Catholic comedy legend Tim Conway keeps ’em laughing

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- People know Tim Conway best from his 11 seasons on TV’s “The Carol Burnett Show,” where he delighted viewers with outlandish sketch comedy and physical humor. Others remember him from his four-year stint on the sitcom “McHale’s Navy.”

But it wasn’t always plums, plaudits and success for the comedian.

In 1967, a year after “McHale’s Navy” went off the air, Conway lasted less than a half-season as TV’s “Rango,” playing an inept lawman.

“’Rango’ was probably the only unsuccessful show that Aaron Spelling (producer of such hits as ‘Charlie’s Angels’ and ‘Beverly Hills 90210’) ever had,” Conway said. “We were supposed to have 13 shows, but after 12 a guy from ABC came down and said, ‘Stop doing this.’ So we stopped.”

Then came 1969’s “Turn-On,” a rapid-fire gag comedy show in the style of “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In.”

“That is in the Guinness Book of Records,” Conway said. “It was the shortest show ever on television.” While not a member of the cast, Conway, as the show’s special guest star, was a bigger name than anyone else on the show the one night it aired.

“We had a premiere party the night it was on. As it was coming on, it was being canceled -- including (in) Cleveland, my hometown, I might add. It was very, very economical, because we had an opening-night party and a cancellation party the same night.”

Conway added, “I could have actually made a living doing pilots. ... I had five shows at CBS. Some were canceled, and I would start another one the next week.”

That kind of career treadmill could be hard on anyone, but Conway, a Catholic, was able to persevere thanks to his faith.

“If I didn’t have that, I would be crying constantly,” Conway, 74, told Catholic News Service in an Oct. 29 telephone interview from Encino, Calif. “I’ve always had a good sense of humor and not looked at life too seriously.

“My life compared to the big bang is quite minute. I’ve always had faith, and somebody to communicate with, too, when things are falling apart around you,” he said. “I’ve always had a very, very strong belief. That’s something to hold onto. ... You have to have somebody or something to turn to. Faith just kinda relaxes things a little bit.”

While TV may have bypassed Conway’s brand of comedy, he’s still available on the small screen, thanks to two new DVDs.

“Thou Shalt Laugh 2: The Deuce” features Conway as the emcee for five Christian comics, among them Victoria Jackson, a former cast member of “Saturday Night Live.” “Together Again” stars Conway and his “Carol Burnett” cohort, Harvey Korman, re-creating some of the most popular skits featured on the Burnett show as they toured the country, doing 125 shows a year.

“All those crazy things we did on Burnett, there was no jeopardy, no fear that we were going to do anything offensive. You could be funny for funny’s sake,” Conway told CNS. “Everybody -- in the Midwest and especially in the Christian belt -- they don’t watch television anymore” because of violence, language and nudity.

“I’m not a prude and I’m not out to burn DVDs or scripts. It’s not the place,” Conway said. “We’re trying to get back the kind of humor that came from ‘The Carol Burnett Show’ and Carson and Sid Caesar, Steve Allen, Don Knotts, Louis Nye, Tom Poston -- what’s more enjoyable than watching that kind of thing at night?”

A member of Our Lady of Grace Parish in Encino, Conway said he isn’t made to feel uncomfortable by fellow parishioners because of his celebrity status. “They see me for what I am,” he added, quipping, “I like to go into a confessional and stay for an hour and a half, and just let people wonder.”

Conway recalled a “Father Oliver, a very good friend” at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, his alma mater. “He would sit in the confessional and on Saturdays you would hear the Notre Dame (football) game on the radio.”

A penitent, Conway added, could confess the most heinous sins during the games and receive a light penance by following up the confession with “What’s the score?”