In Memoriam: Harvey Herschel Korman, 1927-2008

[thatcrazycajun]

With thanks to filkertom  for the heads-up and linkage: The dismal roll call of TV's comedy greats dying off continues to grow. Harvey Korman, foil to Carol Burnett and company for 10 seasons as a mainstay of her eponymous CBS show's sketch troupe and for Mel Brooks in several of his now-classic films, has died of an abdominal aortic aneurysm at 81 in Los Angeles' UCLA Medical Center. Yahoo! News provides the obituary here.

Having recently seen him on PBS' American Masters show talking about his work on the Burnett show, and noted his frail appearance thereon, I can't say I'm surprised...but I am greatly saddened all the same. He was a TV and film icon of my youth and made me laugh many times, but never harder than when he was trying desperately not to (such as when Carol or their costar Tim Conway would make it their mission from God to force poor Harv to break up on camera).

Okay, Universe, you can stop now. Really. Seriously. Enough already. Goodbye, Mr. Korman, and thank you so very much for all the laughs.

Comments

[wouldyoueva.livejournal.com]

I forget whether I read it in Carol Burnett's or Vicki Lawrence's book but I remember reading he was amazed Carol would give him the funnier line. His experience was with Danny Kaye, who Korman said routinely would take the funniest lines. Burnett's take is she learned to do that from Garry Moore, whose show she started out on. If it's true, it's another point in favor of Baltimore boy Moore. And he's right, it is funnier when the most appropriate character gets the line.

In some book I read about Saturday Night Live, there was an anecdote about how some comedy ideas were sneered at with the comment, "That's too Carol Burnett Show." But she had some great talent there, and seemed more reliable about recognizing it than Lorne Michaels. (Let's face it, how much of genius is he if he couldn't get funny out of Chris Rock and Sarah Silverman?)

[luscious-words.livejournal.com]

*sniffles again* I read about this on another post...damn, he will be missed. Hedley Lamarr...may he rest in peace.

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

"I'm so glad we had this time together....................."