Carol Burnett

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We have comedy legend Carol Burnett. You know, Carol, the star creator, benevolent captain of the Carol Burnett show. An incredible sketch show that changed comedy as we know it and influenced so many of us. Incredible actor in films such as The Four Seasons or The Star Turn as Miss Hannigan and Annie. You may have seen Carol in Better Call Saul or Palm Royale, which is out right now.

There's so many things that Carol has done and I discovered Carol from my living room, watching her show with my mom and we're going to talk about so many things today. And you know what, don't worry about what we're going to talk about. It's going to be so good. It's Carol Burnett. She's here and we can't believe it.

Before we get started, we always like to talk to someone who is a friend or a fan of our guest. And you know, when you start in sketch comedy and you're a woman of a certain age, you have learned everything from Carol. And today we have someone who is a super fan of Carol Burnett and I think a legend in her own right. Sketch comedy. And that is Friend of our Pod.

One of my many wives, the great Rachel Dratch. Rachel, how are your headphones doing? This episode of Good Hang is presented by Uber Eats. Big news, Aldi is now on Uber Eats. And you get 20% off your first gross reorder with code new Aldi26.

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I want to show you how far I've come, Amy. What the lessons learned, the improvements made. Listeners, Rachel Dratch is holding up her untangled headphones. Well, I see a little tangle. There's a tiny kink.

There we go. You've always been into a tiny kink. Anyway, here you go. Changes have been made. And I'm ready to go.

You look great, Dratch. Thank you. I've got a little lipstick for you. You know I love you in a blue. I love my baby.

Those baby blues in a baby blue. There you go. Dratch, you know, genuinely when I was like, who can I talk to you about the genius that is Carol Burnett? I thought about us because we grew up on Carol. She feels like so influential.

So she knows it or not. And I hope to tell her today. It feels like she just influenced us so much. Yeah. I mean, when you said, well, you asked a question of Carol Burnett, I got a little paralyzed because I was like, she's such an icon that I got, like, my brain got kind of tongue-tied.

Like, what do you ask someone that's had such an influence, a killer of comedy? Yeah. I have to like to talk to you before we, before I talk to Carol because I actually have been kind of stressed about that. How do I talk to an icon? You know, do you remember when you first saw a Carol?

My first exposure was the Carol Burnett show. So I just remembered like that sort of merry band of players cracking each other up, which of course we did later on in our own way. But just like the joy that they all seem to be having together and her also like the way she talked to the audience afterwards, like there's no sort of putting on errors about her. She just seemed like it is like she has who she seems like just a fun regular person. No, sort of a woman shouldn't be doing this.

Like, which I mean, we always get asked about women in comedy and like we always hate to be get asked that way because I think when we were little like, we just saw a funny person and we weren't thinking like, and it's a girl. It was sort of just subliminal, whatever. Yeah. Unconscious. Unconscious.

But she's a woman doing this. You're just like getting this sort of role model, you're getting the mother bird imprint on the baby bird. Yes. So Carol Burnett was definitely like that. Just the silliness, the joy and being silly, the joy in like making faces that make you look like you're not a lady.

Yes. Acting like you're not a lady. Yes. Like that was just so joyous and so good for girls to see. But again, I don't want to get all free to be a male but she was like, who she wants.

A reference that probably nobody remembers. But they should. But they should. Children. Children.

But it was a boy's going to the dolls. Okay. Boy's going to the dolls. Carol's show at times as like the 70s came on to the scene, like Carol's show was like, oh, like they didn't have that wasn't edgy enough or something. You know, maybe someone could say like, oh, it didn't have an edge.

But now like with distance in time, I'm like, I think that's what I was drawn. Why I was so drawn to that show exactly what you just said. It looked like everyone was having fun. Like, I don't think it's when we were growing up at times, I thought that comedy was actually going to be fun. I know that sounds stupid, but it was like it felt like it had to have, yeah, I just had to have drama attached to it.

And she was such an example of like comedy could be fun and you could be a nice person doing it. I don't know. Does that make sense? Yeah. And just like full to clowns, you know, like clowning around, you know, like when she did one's kind of actress.

