Sometimes, there’s nothing funnier than watching a group of talented comedians wander off script and start cracking each other up.
Take, for instance, the little piece of history I’m about to show you dudes. Way, way, waaaaaaayyyy back in time, there was a very funny show called the Carol Burnett Show.
It was something of an odd duck, especially as seen through the lens of today’s showcase of talents. It was a variety show. Ms. Burnett, an astonishingly gifted comedian, worked with a steady troupe of funny men and woman (mostly Harvey Korman, Tim Conway and Vicki Lawrence) to provide some truly inspired sketch comedy, but also showcased some singing and dancing acts.
One of the most fondly remembered sketches had to do with Tim Conway as a funny-talking Mr. Tudball and Carol Burnett as his lazy, not very smart and entitled secretary, Mrs. Whiggins, who always wore a long skirt that was much too tight.
Anyway, this sketch, which never actually aired on the Carol Burnett show, finally sheds light on why Mrs. Whiggins works for Mr. Tudball and why he puts up with her. Would it surprise anyone to know that Mr. Tudball is a henpecked husband who only hires Mrs. Whiggins because his wife told him to do so? No, I don’t think it would.
It’s a funny sketch on its own, but when Tim Conway starts ad libbing, he not only breaks up the audience and himself, but it leads to a situation where Burnett and Lawrence also get in on the act.
At one point, Conway is cracking up before Burnett has a chance to say her ad libbed joke because he knows what’s coming, but it’s still funny.
So there’s no big message attached to this, just a chance to see people who do their jobs very well and, in the process, make a whole lot of other people enjoy their lives just a little more.
Enjoy.
