I guess it's not elephants, huh?

[james_davis_nicoll]

I generally lose almost immediately after 1:45....

Comments

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

I loved the Carol Burnett show.

Also, here's a slightly clearer version!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qqE_WmagjY&NR=1

[kithrup.livejournal.com]

I laughed so hard I nearly fainted.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I made it to ``when one sneezed, the other's eyes would...''

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

When I saw it for the first time (mumble) years ago, I was laughing so hard I literally could not breathe.

[keithmm.livejournal.com]

I only make to "I saw these Siamese elephants...", not so much that it's funny but because Burnett immediately buries her head in her hands and everyone is clearly desperate not to lose it.

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Conway's funny and all, but it's everyone else cracking up that gets me. That's true of many Burnett show clips.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

I've been told that most professional comics loathe this kind of thing. They compare things to the Carol Burnett Show as a pejorative.

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, yes, yes.

I wonder... did they ever put these out on DVD? Even if the quality wasn't great, I'd totally buy them

[kithrup.livejournal.com]

There are several out-take DVDs available. I added two of them to my Netflix queue. (Must remember to move them up so I can get them before I cancel the netflix account, if that's what I end up doing.)

[kithrup.livejournal.com]

"norfft," huh?

I couldn't make out Momma's line.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

"You sure that little asshole's through?"

[dbdatvic.livejournal.com]

I heard it as "hnorkle" actually.

--Dave, and yeah, Carol clearly loses it right at 0:15 and spends the next couple minutes desperately trying not to explode...

[thespian.livejournal.com]

I lost it at 40s, and was in tears at around 1:09.

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

I loved that show. Not only how funny it was, but how they all appreciated each other and were so real in their responses. I think it made watchers feel that they were sharing in the experience, rather than just watching performers.

[http://users.livejournal.com/krin_o_o_/]

This comes as close to "the killing joke" as is possible, IMHO.

- krin

(the monty python version, not the DC Comics)

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

I had forgotten how much I loved Saturday nights when I was a kid because of that show.

[wipes tears]

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

I saw a Carol Burnett presentation at Duke many many years ago and she talked about that scene. The Show was, generally, run as if it were being shown live; it was as point of pride to them that they re-shot scenes (iirc) 11 times in the 11 years they were on the air.

The entire elephants sequence was ad-libbed when the show was already running behind schedule. Burnett says she was furious at Conway and was trying to give him a "cut this, we have to end" signal, but whenever she looked up, she couldn't stop laughing.

One of the finest moments of television history.