Okay, let's talk about that. It seems like that might have been what the hell do I know talking about this time period, but it seems like it might have been kind of really like freeing and groundbreaking to have this woman getting to add all this physical comedy into this part that I'm sure, you know, it's like you're adding in so much physical comedy into that part. People comedy feels until Carol that it was kind of owned by the boys. Yeah. Did Carol feel like at the time she, there were other people, other women doing physical comedy like her?

Yeah, the answer, Cola. Get the answer on that scoop. Also, you two have to compare notes. I'm sure you have you told her that you also played with a friend in Burlington High School? Is she aware?

Thank you for bringing that up for people that didn't listen to the very highly popular Rachel D'Rach episode. And D'Rach, I got to tell you something. That episode was gangbusters. Are you getting a lot of good feedback? I'm getting a lot of good feedback about that.

Yes. I go viral. And that doesn't mean that you get sick with a fever. It doesn't mean I get a virus. I'm not going to avoid the obvious joke here, but yeah.

But let's let me let my wagon to you. Things happen for the best. Well, thank you for hooking again. But for people who didn't, I don't know, one or two people that didn't listen to that episode. Yeah, no kidding.

I'm rock. Check it out. And then you'll find as a Rachel D'Rach and I talk about how we were both in productions of Once Upon a Matress when we were young people in our schools. And Carol Burnett originated the part of Winifred on Broadway. I got to play that part in my high school.

Rachel played the more. I played the boring part of Lady Larket. So who in the musical is pregnant, but when Rachel did it because they were so young they had to take that part out. And then I got nothing to play. So then it got even more boring.

But I know this is about Carol. We're not, but I've got to work through this. When we did our episode of Good Hang, a lot of people commented on our obvious love for each other and friendship that was so obvious because we left our way through the whole thing. I was kind of wondering since I'm talking to you, for her about her female friendships, about, you know, just she have friends that are like her two blues from before Showbiz that she relies on or even now, like her, first of all, like her non-showbiz friends or her showbiz friends, like who has been there along the way that is part of her journey that she has kind of like, you know, the little support group with or something.

I love that because when I was lucky enough to do something for her 90th birthday celebration, she watched the entire celebration holding hands with Julie Andrews. They sat next to each other and held hands. They call each other. I believe they call each other Chum. And I'll find out, but I want to ask her about you because they have been friends since the 60s.

Wow. And I mean, talk about our age, like powerhouse, like sound of music, Mary Poppins, Kielbernet, and their friends. Chums. You and I've always said that you are my Julie Andrews. And you know, the other friendship that I want to talk to her about is her Lucille Ball.

Yes. Hey, we're buddies. Lucille was, you know, kind of a mentor to her. She was probably in her 40s when she met Karel in her 20s, but came backstage after a performance of Once Upon a Matcher and said like, you got it, kid. Wow.

I know. I feel like there's a direct line between a lot of the women I know who worked with who love Karel, like Kristen Wig, who works with Karel on Pomerail and talked about on this podcast that she like burst into tears when she met her. You me, Maya, Tina, like we all, Anna, we all Molly, we all feel like we just watched Karel. Well, Amy, you're so good at talking to people. Like you've met her too, but I was in my area.

How good you are talking to the idols and icons. Well, I'm talking one right now. I'm talking right now. You're doing a great job. All right, Rachel, Dratch.

I know you're busy. What are you having for dinner tonight before I let you go? Oh, I don't even know. Well, I know you've got some Broadway plans tonight. So what you're not in the town, New York City, Rachel is out and about.

Yes, she is. Yes, she is. And with new haircut, looking great. All right, bud. Thank you for doing this, Dratchy.

All right. See you. Love you. Bye. This episode is brought to you by Subaru.

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Hi, Carol. Love you. Love you. First of all, you look wonderful. Back at you.

I'm so happy to see you. I mean, I got the chance to see you in person. Maybe longer than I'd like to, maybe like a year or two ago. I don't think I've seen you. Well, I thank you.

What's up with the 90th? The 90th. And then we did it when you presented me with an award. I got to say nice things about you. Yes, you did.

