True comedy legends coming to arts center

Tom Titus

The 1970s were a pretty funny decade -- from “Laugh-In” to “M*A*S*H”

to “All in the Family.” But the biggest kick, at least for me, was

watching the old “Carol Burnett Show.”

Two reasons: Tim Conway and Harvey Korman.

When these guys dived into a skit, it was side-splitting time. Not

only because of the material, but because of Conway’s unique talent

for cracking up his fellow performers. Especially Korman, who seemed

incapable of keeping a straight face.

It’s a good bet there won’t be many straight faces in the audience

at the Orange County Performing Arts Center Sunday when these two

masters of mirth bring their traveling barrel of laughs in for two

performances in Segerstrom Hall.

Conway, who also writes the duo’s wacky material, discussed the

bill of fare in a telephone interview.

“It’s kind of like a traveling Burnett show,” he said. “About six

sketches and a little standup.”

In other words, we won’t be watching taped routines from the ‘70s.

Everything is live -- and new.

“We kept only one sketch from the Burnett show,” he said. “The

dentist. I rewrote everything else for the stage.”

Conway and Korman should have it down to a science by now. This is

their fifth year of traveling together and they play about 100 shows

a year.

“It’s flat-out funny,” Conway said. “Like the old Burnett show.”

One element the audience will be watching for is Korman’s face --

his cracking up during the TV sketches was legendary, while Conway

seemed unperturbed by it all. There was a good reason for that.

“I wrote the skits, so I could say something else and he never

knew where I was going,” Conway said. “He’s quite an easy target.”

Conway believes that one reason the Burnett show humor holds up so

well -- TV Land recently broadcast a two-day marathon -- was that

“Carol encouraged really broad comedy. We didn’t pick on people, we

just made fun of ourselves. She kept a pretty broad audience.”

Conway also will do his familiar vertically challenged “Dorf”

character, “the old man and stuff people are familiar with,” he said.

“The show changes a little from night to night, but basically it’s

pretty condensed.”

The funnymen will be joined at the center by a funny lady, Louise

DuArt, often called the world’s greatest impressionist. DuArt

specializes in dead-on impressions of America’s famous people.

Korman, like Conway, needs little introduction to comedy fans.

Aside from his skits on the Burnett show, he fractured movie

audiences in three Mel Brooks movies -- “Blazing Saddles,” “High

Anxiety” and “History of the World, Part I.”

Both comics have shelves full of Emmy awards from their four

decades in the TV comedy business, and their glowing reputations

should ensure warm welcomes at the center on Sunday. Performances are

at 2 and 8 p.m. and ticket information is available at (714)

556-2122.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews

appear Fridays.