The Best of Harvey Korman

Harvey Korman (1927-2008) was the rock anchoring the comedy troupe on The Carol Burnett Show, a brilliant comic performer, solid straight man, and essential partner on recurring sketches throughout the show's 1967-78 run. Whether or not the four episodes compiled here (taken from the show's first five years) represent the best of Korman is debatable, but they do showcase the actor in some superb skits, including a hilarious sketch with Korman dressed in drag to do an Andrews Sisters number with Burnett and Vicki Lawrence…only to have his boss walk in and a client start hitting on him. The sketch ends with Korman vamping it up to perform the lip-synch number. Other highlights include a Carmen Miranda spoof with Korman as a hammy conga player in fruity get-up, a dream fantasy with Korman imagining himself a superstar sex-symbol pursued by women and surrounded by mirrors, an exasperated gangster teamed up with Tim Conway as the world's oldest safecracker, and such long running sketches as "The Old Folks" (playing opposite Burnett) and "Carol and Sis" (playing Burnett's husband and brother-in-law to her younger sister Lawrence). Guest stars in these episodes include Ella Fitzgerald, Sid Caesar, Bernadette Peters, and Diahann Carroll. A strong optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)