Tim Conway Gone
Posted on May 14, 2019 Posted by John Scalzi 32 Comments
Comedian Tim Conway passed away today, and I posted a thought on Facebook which I’ll share here as well:
“It occurs to me that one day every celebrity I ever loved growing up will be gone, and it will feel a little bit like being orphaned.”
I will add that at age 50, their ranks are already somewhat depleted.
Farewell, Tim Conway.
Oh man how I loved watching him when I was a kid (I’m 55). Very saddened.
Been a crap week for beloved celebrities. :( RIP Tim.
This hurts me as much as Gene Wolfe and Vonda McIntyre do. :(
Tim Conway and Don Knotts are reunited at last.
I love the dentist skit, but for my money nothing can beat Siamese Elephants. Oddly enough the boyfriend and I were just reminiscing about watching Tim Conway crack up Harvey Korman this past weekend and scrolling through all the old skits from our childhood.
I’m about to hit seventy, so I have a lot to look back on. Two things I’ve noticed lately: the world is full of famous people I’ve never heard of; and famous people I have heard of are popping back into view decades after I’d ceased thinking of them, because they’ve died. Like Tim Conway, Like Doris Day. Peggy Lipton. Jim Fowler.
And that’s just the past few days.
Something I thought of when the first gray hairs appeared: when you’re young, life is a succession of things done for the first time; when you’re old, it’s all the things you’re doing for the last time.
Yeah, well I felt that way when John Lennon was killed over 38 years ago.
But I’m old.
So sad. I remember watching him on the Carol Burnette Show and laughing til I cried. He was a genius.
I still watch Tim Conway sketches on You Tube every few days. They’re better than 99% of the comedy they put out these days.
Requien In Pace, Tim…
I agree that Tim Conway was funnier than 99% of the comedy they put out these days, but that’s only because he was funnier than 99% of the comedy they put out in those days, too. There’s always a 1%.
My aunt lived to be 102. She said that getting old was physically tough, but being lonely because she’d outlasted everyone who’d been part of her life was even worse.
Tim Conway had the ability to make me laugh without doing a thing. Jonathan Winters was another of those truly funny people of which there are fewer and fewer every time I look.
I was more devastated lately when I found out that my general physician stopped practicing. It’s not going to get better when you grow older. But again, the alternative is even more bleak.
I was a kid, so a lot of the jokes were over my head, and Tim Conway could STILL make me laugh so hard my glasses would steam up.
OK, me too. But started with Jimmi, and Janis, and Jerry Garcia, and, and…. but Yo-yo Ma seems to be doing well.
My primary care physician is about 2 years older than I, and appears to be prepared to practice until he drops. He’s board cert Family Practice and Gerantology, which is a good thing since I’m an old now.
Tim and Carol and that crew were really really funny, and a large part of it was that they were having a great time playing together. RIP guys!
He was SO damn funny. The kind of funny that… I’m literally sitting here with tears of sadness in my eyes while laughing out loud thinking about some of his sketches on the Carol Burnett Show. RIP
WBGU up north there in Ohio has a recording made in the late 60’s that was the basis of one of Conway and Ernie Anderson’s comedy albums. When I was in graduate school (late 80’s/early 90’s), they played it on a Sunday afternoon with no real fanfare or warning. Conway went to BGSU, so there’s some proprietary feelings, along with Conway and Anderson’s early 60’s advertising and sketch comedy on local TV. Watch to see if any of your local PBS stations decides to play it – it’s very much worth watching – they were in the Bob and Ray/Bob Newhart style of interview based comedy at the time.
Tim Conway and Harvey Korman were the two funniest comedians I ever had the privilege of watching. They could do more with a look than most comedians could do with a whole set.
And nobody, but nobody, had better timing than Tim Conway. He could use silence as a punch line.
Oof. This one hurts.
Tim Conway was the only comedian I know of who could reduce my late father to helpless tears of laughter, gasping until his sides hurt. Dad and I didn’t share a great deal, but we bonded over our shared love of Conway’s deadpan comedic genius.
His memory is a blessing.
Watching the dentist clip, I made sure I didn’t take a drink because I didn’t want either to choke or spit.
And you’re right, it is like being orphaned, only one piece at a time and slowly. I dread the day Paul McCartney passes.
I remember thinking when Roy Rogers passed away that there went a piece of my childhood. Now it’s Doris Day and Tim Conway, two more pieces are gone.
Our Host is going to be that “last celebrity” for someone, someday. May they remember him as fondly as we remember Tim Conway.
Tim Conway was such a funny comedian . I am especially appreciative of his great art.
There is no other comic today that can closely mirror his traits.
R.I.P. Mr. Tim Conway😢
I was stunned when I heard that Tim Conway had passed away. I would highly recommend his memoir that he came out with five or six years ago, it’s a great read.
And now, Barnacle Boy and Merman {Ernest Borgnine} (SpongeBob reference) are now happily reunited.
I remember him from ‘McHale’s Navy’. Which dates me…
I’ve had similar thoughts lately about A New Hope.
His “Dorf” routine may serve him well at the pearly gates.
Tim Conway was something else I also shared with my dad (along with his love of Star Trek) and I can remember the two of us laughing so hard we were crying when I was a wee little person. RIP Tim Conway; your talent was a gift that kept on giving.
And I can’t believe no one has mentioned the Nazi interrogator sketch, with a *guest appearance* by Hitler. (Still makes me howl to this day.)
Aw, man. He was hilarious. Robin Williams hilarious.
I was going to cite the one about the 2 elephants, but i see im not the only one who liked that one.
Oh good grief the Nazi is interrogating Sly Stallone!
And Stallone loses it ;-)
Dana, I think that Lyle Waggoner, who was part of the foursome on Carol Burnett. He does look like stallone from the back.
I love watching the outtakes from that show. Watching these very professional actors trying to not break character when Tim is trying his hardest to GET them to break is hysterical.
RIP Tim.