You're the reason why I'm in comedy and you are a living legend and it is really very emotional for me to get to talk to you. I'm sweet or thrilled that you're here and it means a lot to me. So thank you. If I'd never been born, you'd be doing what you're doing. Well, we'll never know.

We'll never know. But and you know, the fact that I get to call you a friend and know you is amazing. It's definitely one of those things where sometimes you feel like your life is a dream. And I think when I talked about this one time that, you know, life does feel like a dream. And I know that there's moments in your life where you look back at your life and say, you remember the movie?

It's a wonderful life. And Jimmy Stewart has this angel. And Clarence, there are things that have happened to me where I feel I've got Clarence on my shoulder from the very early on in life. I remember I we I lived with my grandmother in one room, a block north of Hollywood Boulevard, and we were poor. Our rent was a dollar a day, $30 a month.

And sometimes we could hardly manage that. And so I graduated from Hollywood high and I desperately wanted to go to UCLA. And my grandmother said forget it. You know, we can't afford the tuition. There's no way.

Guess what? The tuition was UCLA in 1951. And your lead tuition? Yeah. Well, for a semester.

Okay, for semester. A thousand dollars. $43. And we couldn't afford it. Yeah.

So we lived in this apartment building right at our room face the lobby. So every morning I would check there was a pigeonhole mailboxes for all the apartments. And I would look out and see if we had a little letter or something in our slot. Oh, I go and then there's a letter in the slot this morning. I came out and I opened it up in our room.

My name was Ty Printon on the envelope. And there was a $50 bill. I do not to this day know where that came from. Nobody in the neighborhood that kind of money had that. And that was my tuition.

So that was Clarence, you know, and I got to go to UCLA. Then I got a catalog that said theater arts. And I looked through that and there was a one called Theater Arts English. So I entered the Theater Arts department. But also at that time, if you were a freshman, no matter what, if you want a theater arts film, theater arts theater, theater arts English, you had to take an acting course.

Do you remember the first thing you did in your acting class then? Yes. Oh, I was terrified. I'd never done anything. I'd never performed or anything.

Wow. And I came in late actually, and all the other kids were teamed up. And so I was the oddball and the teacher gave me a couple of monologues to choose from. One from the country girl and one from a play called the Mad Woman of Shio. And I picked the Mad Woman because it was shorter.

And I got up and I, it didn't even occur to me to read the play. I had, all I did was memorize it. And I said, I'm doing a scene from the Mad Woman of Chaylach. I didn't pronounce it. And I did it and she gave me a D minus.

And she said, the only reason I'm not failing you is because you memorized it. Sounds like a great teacher. Well, she was, she was right. She was right. And then I got into a one act that one of the students had written where I played a hillbilly woman.

And of course, we're from Arkansas, Texas. And all remembers that there was one scene where I came out and I'm this over the hill, hillbilly woman. And I just said, I'm back. And everybody cracked up and laughed. Was that your first laugh you remember getting doing, like performing?

Yeah. And from then on, and then some of the other students will come up and say, she said, would you be in another one act? Would you be all of a sudden? I thought, I kind of like this. Yeah.

When I was talking to Kristin Wigg, who was here doing this, who I know you love, she said that she kind of burst into tears when she met you. And I hate it when people look at me and cry. Am I scaring them? When they point at you and cry? But what I was going to say is Kristin talked about how important it was to meet you.

And you talk about how luck played a big part in many moments in your life. But as you know, luck only gets you so far. You kind of have to show up. You have to kind of nail it. You know which door to go through.

Yes. And you have to kind of deliver. And what I love about your work, which continues even to this very moment, this very day, because you are working nonstop, is you are this beautiful combination of luck, meets opportunity, meets gratitude, meets flexibility, meets collaboration. And I've watched and watched you and your career since I was a young person and how you welcome all of those things at once. You're never taking anything for granted.

No, you don't, but you can't. But people do. Then they're wrong. Yeah, right. But you also are so confident and skilled in what you know you can do.

You show up for those lucky moments. And I want to talk about all of that stuff today. But I think sometimes with, I'm lucky to know a lot of non-engineerians, like my 90s or the new 80s, babe. I like that. I just want to talk about the present moment for a second, because you are working.

