Biografía

Comedienne Rose Marie discovered him and arranged for him to audition for El show de Steve Allen (1956). He so impressed Allen that Conway wound up with a regular spot on the show.

His car's license plate reads "13 WKS", a reference to the fact that most of his solo television projects have been cancelled after 13 weeks.

Received his Bachelor's degree in television and radio from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. Was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity.

Worked many times with his co-star Harvey Korman outside Carol Burnett (1967) on a comedy tour. He also worked with Carol Burnett in Tocados por un ángel (1994) and Póquer de reinas (2010). The co-star he worked with most was Vicki Lawrence in Yes, Dear (2000) six times and Hermie & Friends (2004).

He became notorious on Carol Burnett (1967) for making the cast members--especially co-star Harvey Korman--break up with laughter during taping, while he remained in character. Unlike most shows, these bits were usually left in the routines when the episodes were aired.

People come up to me and start conversations. Dogs sniff me. It's quite an easy life, actually.

[on his childhood dyslexia] People thought that I was kidding when I would read out loud in school, so they started laughing. For instance, the book "They Were Expendable" I read as "They Were Expandable". People were going, "This guy is great! Expandable! What are you talking about, rubber people?" I thought, "I must be funny, so I might as well continue with this."

[on the late Harvey Korman, his friend and co-star on Carol Burnett (1967)] Harvey was one of the brightest people I've ever met, but the man could not tie his own shoes. He looked at life from an entirely different angle. I would put him on constantly. We were on an airplane one time, coming back [to Los Angeles] from New York, and we had to land in Arizona to refuel. We were taxiing out to the next runway, and I said to Harvey, "I don't know if the guy put the gas cap back on. It was on the wing and now it's not." Harvey got worried. So he got up and went to the pilot and said, "Your gas cap is not on." And the pilot just looked at him. There is no gas cap!

It's been such a great ride because I've got to do all the great things I respect in comedy, and met the people I respect in comedy.

[on his favorite comic heroes of all time] Jackie Gleason, Steve Allen, Tom Poston, Don Knotts. Don Knotts was a really big influence, especially on El show de Steve Allen (1956). I mean, look at the guy, his entire life is in his face. And you can't TV surf without coming across an El show de Andy Griffith (1960) episode, where you've just got to watch Don as "Barney Fife". And that's why I put Don in several of my movies.