Greetings to all Carol Burnett fans! Today, we’re diving into a hilarious Carol Burnett Show sketch, “As the Stomach Turns.” In this skit, Carol plays Marion, a lonely woman who’s moved to Canoga Falls and misses the drama of her previous neighborhood.
Marion is the kind of nosy neighbor who always had people coming to her with their problems, but in Canoga Falls, everything is going smoothly, and she has nothing to worry about.
But that’s not a problem, right? Wrong! Marion’s problem is that she doesn’t have a problem. Instead, she’s craving some drama in her life and hoping for some bad news. That’s when Attorney Arnold W Minty (Harvey Korman), in Canoga Falls, rings her doorbell.
Marion is ecstatic, thinking he’s going to deliver some bad news. But instead, he has good news! Her uncle has gifted her $50,000 & Marion can’t believe it. She feels like everything is going wrong. Even her prank phone calls have stopped!
As Marion is sulking in her living room, the phone rings. She’s hoping it’s the heavy breather, her usual prank caller. But it’s the wrong number. She tries to engage in a conversation, but the person on the other end hangs up.
The doorbell rings again, and Marion thinks it’s her daughter, played by Vicki Lawrence, returning with a child born in or out of wedlock. So naturally, Marion is thrilled at the thought of having a problem to solve. But, alas, her daughter has reformed and is now a Boy Scout, selling cookies.
Standing silently in the living room this whole time with a bag of cash, Arnold tells Marion that she’ll have to go to court if someone contests the inheritance. Of course, Marion is delighted at the prospect of a legal battle, and just as Arnold leaves, the doorbell rings again.
This time, Petula Clark and Lyle Waggoner enter the scene, with Petula playing Marion’s twin sister, who has come to contest the inheritance. Marion is overjoyed to have a problem to solve and dives headfirst into the fray.
Tim Conway’s character is the prank caller “Heavy Breather or Jr. Peterson,” who keeps calling Marion’s phone, much to her liking. But what makes this character so funny is the way Conway plays it.
Jr. Peterson gets invited by the two sisters, who listen to his obscene phone call together. When they ask him to come over, the doorbell rings almost instantly. He walks, breathing heavily into an old-fashioned phone.
Jr. Peterson and his father (imaginary character’s name – Marvin Peterson) run a business for obscene phone calls. He even does home visits when asked. As the scene unfolds and Tim Conway delivers his absurd comic tricks, Clark and Burnett struggle to contain their laughter.
In fact, at one point, Carol even walks off the stage to regain her composure, and you can hear Korman laughing backstage. The 2nd prank caller on the phone asks Marion and her twin on a date at the lake, which she thinks is a great idea. It will be easier to find out if her twin has the same birthmark as hers.
Amid all the hilarity, Marion’s daughter comes down the stairs with a baby in her hand and drops a bombshell – she’s married Hilton O’Brien & even had a baby. But the twin sister insists that Hilton is her husband, and the truth about Marion’s mother is finally revealed.
