Back in Carol Burnett’s school days, classmates may have been hard pressed to peg her for the pioneering entertainer she’d become. She was a good student, shy and quiet, focused on books more than hijinks — until she went home. Growing up in a kid-friendly Hollywood neighborhood, she and other kids would hit the movies and, afterwards, play-act them out.
“That's how I taught myself the Tarzan yell and stuff like that,” she says.
Carol Burnett’s Tarzan yell. Credit: Pothila on YouTube. [Start video at :35 - 0:42]
Burnett didn’t find her calling as a performer until heading college at the University of California Los Angeles. Her aspiration was to go into journalism, but UCLA didn’t have a program, only a class that allowed her to join its newspaper, Daily Bruin. Burnett ended up majoring in Theater Arts and English to take playwright courses, and as a freshman, she had to take an acting course.
“I was a little terrified… I had to do a scene, and I picked what I thought would be easy, and not heavily dramatic – it was kind of a comical scene, and the class laughed where they should,” she recalls. “All of a sudden, it was like a whole new world opened up, and I love the feeling of being able to make the class laugh.”
After graduating, Burnett landed a comedian gig at the Ed Sullivan Show in New York in 1957.
“I got some mail from some of my classmates at school, saying, ‘Is that really you?’” she says. “It was just a turn of events that totally changed my whole life.”
Meeting (and loving) Lucille Ball
In 1959, Burnett appeared on the Broadway musical “Once Upon a Mattress.” A day after its opening, actor-comedian Lucille Ball came and sat in the second row at the then off-Broadway Phoenix Theatre.
“I was more nervous because she was in the audience than the night before when all the critics were there,” Burnett recalls.
They met for the first time after the show backstage, where Ball stayed for around 20 minutes and they chatted.
“I had this funky little dressing room with a couch that had a coil sticking up from one of the cushions, and I said, ‘Be careful.’ And she said, ‘Oh, I see it, don't worry.’ It was very encouraging,” Burnett says. “She called me ‘kid’ because she was 22 years older than I, and as she was leaving, she said, ‘Kid, if you ever need me for anything, don't hesitate, give me a call.’ And that was the beginning of a very long friendship.”
Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett fight over Tim Conway sketch. Credit: The Carol Burnett Show on YouTube
Ball became a mentor and friend. Every year on Burnett’s birthday, Ball would send her flowers with a special note. On Burnett’s 56th, she turned the TV on and learned that Ball had died that morning.
“That afternoon, the doorbell rang, and there were flowers [with a card that read], ‘Happy Birthday, kid,’” she says. “Every year on my birthday, it's bittersweet because I think of her.”
More: Offscreen, Lucille Ball was a mom ‘always trying to find answers,’ says her daughter Lucie Arnaz
“Variety comedy is a man's game”
By the late ‘60s, Burnett was ready to helm a comedy variety show of her own, so she pitched the idea to CBS.
“They just said ‘comedy variety is a man's game’: Jackie Gleason, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Dean Martin. It was all these guys,” she says. “I figured we'd get 30 shows, and [it] wound up being 270-something.”
CBS initially wanted her to do a half-hour sitcom, but Burnett said she wanted a one-hour “musical-comedy-review show” with guest stars, music, dancers, costumes and different sketches every week. CBS eventually agreed, and Burnett signed an unprecedented contract: “The Carol Burnett Show” was born, airing for 11 years and nabbing 25 Emmy Awards.
“I wanted everybody to shine. Harvey [Korman], Tim [Conway], Vicki [Lawyrence], Lyle [Waggoner], me,” she notes. “My name was on the title, ‘Carol Burnett Show,’ but there would be times when I would be supporting Harvey, or Harvey would be supporting Tim or Vicki, so everybody had a chance to score.”
The Dentist from “The Carol Burnett Show” full sketch. Credit: The Carol Burnett Show on YouTube [Start video 1:06]
For Burnett, sharing the spotlight was natural — a practice she learned from working on the variety series, “The Garry Moore Show.”
“We would be reading the script for that week, and I was a second banana along with Durward Kirby,” Burnett recalls. “Garry might have a joke or a punch line or something, and he'd look up from the script and he’d say, ‘You know? Give this line to Durward to give it to Carol. They can say it funnier than I can…it only makes the show better. I learned that from him. It's just the way to do it.”
Introducing Vicki Lawrence
Burnett also hired actress and comedian Vicki Lawrence for the show and mentored her. Lawrence was 18 at the time, and stayed with the series for its full 11-season run.