What does work feel like to you right now today? Like how do you, how is work feeling? It feels the same. Yeah. I don't, you know, I'm 105 years old, but I feel like when we were doing our doing palm or all that, I'm just as excited as I was when I came on and said, I'm back.

You know, it's the same thing. And I was just another thing. I was thrilled about palm or I was when Abe Sylvia called me. He was the creator and director and show runner, all that. Just two, three years ago, I guess it was.

And said, we're going to do this show and I would love you to be a part of it. I asked about what's it about who and then he's told me who was going to be in it. Yeah. Kristen Wiig, Allison, Jani, Laura, during, I said, I'm in, don't, I don't even buy this in any of your script. I want to work with these ladies.

I want to lock eyeballs with him and get in the sandbox and play. Yeah. And it was really, of course, the first few episodes I was in a coma. And so, yeah, I know you have it in your contract. You're able to sleep on set.

Get up at five in the morning, go get made up, go right back to bed. But you know, but those women that you talk about, you know, have become your friends and you're, and I, and I feel grateful for this too, is that you're a living example of, it's just like, if one's lucky enough, they keep meeting new people and new friends. Absolutely. Absolutely. I felt that way.

I was very lucky to do a better call Saul. That was just before Paul Marielle. Yeah. And I was a big fan of Breaking Bad and Vince Gilligan and I watched Bob Odenkirk and all and Vince Gilligan said, we'd love you to come on there no matter what. So it was a wonderful, wonderful time for me too.

You know, you're one of those people that, you know, you've gone back and forth in your life between New York and LA and I want to talk about both. And I bet that each block or section of the city holds a memory. What was Hollywood like when you were there? How would you just be able to lock your doors? And every morning when I would go out getting ready to go to school and look up and there was a Hollywood sign and we used to climb the Hollywood sign.

Wow. The other neighborhood kids and I now you can't get near it. Sure. But we would fly kites, a roller skate and they would say, yeah, I'm bored. Let's go climb the side.

So we don't get in it. It was just, it was kind of rickety then. They'd fixed it up now. And there were splinters and I would climb up. I'd get splinters and I'd get splinters and I'd wonder if we didn't break our neck.

And then the o's were my favorite. And I would just hang over the o's and say, hello, Hollywood. Hello. And we do the Tarzan yell and all that. Also growing up like that, we played.

Yeah, we went out and played until it was time to go in for supper. Yeah. Today, I knew where you were. I ended up flying. I hear my grandma's a carol.

Come on. You know, and we come in and I'm going out and play now after school. And then you spoke about your grandmother. It was instrumental in your life and how you would go to the movies together. So take us to that.

What were you watching? Who are you seeing on the screen? Well, we would go to the second runs because they were cheaper than going. If you went to a first run, it was a lot more money, like a quarter. You know, and so the second runs and there would be double features.

So we would see we would go one, two, three, four, maybe six movies a week. Wow. Who's the end that was in the forties and Betty Grayball and Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland and Tyrone Power and all of those, which maybe none of the people who know those people anyway, they were my favorites. Yeah. And Linda Darnell was a beautiful woman.

That she's not as well known today as. You know what? I don't know Linda Darnell. No, I have to tell you, my grandmother died. You know, we would go and hang over the ropes when there would be a premier on Hollywood Boulevard and we didn't have to watch the movie stars come in, right?

So I'm nine years old and nanny is standing there now. And the ropes are holding all of us back and coming, walking up by us was Linda Darnell. I had to look her up while you talk about her. Okay. And so my grandmother grabbed her by the side.

So I said, Oh, give this little girl. You're on a guy. She just loves you. She did that. And then it was so sweet.

And I'm looking at her and she said, okay, dear, and I gave her my book and I was shaking. And she said what she named I told her and I'm looking at this gorgeous. And I realized her nostrils didn't match. Why? What?

It was just like a millimeter off. And suddenly it was the only saw. So you realize nothing is the way to see your nose. Our faces are different when you put their different symmetry is not my strong. My strong.

I don't think it is. I remember that. Remember that so clearly. Oh, my gosh. Who else did you have in that autograph book?

