Induced by greater career promise and show business contacts of Tim Conway, who had already left town and found success as an actor in Los Angeles, Anderson abruptly retired Ghoulardi and stopped performing live in September 1966. Anderson never pinpointed the reason, and his decision to leave was a surprise to close associates such as Schodowski. His biographers attribute Ghoulardi's retirement to Anderson's being weary of portraying the Ghoulardi character into his forties, disruption caused by his ongoing divorce, and clashes with station management.