Tim Conway Biography

Comedian Tim Conway won six Emmy awards in his long career, four of them for his work as the silliest cast member of The Carol Burnett Show during the 1970s.

Tim Conway got his show business start in radio in Cleveland. From there he broke into writing and performing comedy sketches, appearing on television variety shows in guest shots. His first big success came as Ensign Charles Parker, a bumbling officer in the sitcom McHale’s Navy (1962-66, starring Ernest Borgnine).

That led to a movie career in Disney comedies, and, more importantly, a spot as a regular guest on the comedy variety program The Carol Burnett Show, beginning in 1967. Conway joined the cast full-time in 1975 and became an audience favorite with his goofy physical comedy. His special talent for making co-star Harvey Korman lose composure during a sketch became a trademark of the duo. While on Burnett’s show, Conway won three Emmys as a performer and one as a writer; he went on to win a fifth Emmy for a guest role in the series Coach (1997), and a sixth for a guest role on 30 Rock (2008).

To younger viewers, Tim Conway was known as the voice of Barnacle Boy in the cartoon Spongebob Squarepants. His feature film credits included The World’s Greatest Athlete (1973), The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975), The Shaggy D.A. (1976) and Cannonball Run II (1984). He published a memoir, What’s So Funny?, in 2013.