I grew up in a household very aware of television comedy and we watched it every night. At the age of eight or nine, I was even allowed to stay up late (until 11:00 pm) on Saturdays to watch The Carol Burnett Show. In fact, I was allowed to watch the entire CBS Saturday night line up. It was, if you can believe it, All in the Family – The Jeffersons – Mary Tyler Moore – The Bob Newhart Show – The Carol Burnett Show.
As a result of these late nights, for two or three years in a row, I fell asleep during mass every Sunday. True story: When the priest pointed out that I might need to get to bed earlier my parents told him that I loved The Carol Burnett Show. I had very cool parents. They understood how much that night of comedy meant to me and they let me stay up late.
Those Saturday nights made me want to be a performer. I wanted to move to LA after high school and be cast as the quirky best friend of the leading lady - just like Cloris Leachman, Valerie Harper, Betty White, and Georgia Engel. And, of course, I wanted to be Carol Burnett.
Tim Conway's passing brings all that back. And in April we lost Georgia Engel.
Here is some of their best work: