Facts About Harvey Korman

He was a great foil to Tim Conway.

Harvey KormanPhoto byCreative Commons: ohn Mathew Smith & www.celebrity-photos.com

For many of us, when we hear the name Harvey Korman, we think of The Carol Burnett Show. Specifically, we think of Harvey being broken up by Tim Conway. Those were perhaps the most entertaining moments from that classic show.

Of course, his work in Blazing Saddles was also memorable. Hedley Lamarr is probably the most well-known character played by Korman. Beyond those couple of pieces of information, here are some things you probably didn’t know about Harvey Korman.

1: Among some of the shows Harvey appeared in early in his career is, The Danny Kaye Show.

Of course, that gives rise to the question, “Who is Danny Kaye?’ Actually, Danny was a pretty talented guy, but more on that at another time.

2: Harvey was the voice of The Great Gazoo on The Flintstones.

The Great Gazoo sound like a giant sneeze.

3: His first TV appearance was as a head waiter in The Donna Reed Show.”

If a place has a “head waiter” you know it’s classy.

4: After his work in The Carol Burnett Show, Harvey went on to his own sitcom called, “The Harvey Korman Show.”

Only five episodes of the show were aired. Harvey blamed the writing and wasn’t happy with the cast either. Harvey’s character was an actor who wasn’t well-liked. Well, sounds like his part was well cast.

5: In addition to his work in “Blazing Saddles, Harvey also acted in a couple of other Mel Brooks projects.

They were High Anxiety and The History of the World. Unfortunately for Harvey, he wasn’t in the cast of Young Frankenstein.

6: Early in his career Harvey tried to kick off his acting career on Broadway, but didn’t get much traction.

For a while he supported himself by working as a cashier in a restaurant. Wow, he didn’t even make head waiter.

7: While on Broadway, he was also part of a failed standup comedy duo.

And no, the other half of that duo wasn’t Tim Conway.

8: Harvey acknowledged he didn’t have what it takes to be a huge TV star but made an interesting assessment of his career.

He said,” Give me something bizarre to play or put me in a dress and I’m fine.” Actually, putting Harvey in a dress and giving him something bizarre is redundant.

9: Harvey was briefly fired from “The Carol Brunett Show.”

In season seven of the show, Korman was reportedly rude to guest stars and Carol called him on it. Initially Harvey told her to take a hike, which resulted in Harvey being fired. At that point Harvey decided to reconcile, which we are all happy about. We’re so glad they had that time together.

10: Tim Conway loved to make Harvey Korman break up when they did skits together on “The Carol Burnett Show.” But on one occasion he outdid himself.

In the famous dentist skit where Tim is the dentist and Harvey was the patient, Tim broke Harvey up to the point where Harvey wet himself. There needs to be an award for that sort of thing.