Tim Conway, noted for his roles in The Carol Burnett Show and McHale's Navy, has died in Los Angeles at 85.
https://people.com/tv/tim-conway-dies/
https://people.com/tv/tim-conway-dies/
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Tim Conway dead at 85
- Thread starter FreddyE1977
- Start date
Absolutely one of my favorite comedians. Rest in peace Tim.
Also famously host of the ABC series Turn On, which was canceled after just one episode.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turn-On
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turn-On
He and Harvey Korman were great on "The Carol Burnett Show". He had so many other TV series. I remember watching one where he and Joe Flynn, his "McHale's Navy" co-star, were pilots. I don't remember anything else about it except the theme song.
I wondered on the 50th anniversary show if the note Carol read was actually from Tim or if someone wrote it for him, especially after it came out that some of his last tweets weren't actually his after his health got worse.
Yes, sadly true.
I as a kid, was a huge fan of the Carol Burnett Show. Why? Because of the Conway/Korman on-air relationship. I couldn't wait to see Tim try and crack-up Harvey, it was just fantastic comedic tv. But I mostly credit the producers and directors of the show to always leave those in to provide that "real" feel. I think some shows still do this, (SNL, but of course they are indeed live), but most don't.
So Tim will be remembered for operating in an environment that allowed him to show off by cracking up other cast members (mainly Harvey). I say, more of this...
I recall this funny story Conway once told on The Tonight Show.
He was in the Army and had a part-time job as a pin setter in the base bowling alley.
There was an incredibly arrogant and egotistical junior officer who bowled there. Conway
said he had rigged some piano wire so that he could take the pins down and make the guy
bowl strikes any time he liked, just so everyone could see this guy puff himself up into ridiculous displays of braggadocio.
This backfired when some senior officers learned about this guy's supposed bowling prowess. He was asked to join the official U.S. Army Bowling Team, and was sent to a tournament in Washington, D.C.
….where he bowled a 37!
Conway claimed there was an investigation and he was nearly court-martialed.
He was in the Army and had a part-time job as a pin setter in the base bowling alley.
There was an incredibly arrogant and egotistical junior officer who bowled there. Conway
said he had rigged some piano wire so that he could take the pins down and make the guy
bowl strikes any time he liked, just so everyone could see this guy puff himself up into ridiculous displays of braggadocio.
This backfired when some senior officers learned about this guy's supposed bowling prowess. He was asked to join the official U.S. Army Bowling Team, and was sent to a tournament in Washington, D.C.
….where he bowled a 37!
Conway claimed there was an investigation and he was nearly court-martialed.
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That sounds like it could have been a Phil Silvers Sergeant Bilko plot! My favorite Tim Conway story is a little NSFW, but it involves Pat McCormick, the old comedian and Tonight show writer, and a helicopter. It gets told on a couple of Gilbert Gottfried's podcasts. Tim's connection was when someone asked him, "Do you know anything about something Pat McCormick did once?" Tim's reply was "Helicopter? (pause) Yep."
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