What's So Funny?: My Hilarious Life by Tim Conway

Author:Tim Conway [Conway, Tim]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781476726502
Amazon: 1476726507
Barnesnoble: 1476726507
Publisher: Howard Books
Published: 2013-10-29T04:00:00+00:00

Back to Business

Now that you know about my family, let’s get back to Steve Allen and me. In a nutshell, and I do mean nut, here was the situation. I’d gone back to Cleveland after my first stint with Steve. When I told Ernie that the new Allen show contacted me again and wanted me as a regular, he got all excited. Then I told him I wasn’t so sure I wanted to do it. I was happy in Cleveland; I loved working with Ernie, I liked being near Chagrin Falls. Ernie listened to all my excuses and said, “You’ve got to go for it, kid. It’s a big opportunity and you never know when, or if, the next one will come along.” Once again Ernie gave me his blessing and once again I went west.

I had a blast doing The New Steve Allen Show. Why wouldn’t I, I was in great company. How could you go wrong working with people like Steve, Louis Nye, Tom Poston, Pat Harrington, Bill Dana, the Smothers Brothers, and, most especially, Don Knotts, the sweetest, funniest man in the world. I’d watched him do his “Man in the Street Interviews” with Steve, and he had me doubled over with laughter. Don would come out as this quivering bundle of nerves, his head jerking, his hands trembling, and Steve would stop him and ask him questions. He’d ask his name, and then say, “What is your occupation?” His voice shaky, Don would answer, “I’m a ne-ne-neurosurgeon,” or “I make d-d-d-dynamite.” It wasn’t just the material, it was the way he portrayed these people; you’d be laughing before he said a word. And it was all so gentle. Don Knotts and I got to be good friends and later worked together in movies. I did a bunch of films with him for Disney beginning with The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975).

My introduction to Disney, aka The Mouse Factory, was The World’s Greatest Athlete in 1973. There’s nothing as pleasant as working at the Disney Studios. When you’ve grown up with Mickey, Donald, and the rest of the gang and then get the chance to work in the buildings where they were born, well, it just doesn’t get any better. They say that when you do a picture at Disney you get a script and then you meet your animal. Nine times out of ten that’s correct. If you’re doing a comedy you can rest assured that you’ll be working with a variety of creatures from dogs and cats to horses and mules. In The World’s Greatest Athlete, John Amos and I shared quite a few scenes with Ben, a man-eating Bengal tiger. Although Ben was trained, those words, “man-eating,” were not very reassuring. Ben did one particular trick that we all loved. On command, our man-eating tiger would chase after anyone who was moving rapidly, reach out with his paw, knock the person to the ground, and pretend to attack him by nuzzling the person’s throat. Whaddya know I was the person assigned to play opposite Ben in his signature hit-and-nuzzle scene.

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