Oh, gosh, I had Betty Grayball. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. She lives. She's so pretty.

I'm okay right now. She proves my theory that the more far apart your eyes are. Oh, her eyes are very far apart. Yeah. She proves my theory that if your eyes are far apart, you're very beautiful.

And especially if they don't cross. And I remember going, we would go to the Grommons Chinese where they have the courtyard with everybody's handprints and footprints and stuff. And I remember putting my handprints into Betty Grayball's handprints. And just a few months ago, I got my handprints at all these years after he'll and I remember putting my hand on. And I'm going to will somebody someday put their handprints on mine.

You know, wouldn't that be kind of wild? Yeah. But I guess so cool. And also is I mean, I feel like I did have a very Godmother. Yeah, Betty Grayball was one of my first guests on my show.

Wow. Did you tell her the story? Oh, yeah. What was she like? Adorable.

Very funny. Yeah. Betty was on the show as a guest. And so was Martha Ray, who was one of the funniest women ever. And she was very body and she and Betty had worked together.

They were good friends. So it was for me, my God, I'd grown up watching Betty Grayball, watching Martha Ray. I was out there. So now we're rehearsing. Now Betty had a thing about Coca-Cola.

She had to drink Coca-Cola all the time. So what would happen is she would be going, constantly, I mean, really, really loud. She just loves Coca-Cola. So we're in the wings ready and we're doing the show and Betty and Martha and I are ready for our cue to go out and Betty took one and again. And Martha Ray said, Oh, for God, sex, Betty, why don't you just fart and save your teeth?

And we had to go out and do the finale. I was just terrible. I mean, I mean, you talk a lot, I want to talk to you about, because you talk a lot about people coming through your show, the Carro Borneo Show. I mean, when you host a show, I know that from SNL and in some ways from parks, when you host a show and people come through, you're the host, you have to, you're hosting the show, but you're also hosting the guests and you're watching all the different ways that people work. But it was a joy.

Yeah. In fact, in 11 years, we didn't have one rotten person that we dealt with at all. Everybody was happy to be on. And another thing that I always loved doing was giving, like if we had Cheetah Rivera or Juliette Prowse or dancers and singers on the show, we also would try to put them in a sketch. Yeah.

So that they, because if they went on another show, the other shows they would just do their bit and that would be it, or they may be in a finale also. But we would put Gwen Verdon in a sketch. I even did a sketch with Ray Charles. Wow. What was the sketch?

It was a piano bar and I was a lady who was a little bit in her cups, very sad about herself because it was her birthday and nobody cared. And I was, and so now I'm talking to Ray who is at the piano. And we have this lovely little scene about the fact that I'm so sad and nobody, and he then talks, is very sweet, encourages me. And he says, come on over here and sit down. And then we sang together, you know.

And he said, I just love it. He said that nobody has ever asked me to do lines. Wow. So he really loved it. Wow.

When you when you were in your twenties in New York, yeah, first of all, what was it like being in New York in the, in the, was it late? It was the 50s. 50s. Did man then get it right? Like, was it was that was?

Was it was like, I lived at the rehearsal club. Yeah. Talk about the rehearsal club. Well, I got, I got a chance to go to New York. A benefactor lent me the money to go.

I had never been any further east in Texas or California. And I remember my grandmother saying, you can't go to New York. She said, your blood's too thin. You'll be dead in a week. So much for that.

Yeah. Good. Thank you. And I, how were you? One, 21.

Yeah. I didn't know where I was going to stay. Right. You just showed up. I said, we'll figure it out.

It's like the movies, you know, the suitcase. Now I'm in a Broadway show. Yeah. I'm on the airplane and I see an ad for the Algonquin Hotel. I said, well, I think I'll go there.

And I had something like 300, some of dollars left. And so it was raining. I had a cardboard suitcase and got up to the Algonquin. And I checked in and he said, that'll be nine dollars. You know, and I said, for the week, he said, no, for the night, nine dollars.

So I gave the nine dollars and I went up to this room. And I'm there and I called Nanny, my grandmother. And she said, come home. I said, I just got here. You know, and she anyway, I hung up and I thought, what am I going to do?

