No comedy duo ever unraveled each other faster than Tim Conway and Harvey Korman, but nothing quite prepares you for the rare moment when the balance of power flipped. After years of Conway gleefully breaking his co-star, this sketch marked the night Harvey finally turned the tables — and Tim was the one barely hanging on.
From the opening seconds, something felt different. Tim Conway walked on already fighting a grin, his usually unshakable deadpan cracking just enough to tip the audience off. Harvey, calm and deliberate, seemed almost suspiciously composed, as if he knew exactly what was coming.
The setup was deceptively simple, but the tension grew with every beat. A sewer shark attack, a bathroom door that refused to cooperate, and Conway’s growing inability to stay serious stacked the deck against him. Each gag landed harder than the last, pushing Tim closer to the edge.
Harvey tried to deliver his lines with authority, but his timing became its own weapon. The more serious he played it, the more Conway struggled, shoulders twitching, lips pressed tight in a losing battle against laughter. The audience sensed the impending collapse and roared in anticipation.
Then came the dynamite gag — the moment that detonated everything. Any remaining control vanished instantly. Conway broke wide open, laughter spilling out as the carefully constructed sketch disintegrated in the most glorious way possible.
The cast followed seconds later. Characters were forgotten. Lines were abandoned. What remained was pure, unscripted joy as professionals surrendered completely to the absurdity unfolding in front of them.
The audience erupted, feeding the chaos with waves of laughter that made recovery impossible. This was no longer a sketch striving for perfection — it was comedy in its rawest, most human form, happening in real time.
What made the moment legendary wasn’t just that Tim Conway broke, but that it happened because of Harvey Korman. After countless sketches where Conway had gleefully destroyed him, Harvey’s quiet, perfectly timed revenge felt both shocking and deserved.
Decades later, fans still replay the scene not just for the jokes, but for the genuine delight shared between performers who trusted each other completely. It’s a reminder that the best comedy doesn’t come from control, but from letting go.
In that bathroom, amid sharks, jammed doors, and exploding gags, television captured something rare. Pure chaos. Perfect timing. And a comedy partnership operating at the absolute peak of its brilliance.
