The other day here, I linked you to a video collection of times on The Carol Burnett Show when one or more cast members could not avoid laughing and breaking character. Our link today is to more of the same — but first, I have some words from Arnie Kogen, who was one of the writers on the series…
Unlike many of my friends' wives (not mine) Harvey was not faking it. His laughter was legit. Tim could easily push Harvey's buttons and get him to laugh whenever he wanted. Burnett had a dress rehearsal and an air show every Friday. Tim would hold back on the afternoon dress show. He'd "save it" for the evening performance. In the evening, Tim would surprise Harvey (and us) with one or two new pieces of business. We never knew what was coming or when. Harvey was genuinely uncontrollable.
The best example, of course, was The Dentist sketch. There were many others. I wrote the fireman sketch where Tim played the world's oldest fireman. It was fairly funny when I wrote it. It was incredibly funny while Tim gave Harvey mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Loved writing for Tim.
I especially loved writing Tim-Harvey sketches. THE SCENE: An Ancient Slave Ship. Many oarsman chained together rowing strenuously. Harvey, a slave, is rowing alone. The seat next to him is empty. He is waiting for the arrival of his new slave partner who will be chained next to him for eternity. Tim Conway enters and is chained next to Harvey. That's all you need. You've got comedy gold. BTW, Tim's opening line to Harvey, Hi, I'm a Leper!"
The mouth-to-mouth resuscitation scene was in the previous collection to which I linked. Arnie probably wrote something in here, too…