2:00am at the McBride home. All the lights are off, except for a faint glow coming from the master bedroom. The light comes from Brad holding his iPad in the air so he and his EC can watch old Tim Conway clips from the Carol Burnett Show. Yep, that’s how we roll.
I don’t know if it was a mental shout-out to the passing of the great Mary Tyler Moore, or something less physiological. I have always grouped the CBS Saturday night line-up in the ’70s as the greatest television night of all time:
- All in the Family
- M*A*S*H*
- Mary Tyler Moore
- Bob Newhart
- The Carol Burnett Show
All in a row. Really! Saturday night was for TV watching. (Except my folks regularly censored All in the Family and M*A*S*H*.)
Back to last night…
I’m not even sure where it came from, but my EC and I were talking and I said the word “snork,” in such a way that it instantly made me think of Tim Conway. Don’t ask. Really.
Being impulsive, right then and there I had to find the clip so my EC would not think I was nuts. I grabbed my iPad and began looking. At first I thought it was from a Mr. Tudball and Mrs. Wiggins sketch, but it turned out to be a Mama’s Family sketch with Dick Van Dyke.
Turns out that the sketch that had embedded the word “snork” into my brain was never actually in the show, but a blooper that had gained wide circulation after the fact. It basically consisted of Tim Conway telling stories about an elephant. The story was fine, but what made it memorable is that he dragged out the story and just destroyed his fellow cast members. They couldn’t stop laughing, or even look up.
That was my favorite part of The Carol Burnett Show for me -watching the actors crack each other up- and nobody was better at it than Tim Conway.
I guess I’m not alone – looks like the clip has been viewed over 14 MILLION times.
Here you go. There is a single (well-deserved) profanity at the end. “Snork” is at the 3:45 mark.
If you are old enough, it will bring back happy memories. If you aren’t, you will probably just think I’m old and stupid. That’s OK. The older I get, the more stuff I have at my disposal that I can laugh at.
I happened to watch this clip just the other day. Hilarious, classic stuff. Where are the Carol Burnett and Bob Newhart shows of today?
Vicki Lawrence, who has the last laugh in this sketch, gives the backstory behind how it all came about in this interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA7bxTc0AJw
Was having a rough day and that really cheered me up and brought back some great memories! Thank you MMM!!
Hope your day improves!
It hurts!! It hurts! Oh for the days when comedy made you fall down on the floor laughing instead of chuckling nervously.
THANK YOU! That was AWESOME. It was the BEST t.v. show line up EVER.
The shows, actors and comedians of today don’t even come close to the talent
we got to experience as young kids and teenagers.
I loved that one too. My other Tim Conway favorite is him as the dentist with Harvey Korman in the dentist chair. I laugh just as hard each time I see it. Love that guy!! Thanks for the morning laugh?
Love that clip. One of my favorites.
You think YOU’RE old? To me, “Snork” is the name of the first Popeye villain. (1929)
Thank you for a great start to my day!