. I realize that we are probably in the minority, but I found it incredibly annoying and really thought that Korman almost felt obligated to start to crack up.

One thing I will add, which will not make me popular, is that I rarely found Tim Conway funny.
I feel that he was more of a cast favorite than an audience favorite, but that is just my opinion, of course.

I do agree with another poster on another thread that said they wished they would have given more to Vicki Lawrence, instead of giving so much sketch time to Conway.

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[–] catlover11 8 years ago

this makes you popular with me b/c I feel exactly the same way. I really didn't care for him at all. I didn't think he was funny

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[–] hoosiergirl (214) a year ago

Same here. I found Conway annoying, not funny.

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[–] movies789 8 years ago

I agree with you completely. Not only were Conway and Korman not funny, but their supposed "break-ups" and ad-libbing were phony and condescending to the audience. Basically, they were cuing the audience when to laugh, as in "hey, we know you're too stupid to know what's funny, so we - the professionals - will give stifled giggles to signal when you should join in." If their routines were REALLY funny, the comedy would stand on its own and they wouldn't have to resort to such a transparently contrived device. If Vicki Lawrence was really the only cast member who consistently stayed in character without breaking up, then that made her the only true pro in the bunch. The rest were an unfunny bore, who people laughed at because they were expected to. The late, great Phyllis Diller once commented on this practice, by Conway and Korman, specifically, calling it "rude" to the audience. I agree with her.

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[–] josephnatescott 8 years ago

Korman got just phony about the breaking, Tim and Carol less so. As for whether Tim was funny, of course he was.

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[–] telegonus (728) 6 years ago

I didn't find Tom Conway especially funny by himself, thought of him as a good straight man, as he was on McHale's Navy. He was sort of a catalyst. Speaking of which,--cats, I mean--if, say, a comedian is famous for kicking a cat across a room, and I don't mean this to be cruel to animals, just sayin'; well, there are comedians who can do stuff like that with great style, bravura, if you will. It's in the attitude, the body language, the kick itself. Tim Conway was a good cat. He wasn't a fall guy, just a person, object, of sorts, around whom the other cast members navigated, often hilariously. But was Tim by himself hilarious? I'd say not.

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[–] Faridah (1354) 7 years ago

I love how they laugh at themselves. It makes it more fun! I love that they could break character and laugh. You rarely see that.

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[–] LolaVerdon (131) 4 years ago

I agree.

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[–] liscarkat (17147) 4 years ago

It always spoiled it for me when they started laughing at themselves during skits, and they did it frequently. That's the main reason I never liked the show, but I know there are people who like it when they do that.

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