I am too young to have seen any of his stuff when it first aired, but I always crack up at the way Tim Conway could make him laugh and break character on the Carol Burnett show.
he was a great actor. Perfect fit for Mel Brooks & co.
some of his quotes:
Although in Abbott and Costello, and straight man was first. That’s a very interesting concept.
Harvey Korman
And I went to New York and died; for 10 years I walked those pavements. I can’t think of New York without feeling uncomfortable and feeling like a failure.
Harvey Korman
And I’ll tell you somebody else who was a straight man and considers himself a straight man and describes himself as one, Cary Grant.
Harvey Korman
And it’s tough traveling. You know, the hotels and the airports and all that. That part, eating and getting around to the hotel room and then going on.
Harvey Korman
But there’s a lot of 50’s and a lot of boomers and a lot of kids in their 30’s that grew up with us.
Harvey Korman
Don’t - those writers used to love us. They would write these little plays, and we would take care of the comedy. It really seldom was joke jokes.
Harvey Korman
Funny is when you’re serious.
Harvey Korman
I got canceled in the middle of making the pilot.
Harvey Korman
I mean, we had on our show, we had marriages, divorces and other stuff going on. And that was just me.
Harvey Korman
I played Hamlet, I played Chekhov and Ibsen and all the classics.
Harvey Korman
I went to the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago.
Harvey Korman
I wish there was something that - I get all those wonderful letters and wonderful acknowledgments, and I wish I could be more appreciative of what I do. But it’s hard for me.
Harvey Korman
I’m not a star.
Harvey Korman
It’s not so much the club as we kind of make it into, like, theater. It’s kind of like revue, like cabaret. It’s like, you know, doing our show.
Harvey Korman
Then I got out of the service, and I was going to be a Shakespearean actor.
Harvey Korman
They say it’s good but I didn’t know what I was doing until I got into the suit and they put the moustache on me, and somehow, when I got all the drag on, it came out. It was the most amazing thing. I’m truly extraordinary.
Harvey Korman
You asked what is the secret of a really good sketch. And it is a sketch is a small play. It’s got a beginning, and a middle and an end. It should have a plot; it should have the characters, conflict. It is a little play. And in it, will be funny stuff.
Harvey Korman
You have to have a certain persona to be a star, you know, and I don’t have that. I’m a banana.
Harvey Korman
The Carol Burnett Show was one of the funniest shows ever. The cast interacted very well and was perfection, IMHO. Harvey Korman will be missed. R.I.P. Harvey :(