Tim Conway Plays a 35-Year-Old Orphan — And Leaves Harvey Korman and Carol Burnett Helpless With Laughter
Few things in television history are as reliably funny as Tim Conway deciding to go off-script. In one of The Carol Burnett Show’s most beloved sketches, Conway appears as a 35-year-old “orphan” hoping to be adopted — and within minutes, he has Harvey Korman and Carol Burnett fighting for their composure, losing that battle more than once.
The sketch begins innocently enough: Carol Burnett and Harvey Korman play a married couple visiting an adoption agency. They explain that they’ve always dreamed of bringing a little boy into their family. What they don’t expect is the “child” who walks through the door — Tim Conway, fully grown, suit and tie, embodying a desperate 35-year-old who still longs for a mom and dad.
And from the moment he speaks, the scene is over.
Conway plays the role with earnest sincerity, pleading his case with a wide-eyed charm only he could pull off. He assures Carol and Harvey that he desperately wants a family, a home, and parents who will love him. He explains how he plays catch by himself, tossing the ball into the air because he has no one to throw it to. By the time he’s finished telling his tragic backstory, Carol and Harvey are visibly shaking with laughter, unable to look him in the eye.
Midway through the sketch, it becomes clear that Conway has slipped into one of his favorite pastimes: testing how long his castmates can keep a straight face. Harvey Korman especially — famous for breaking whenever Conway pushed him — reaches the brink more than once, turning away, covering his mouth, and doing everything humanly possible not to erupt in laughter in front of the cameras.
This is the magic of Conway’s comedy: the slow builds, the absurd sincerity, the pauses that stretch just a hair too long. And as always, watching Korman try — and fail — to resist him is almost as funny as the sketch itself.
For fans of The Carol Burnett Show, this orphan sketch sits right alongside classics like “The Oldest Man” and “Clock Repair,” where Conway’s commitment to the bit turns an ordinary scene into timeless comedy. It’s living proof that the funniest moments aren’t always written — sometimes they happen when a cast is simply trying to survive Tim Conway.
And in this sketch? They absolutely do not survive. Not even close.
