He was the serious actor. He was the chaotic genius. Together, they created the most beautiful mess in television history.
If you look at the history of comedy, you see partners who rehearsed until they were perfect. They memorized every beat, every pause, every breath.
And then, there was Tim Conway and Harvey Korman.
They didn’t strive for perfection. They strove for something much more dangerous: The break.
For over a decade on The Carol Burnett Show, millions of Americans tuned in not just to see a sketch, but to witness a game. A game played by two grown men in front of a live audience. The rules were simple: Harvey tries to remain a professional, serious actor. Tim tries to destroy him.
The Serious Actor vs. The Agent of Chaos
To understand the magic, you have to understand Harvey Korman. Harvey was a trained, legitimate actor. He wanted to be dignified. He respected the script. He wanted to deliver the lines exactly as they were written on the page.
Tim Conway, on the other hand, saw a script as a mere “suggestion.”
Tim knew a secret that Harvey refused to admit: Harvey Korman was a ticking time bomb of laughter waiting to explode.
“Harvey was the perfect victim,” Tim once said. “He had this desperate need to be professional, which made it so much funnier when he fell apart.”
The Day the Script Disappeared
The legend of their friendship is best summarized in one specific moment: The Dentist Sketch.
It is widely considered one of the funniest moments in TV history. But what many don’t know is that the sketch you see on YouTube was not what was rehearsed.
In the dressing room, the script called for a simple interaction. But right before the cameras rolled, Tim whispered to the stage manager, “Watch this.”
As the scene began, Tim (playing the incompetent dentist) didn’t just numb the patient’s mouth; he accidentally numbed his own hand. Then his leg. Then his mind.
Harvey sat in the dentist’s chair, helpless. You can see it in his eyes. He isn’t acting anymore. He is a man fighting for his life against the urge to scream with laughter. He covers his face. He bites his lip until it turns white. He looks away.
But Tim wouldn’t let him hide. Every time Harvey composed himself, Tim would do something smaller, quieter, and deadlier. A squeak of a shoe. A confused glance.
When Harvey finally broke—exploding into that wheezing, tear-filled laughter—the audience didn’t feel like they were watching a mistake. They felt like they were in on the joke. They were watching two best friends having the time of their lives.
The Anchor and The Sail
Why did it work? Why didn’t Harvey just get angry?
Because beneath the torture was a profound respect. Tim Conway was a comedic hurricane, spinning wild ideas and physical comedy that defied logic. But a hurricane needs an ocean to spin over.
Harvey was Tim’s ocean. He was the anchor. Without Harvey’s grounding presence—without his attempts to be serious—Tim’s silliness would have just been noise. Harvey gave Tim’s comedy weight.
Tim knew this. He wasn’t performing for the millions watching at home. He wasn’t performing for the critics. He was performing for an audience of one. If he could get Harvey to crack, he knew the sketch was a success.
The Silence After the Applause
When the show ended, the lights went down, and the years rolled on, the dynamic didn’t change.
As they aged, the sketches stopped, but the connection deepened. They toured together not for the money, but because they simply liked sitting next to each other.
There is a poignant story often told about their later years. They were sitting in a quiet room, waiting for an event. Both were older now. The energy was lower. But Tim, ever the mischief-maker, leaned over and whispered something to Harvey.
It wasn’t a joke for the microphone. It wasn’t a line for a sitcom. It was just a mumble, a quiet observation.
And there it was. That laugh.
Harvey threw his head back, his shoulders shaking, wiping a tear from his eye. For a moment, they weren’t two elderly legends. They were two boys in a sandbox, giggling at a secret only they understood.
The Final Curtain
When Harvey Korman passed away in 2008, a part of Tim Conway went with him. The world lost a great actor, but Tim lost his “straight man.” He lost the only person who truly understood the rhythm of his madness.
Tim Conway lived for another decade, bringing joy to new generations. But those who knew them best say that Tim’s comedy was never quite as dangerous, never quite as sharp, as when he had Harvey sitting next to him, trying desperately not to laugh.
We watch their old clips today not just because they are funny. We watch them because they capture something rare: Pure, unfiltered joy between friends.
In a world that demands we be serious, professional, and perfect, Tim and Harvey taught us the most important lesson of all:
Sometimes, the best thing you can do is throw away the script, look your best friend in the eye, and just laugh until it hurts.