Conway and Korman crack up crowd

Tom Titus

For about 90 minutes Sunday, it was as though “The Carol Burnett

Show” hadn’t ended a quarter of a century ago.

Here were Tim Conway and Harvey Korman, the comic mainstays of

that high-water mark of television hilarity, clowning before a

near-capacity audience at the Orange County Performing Arts Center,

and if they’d lost a step or two in the intervening years, it

certainly wasn’t noticeable.

“When the Burnett show ended, I got custody of Harvey,” Conway

cracked. “I like to keep him moving.”

Korman, who’s closing in on 77 years, made no secret of the toll

advancing age was taking in an opening monologue that was as funny as

anything else in the show. Both comics work fairly clean, but

Korman’s lament regarding a septuagenarian’s bodily functions pushed

the envelope a tad.

Conway -- who also writes the sketches the pair have been

performing for nearly five years on the road -- is no spring chicken

at 68, but his fertile comic mind remains in razor-sharp 1970s form.

A comic really has to be sharp to be able to use an actor whose

terrific comedy routines stole movies like “Blazing Saddles” and

“High Anxiety” as a straight man.

Straight, that is, when Korman could manage to stay in deadpan

character. Conway made a career out of breaking Korman up in the

Burnett show sketches, and he hasn’t lost his touch in that regard,

although Korman manages to get in a few pointed ad-libs of his own in

an extended airline counter skit.

While the two headliners were changing costumes and setting up the

next bit, center audiences were treated to one of the most versatile

impressionists in the business, Louise Du Art. This quick-witted lady

scored with spot-on impersonations of Jean Stapleton as Edith on “All

in the Family” and the recently departed Katharine Hepburn, imagining

the venerable actress electing to try stand-up comedy -- in her 90s.

One of her best moments, however, came when she recreated a

mini-Burns and Allen show, impersonating both George and Gracie. Say

goodnight, Louise.

Among the 11 years of Burnett’s show memories, no skit was funnier

than the “dentist,” with Korman rushing in with a major toothache and

Conway studying “Dentistry for Dummies.” This segment, resulting in

Conway administering the Novocain everywhere but in Korman’s gum,

wound up in the well-received show.

Unlike many Hollywood and TV legends who trade on their name after

they’ve lost their chops -- or who present film clips to show how

great they were -- Korman and Conway have retained the ability to

send an audience into stitches. After more than three decades of

working together, that shouldn’t seem surprising.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews

appear Fridays.