There are comedy sketches that make you chuckle, and then there’s the “Business Lunch” from The Carol Burnett Show — a 1977 masterpiece that has racked up over 90 million views across YouTube and streaming platforms, leaving generations wheezing, crying, and declaring it the single funniest thing ever put on television. Starring Harvey Korman as the uptight businessman trying desperately to fire his incompetent employee (Tim Conway) over a polite restaurant meal, the bit is a masterclass in controlled chaos, with Conway’s slow-burn absurdity pushing Korman to the absolute brink of sanity—and beyond.
The premise is deliciously simple: Korman’s Mr. Tucker has invited Conway’s Mr. Tudball to lunch to let him go. He begins with rehearsed delicacy: “Bob, this is difficult for me…” But Conway, in his signature deadpan, mishears everything, answers every question with serene nonsense, and gradually turns the dignified firing into a public meltdown. Harvey leans across the table, whispering through gritted teeth, “Don’t make a scene, Bob — we’re in public.” Conway just smiles that tiny, evil grin—the one that means everything is about to fall apart.
What follows is five minutes of escalating torture: Conway ordering “a glass of water and a straw” because “I’m trying to cut back,” mispronouncing “severance” as “several ants,” and calmly eating soup with a fork while Harvey’s eye starts twitching. By the time Conway launches into a story about his wife’s “operation on her gazebo,” Korman is clutching his napkin like a life raft, shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter that finally erupts in full-body convulsions. The studio audience is screaming; Carol Burnett, off-camera, can be heard gasping for air.
Conway later admitted the entire bit was improvised on the spot. “I just decided to answer every question wrong and see how long Harvey could last,” he told the Television Academy in 2005. Korman famously called it “the day Tim murdered me on national television.” The crew had to stop filming three times because no one could breathe.
Fifty years on, the sketch remains untouchable. It’s been inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame, inspired countless reaction videos, and still trends every time someone rediscovers it. Modern comics like Ryan Reynolds and Bowen Yang cite it as “the blueprint for breaking your co-star.” And every rewatch? You laugh exactly like it’s the first time—because genius never gets old.
Stream the full sketch on YouTube or the official Carol Burnett Show channel. Just don’t eat soup while watching. You’ll choke.
