Harvey Korman truly never stood a chance the moment Tim Conway shuffled into the scene. What was supposed to be a straightforward Western-style sketch on The Carol Burnett Show instantly transformed into something far more dangerous — not for the outlaw, but for anyone trying to keep a straight face.
Tim Conway’s sheriff didn’t rush. He didn’t stride. He barely moved at all. Every squint, every cautious step, every exaggerated pause felt like it was happening in slow motion, and that was exactly the problem. The longer he took, the louder the audience became.
Harvey Korman, playing opposite him, could sense the disaster unfolding in real time. His character was meant to be menacing and serious, but Conway’s painfully delayed movements made that nearly impossible. Each second stretched the tension further, turning silence into the loudest joke in the room.
You could see the battle on Harvey’s face. His jaw tightened. His eyes dropped. His shoulders began to shake as he fought with everything he had to stay in character. It was a losing fight from the very start.
Meanwhile, Conway never broke. That was the real genius. He kept his expression steady, his pace unchanging, as if he had no idea the sketch was unraveling around him. The contrast only made it worse — and funnier.
The audience roared with every step the sheriff took. Laughter erupted before a single punchline was delivered, proving Conway didn’t need words to land a joke. His timing alone was enough to bring the house down.
Eventually, Harvey cracked. The laughter he’d been holding back burst out, and the sketch officially collapsed into joyous chaos. Once he broke, there was no recovery — only shared laughter that spilled across the entire set.
By the end, it wasn’t just the saloon that had fallen apart. The studio was gone too, overtaken by genuine, unstoppable laughter that no script could have planned.
Moments like this are why the sketch still lives on decades later. It wasn’t flashy or loud. It was built on patience, restraint, and an understanding that comedy doesn’t need to hurry to be devastating.
The slowest sheriff in history didn’t just walk into a scene — he walked straight into television legend, proving once again why The Carol Burnett Show remains untouchable in the world of classic comedy.