“I saw something in her. We saw something in her, and she learned in front of 30 million people a week,” Burnett affirms.
That kind of audience is unheard of today, but there were only three networks — CBS, NBC and ABC, and there weren’t recording devices then.
“When we started, there [weren't] VCRs or TiVo, so people stayed home on that Saturday night,” Burnett says.
MORE: What Vicki Lawrence learned from Carol Burnett about acting
Together, they created enduringly memorable characters, including Lawrence’s famed “Mama” role on the show’s sketch “The Family.”
The Family: Sorry! from “The Carol Burnett Show.” Credit: “The Carol Burnett Show” on YouTube [Start video :34 - 2:28]
Taking questions from the audience
“The Carol Burnett Show” also featured a Q&A format, borrowed from a practice at “The Garry Moore Show” to warm up his audience. While Moore had a comedian do their segment, Burnett did it herself, taped at the top of the show at the suggestion of executive producer Bob Banner.
“I kind of balked at first,” she recalls.
But Banner persisted, arguing that the audience needed to get acquainted with Burnett herself before diving into sketches with costumes and different characters. She first agreed to do it for three or four weeks.
“I started to relax and get into it more,” she says. “Some of it was gold. Great fun.”
Bringing variety to her 90s
In April, the legendary actress, writer, singer, and comedian turned 90, ringing in the milestone with an NBC special celebrating her life and career — as only she can.
“I didn't want a birthday party. I didn't want balloons, confetti, and a cake. And I didn't want to roast. What I really wanted was a variety show, and that's what we pushed for, and NBC was behind it all the way,” Burnett says. “I'm thrilled. NBC was so terrific with us. They were supported. They went all out for the cost.”
Historically, CBS had been Burnett’s home throughout her career, hosting her variety show, and, after it ended in 1978, broadcasting four specials celebrating the show’s 25th and 50th reunions, plus a showstopper and bloopers show. Burnett remains perplexed as to why the network skipped out this time.
“We went to [CBS] first and they passed,” she says. “And it was the first time they had done that, so I don't know why they didn't do this one.”
The NBC special attracted 7.6 million viewers.
“I don't know how CBS feels about it now, because I heard we came in number one for the whole week,” Burnett adds.
Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett segment of Carol’s 90th Birthday Special. Credit: The Julie Andrews archive on YouTube [Start video at :10 - 6:38]
Better Call Carol
A few years ago, Burnett unexpectedly connected with prestige TV showrunning Vince Gilligan, creator and producer of hit series like “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul.” They shared the same private driver, Jason, who would relay messages between them.
For the 50th anniversary of “The Carol Burnett Show,” she invited Jason and Gilligan to see the taping. At the afterparty, Burnett finally met Gilligan in person, followed by a lunch where Gilligan told her one of his favorite “X-Files” episodes to write was for Burnett’s late daughter Carrie Hamilton.
“He said she was so wonderful and she was such a great guest. That touched me a lot,” Burnett recalls.
Gilligan then said he would like to write “a little something for” her on “Better Call Saul,” a show she was “hooked on.” Burnett told him that she didn’t care if it was one sentence, she would do it. He wrote her a part for its sixth season.
“It was one of the greatest experiences I've ever had, doing a show other than my own show,” Burnett says. “They were so… well oiled because most of the crew had done ‘Breaking Bad,’ so they knew what they were doing, and they were family. I just loved working with Vince and Peter Gould.”
"Nippy" on “Better Call Saul.” Credit: It’s Saul Goodman on YouTube
She adds, “That was a great moment. I've been so lucky this past year or two years to be with so many wonderful performers who are also really nice people. I don't want to be with anybody that's temperamental, or rotten apple in the barrel. No, thank you. Bye bye.”
Leading the push against the glass ceiling
When Burnett started out as a comedian, some women were succeeding doing sitcoms, but not many were taking on standup. She relishes how much that’s now changed.
“I am thrilled with how many there are and how many have their own production companies and everything. There's still a little bit of the glass ceiling, but not as much at all, as when I got started of course, when Lucille started,” Burnett observes. “Now there’s Tina Fey, Amy [Poehler], Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph and Jane Lynch and, oh, my God, so many.”
Despite forging a path for subsequent generations, Burnett is embarrassed to be referred to as an icon — people with talent, she says, always find a way to succeed.
“I think if you're around long enough they label you. They'll say, ‘Oh, you're the reason that I'm here, I'm doing what I'm doing.’ But my response always is, if I'd never been born, they'd be doing what they're doing,” she says. “If they've got the talent and a fire in the belly, they'll make it happen for themselves.”