They truly don’t make comedians like :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1} and :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2} anymore. Whenever the two appeared together, chaos — and laughter — were guaranteed. No sketch captures that magic better than the legendary “The Dentist” routine from :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}, a moment so funny it became part of comedy folklore.
Years later, Conway revealed on :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4} that Korman laughed so hard during the sketch that he literally wet his pants. And watching the performance, it’s easy to understand why.
In the sketch, Korman plays a painfully nervous dental patient who arrives for an appointment only to discover that the regular dentist is unavailable. The nurse assures him everything will be fine — the replacement dentist is fully qualified, she says — casually adding that he has just graduated.
Enter Tim Conway.
As the rookie dentist, Conway is visibly more terrified than his patient. Still, he gathers his courage and prepares to pull Korman’s aching tooth. What follows is a masterclass in physical comedy. Conway accidentally injects himself with novocaine, temporarily paralyzing his own hand. Moments later, he manages to numb his foot as well, leaving him struggling to perform the procedure with half his body useless.
Despite the escalating disaster, Conway insists on continuing, while Korman begs him to stop — and slowly loses all ability to keep a straight face. About halfway through the sketch, Korman completely breaks, laughing uncontrollably as Conway commits fully to the absurdity. The audience roars from start to finish.
Remarkably, Conway stays stone-faced throughout nearly the entire routine, only cracking at the very end when he shares a warm, knowing moment with Korman. It’s that contrast — one man desperately trying not to laugh, the other refusing to break character — that elevates the sketch into comedy legend.
As it turns out, “The Dentist” was inspired by a real-life experience. Before becoming a comedian, Conway served in the military. In the final weeks of his service, he visited a dentist who attempted to administer novocaine — and accidentally drove the needle straight through Conway’s cheek and into his own thumb. The dentist’s hand went numb, yet he insisted on continuing the procedure. Conway later turned that unforgettable moment into one of television’s most iconic sketches.
Throughout his time on The Carol Burnett Show, Conway became infamous for surprising his fellow cast members. “Harvey never saw what I was going to do until we were actually doing the sketch,” Conway once said in an interview. “In the dentist sketch, you can actually see Harvey wet his pants from laughing.”
The show itself helped launch and define countless careers, earning eight Golden Globes and 25 Emmy Awards over the years. Conway appeared as a guest for eight seasons before becoming a regular cast member in 1975. His self-appointed role, as he put it, was simple: break everyone else.
Beyond live-action comedy, Conway also became beloved by younger generations as the voice of Barnacle Boy on SpongeBob SquarePants, proving his comedic timing translated effortlessly across formats.
Decades later, “The Dentist” remains a gold standard of television comedy — a perfect storm of improvisation, trust, and fearless silliness. It’s not just funny; it’s a reminder of a time when laughter was raw, unpredictable, and impossible to fake.