Tim Conway dropped a bombshell of a compliment on Tina Fey.

"She's probably the most talented lady outside of Carol Burnett that I've ever met," Conway said.

Wow. That's mighty praise.

Conway, of course, is best remembered for his many roles in countless skits on The Carol Burnett Show. But tonight he makes a guest-star appearance in an episode of Fey's 30 Rock (NBC, as well as A-channel affiliates in Canada).

"They were wonderful," Conway said of the 30 Rock cast. "I've known Alec (Baldwin) for some time, so that was very comfortable. But Tina and I had never met.

"I mean, she writes, she reads, she walks, she talks, she does everything. And she was so nice it's hard to believe that she's in show business, really. She just was marvellous." 

In the episode tonight, corporate TV executive Jack Donaghy (Baldwin) wants to find a young, hip Republican celebrity to appear at a John McCain fundraiser. But the only celeb Jack can attract is Bucky Bright (Conway), a washed-up TV star from the 1940s and 1950s.

When Jack rejects Bucky, he gets handed off to page extraordinaire Kenneth (Jack McBrayer), who just happens to be a big Bucky Bright backer.

"The young fellow who was assigned to me, Ken -- or Jack -- was just delightful," said Conway, 72. "You know, here is a young kid who has to haul this guy around and show him where things are, and he was just marvellous. I think we're going to get an apartment together, I'm not sure."

Conway certainly knows a thing or two about talented ensemble casts. The Carol Burnett Show, a sketch-comedy cornerstone that ran on CBS from 1967 to 1978, featured Burnett, Conway, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner and even Dick Van Dyke for a brief time near the show's end.

So what has Conway been up to lately? Well, as the charming, consummate, always-on, professional comedian that Conway is, he came up with a funny answer, as usual.

"We have been (continuing to do) The Carol Burnett Show -- we go down every Friday, Carol's there, Vicki, myself, Harvey, and we do the show," Conway said. "Now, they haven't been taping it, unfortunately, so they've lost, I would say, about 20 to 25 years of shows there. But we're still hoping, so we go down there every Friday.

"Actually, Harvey and I went out for eight years on our own, just out in the yard."

Some of the funniest moments in The Carol Burnett Show came when Conway would crack up Korman. But as Conway remembered it, the most frustrating thing for Korman was that very rarely did Conway start laughing, too.

"Well, when The Carol Burnett Show went off, I got custody of Harvey," Conway joked. "So, you know, I just take him for walks and things of that nature."

Now that Conway is approaching the supposed age of the shuffling, white-haired old man he used to play on The Carol Burnett Show, did he call upon those memories for his portrayal of the over-the-hill Bucky Bright on 30 Rock?

"It was kind of a strange part because I said, 'Do you want me to do the old man?' " Conway said. "And they said, 'No, just come in and do what you do. Just walk around and recall these memories.

"It seemed to work, at least for them, and me."

Fortunately and deservedly, Tim Conway continues to "work" for an entire generation of comedy fans.