Tim Conway loved telling the story of the moment everything fell apart — in the best possible way — during the now-iconic “Dentist” sketch on The Carol Burnett Show. What was written as a simple comedy bit turned into one of the most unforgettable breakdowns in television history.
In the sketch, Conway played a painfully nervous dentist attempting to treat his patient, portrayed by Harvey Korman. The premise was already funny: a doctor more anxious than the man in the chair. But Conway had something extra in mind.
At one point, his character accidentally injected himself with Novocain.
From there, the scene shifted into controlled chaos. Conway let the numbness creep in slowly. First, his hand stopped cooperating. Then his arm drooped uselessly at his side. A moment later, his leg buckled without warning. His face stiffened into a frozen expression as he struggled to continue the procedure.
It wasn’t rushed. That was the brilliance of it.
Each physical beat was stretched just long enough to build anticipation. The pauses grew heavier. The movements became more exaggerated. And across from him, Harvey Korman began to unravel.
You can see it happen in real time. Korman’s lips tremble. His eyes water. He turns slightly away, fighting to regain control. For a few seconds, he manages to hold it together. Then Conway adds just one more perfectly timed physical mishap — and it’s over.
Korman collapses into helpless laughter.
The audience explodes. The sound in the studio swells so loudly it nearly drowns out the dialogue. Carol Burnett, sensing her own composure slipping, has to step away from the camera to avoid breaking completely. What was supposed to be a structured sketch teeters on the edge of total collapse.
And that’s exactly why it became legendary.
The moment wasn’t tightly scripted. Conway quietly began improvising, pushing the physical comedy just a little further each time. No script could survive once he decided to explore the absurdity to its limit.
When Tim Conway and Harvey Korman shared a stage, breaking character wasn’t an accident — it was destiny. And in the “Dentist” sketch, a little Novocain didn’t just numb a character. It unleashed one of the purest, most unforgettable comedy meltdowns television has ever seen.
