The Best of Tim Conway

Tim Conway did not officially join the cast of The Carol Burnett Show (1967-78) until 1975 but he was a frequent and favorite guest star ever since the first season and earned five Emmy Awards over the 11-season run. This misleadingly titled release is not a collection of choice sketches but instead four complete episodes featuring Conway in top form. In the first (from season three), Conway plays a doddering old man (one of his most beloved characters) as a race car pit crew mechanic, a prince with a frog curse trying to cure a princess (Burnett) with sleeping sickness, and Charlie Chan. The standout sketch in the second episode (from season four) features Conway transforming into a dog after getting an accidental dose of canine medicine, and it shows Conway doing what he does best: cracking up costar Harvey Korman with his inspired improvisations. The third episode (from season five) features one of the show's most popular sketches, with Conway as a nervous novice dentist who inadvertently injects himself with Novocain while treating patient Korman (who once again cracks up at Conway's shenanigans). The fourth episode, from the show's final season, features Conway as Mr. Tudball, a businessman with a heavy comic accent and an obsession with efficiency who is constantly sabotaged by his distracted secretary (Burnett). Whether or not they actually represent "the best" of Conway on the show, all of the episodes showcase the actor in hilarious skits, and also feature Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and guest stars Martha Raye and Pat Carroll. Extras include bloopers. A strong optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)