My boys were watching SpongeBob the other day, and while I knew that Ernest Borgnine (Mermaid Man) has passed away, I found myself wondering what was going on with Tim Conway (Barnacle Boy) and whether he was still with us or not.
A sad day indeed.
“I’ll have to charge you for the Blue Plate Special” is still a catchphrase in my family.
Godspeed, Mr. Parker.
:::Sad Fnork:::
Oh lord, he made me laugh til I wet myself.
Sad week so far.
Rip Mr. Conway. You were marvelous.
Saw him in many, many things, but that one-off role really stood out for me.
That’s the only work of his I knew before reading this thread.
What’s a Tim Conway?
Oh, about 120 pounds.
Along with the Siamese elephants segment, I also give you the dentist sketch that’s from Carol Burnett’s show as well. These two, amongst many other great performances, are why Tim Conway made the world a funnier place and made so many people happy.
In addition to Mermaid Man, Mr. Conway is also reunited with Harvey Korman whom we lost over ten years ago. Geez, the combined contributions to comedy that duo produced is staggering.
RIP good sir.
Loved him…cracked me up…RIP.
Tim had some hidden camera show in the 80’s or 90s. All I remember from it was a bit where he was the ‘fashion police.’ He was dressed in a police-type uniform and was on the street critiquing people’s clothing choices and threatening to write tickets or otherwise praising people. A foot patrol of two police officers happened along and he didn’t break character. They were calling him in as a mentally unstable individual when he revealed himself.
He was 85 and had long fought a neurological condition, Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus, an abnormal buildup of fluid in the brain’s ventricles.
The Carol Burnett show introduced me to his humor when I was a kid and every bit I saw him in after was great. I’m glad I lived in a time that I could experience his work.
In retrospect I should have linked to that in my post. It would have made a hell of a lot more sense. :o
Previous thread in Cafe Society:
https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=875526
The Tudball/Mrs. Wiggins sketches were interesting as a reversal of the usual Tim Conway sketch, in which he was the odd character and the others reacted to him. As Tudball, he was the straight man. But he made his lines into laugh lines, nonetheless.
A lot of people will laugh today as they’re exposed to his work—which will live as long as there are recordings and devices to play them on.
Tim Conway was one of the funniest people who ever lived. He was the Rembrandt, the Mozart, of funny. He wasn’t topical, or edgy, but I’ll take him over, say, Sara Silverman any day. The man was a genius. An Einstein, Bach, Picasso, Coltrane, whoever-level genius.
Nah. He was much better than that.
Attempts to trumpet in tribute.
<snorfle>
I present you with his dentist routine. His ability to crack up his compadres is legendary!
Moderator Note
Two threads on the same topic have been merged. This was the only substantive post in the second thread.
I’ve mentioned this before somewhere on SDMB, but it’s not “going in threes” but in reality is “dividing all the bad into sets of three”. At least, that’s my theory.