OMG! It’s Harvey Korman’s Son!

by Chris Korman, Ron Brawer

CAROL Kaye’s show went off the air in 1967 and The Carol Burnett Show was premiering that fall. All I could think about was, We need a Harvey Korman. We need a consummate actor with comedy chops to spare. I believe we had a call in to his agent when one afternoon I happened to see Harvey himself headed for his car in the CBS parking lot. I shouted, “Harvey!” And then proceeded to jump him.I seem to remember leaning him back over a car hood.“Please, please be on our show! You're the very best! PLEASE?”It wasn't exactly the most professional way to offer someone a job, but it worked. Harvey signed on, and I was in heaven. BURT LANCASTER (OSCAR-WINNING ACTOR):“Chris, your father is a brilliant actor. He creates these incredibly believable human characters. On live television, no less.” PETER MARSHALL (Emmy-Award-winning host of Hollywood Squares)“I always tell people that Chris loves me so much that, when he was six years old and I was in the hospital, he chose to visit me over breakfast at IHOP.” MEL BROOKS (Oscar-winning writer/director) (Starred Harvey Korman in Blazing Saddles, High Anxiety, and Historyof the World Part 1): “Chris, I loved your father, even though he could be a real asshole.”

185 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 24, 2020

Reviews

[Tom Schulte · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a fan of Harvey Korman’s work on The Carol Burnett Show especially with Tim Conway and was hoping for some behind the scenes stories of that career. Indeed, the book delivers on that and a lot of details on Harvey's career, manner, interests, and phobias. We learn from Chris not only "intimate stories of his father’s life and work" but that he was born with hyaline membrane disease, which led to a lack of oxygen to the brain and central nervous system. His father’s lifelong unwavering support and devotion helped him overcome his disability, showcasing a deep bond between father and son. In Harvey’s philanthropic tradition, both put time and work to charity events, especially those supporting special needs causes. This includes the Marianne Frostig School for Children with Special Needs and the annual golf tournament for 13 of its 22 years. As a high-functioning adults with a learning disability, he was a speaker at a Learning Disabilities Association of America conference, a poignant connection to his father who was the national spokesperson for the association in the 1980s. As a university teacher I was pleasantly surprised and grew from Chris' candor and insight about his LD and how it affects his life and interactions.

[Eric Zerbe · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a father of a teenage son with high-functioning autism, I could relate a lot to the relationship Chris Korman (who lives with a learning disability) had with his father, the legendary Harvey Korman. The stories Chris told of he and his dad rang true to my life with my son: many challenges, celebrated successes, and often each other’s best friend. P.S. It’s HEDLEY!!