In 1974, Harvey Korman stopped by ‘The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.’ Harvey walks on stage wearing a neck brace, and Johnny confirms it is no joke.
Johnny reaches under his desk and grabs his own neck brace to make Harvey more comfortable. Then, Johnny asks what happened, and Harvey says, “Well, you know, is it right really to talk about something sad and pathetic and tragic? You covered that all in your monologue.”
Johnny and Harvey both agree that the reason for his injury is very dumb. Harvey starts, “I was body surfing, folks. I was out in Malibu body surfing. It was a beautiful, lovely day, and the sky was blue, and the water was wonderful, and I was terrific.”
Harvey said he saw a large wave and tried to swim with it. Then, he hit his forehead and got instant body paralysis and couldn’t feel his arms or legs, and he started to drown.
The crowd laughs a little, and Harvey looks at Johnny, who mimics a guy in the audience laughing in a goofy voice, ‘Yee, he’s gonna drown.” Harvey said he was helpless, and he felt like a dead fish.
He couldn’t even get his head over the water and still has nightmares about it. Some kid in the distance was surfing and saw him, and he dragged Harvey onto the beach.
Harvey said the boy was very polite, asking, “Mrs. Korman, you wanna call the ambulance? Your husband’s paralyzed.” They got him to the hospital, and his friend Steve scouted out the room before he got there. Steve approached Harvey and said, “Wait until you see the girl in the next room!” It’s an incredible story that both men were able to laugh about later.