I'm in New York. And the next morning I had one phone number that I could call. And it was a girl who had gone to UCLA and was ahead of me. And she went to, came to New York and she left her phone number with a bunch of us in case we ever got to New York to give her call. So I had, I was the one number I had.

And I called her and it was Eleanor Eby. And the phone rang and I said, hello. I said, is Eleanor Eby there? And I said, wait a minute, Ellie, Ellie. And I'm hearing all this noise going on, people singing and stuff.

And she gets on the phone. Hello. I said, Ellie is care. You're here. Where are you?

I said, the Algonquin. She said, get out of it. Are you crazy? She said, come up here. I gave me the address.

I left Bing Bong. I'm, it's a brownstone four stories and I had no idea. But I rang the doorbell. Some gal opened the door. She said, what?

I said, I'm here to see Eleanor Eby. Oh, Ellie. And I go in and there's a parlor and a bunch of stairs going up to the various floors. And people are dancing and singing and playing the piano. And all women.

All women. And it's called the rehearsal club. And maybe about 25 women there there. And Ellie said, maybe we can get you a way to stay here. And she said, I'll introduce you to the house mother, Ms. Carlton.

And Ms. Carlton, she said, well, you're in like we have one cot available and it was $18 a week room and board. It was sponsored by a lot of rich New York ladies which made it possible for that to be so inexpensive. Oh, cool. And she said, this is a transit room.

So it's a big, and it's where we put new people and you'll have four roommates. There'll be five of you. And she said, there are rules. No men beyond the parlor. And they can't stay past 10 o'clock or midnight on weekends.

You cannot spend the night. You have to be in. It was very, very strict. And you have to be pursuing a career in the theater. You are allowed to take a part-time job to help pay for the rent.

But you must not go on auditions and so forth and so on. So it was very good. It's making me think of the Lucille Ball. That was a stage door. That's what it was written about.

Stage door was about the rehearsal club. That was it. And I was just going to absolutely. That was it. Also, it's the first time I had a bed.

I slept on the couch for 21 years. My grandmother slept on the Murphy bed. So I have a bed. Carol, you know, it makes me ask, you want to ask you, was there ever a job that made you feel secure, financially secure? Only when I got on the Gary Moore show and once upon a mattress.

Okay. Because once upon a mattress felt like a secure, like, okay, I've got a gig every week and I'm going to be okay and I'm going to be able to take care of my family. Were you taking care of your family then? Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. So once upon a mattress is a Broadway show that you open. That show, you were the original Winnefrena. Yeah. Okay.

So we've talked about it on this podcast, that particular show. And I know I've shared this with you because I got to be Winnefrena in my high school production and I was a part of my actress. And listen to your cast recording to try to learn the part and Rachel Dratch, the great Rachel Dratch from SNL also was in Once Upon a Mattress. She jokes that she was the boring part, the lady Larkin part. Right.

Yeah. And I spoke to her earlier today about you. You reminded me. I will. And we talked about how influential you were to us.

But when you were doing Once Upon a Mattress, you were finally getting paid to be an actor. $80 a week. Well, what happened? Actually, again, Claris, I had been auditioning before I got Mattress. When I left UCLA to go to New York, my friends said, what are you going to do?

I said, I'm going to go to New York and I'm going to be in a show directed by George Abbott. Now, George Abbott was Mr. Broadway. He directed Pajama Game, Jamie Agnes. He was the musical director of all time.

And I said that. I'm going to be in. Okay. But that's what I'm talking about. That's not clearance.

But that's manifested. You put it out there in the universe. That's right. So what happened was, you know, I was in New York for a while and then I got a chance to audition for a re they were going to reissue that re-do a show called Babes and Arms that Rogers and Hammerstein wrote. And they were going to open it in Florida and bring it to Broadway.

I auditioned and it looked like I was going to get the part of the girl who sings Johnny One Note. I was so excited and everything. And then and the director wanted me, but then they said, you know, Carol, we're going to go for someone who's got a name. Oh, so I hung up the phone swear to God. Two minutes later, the phone rang and it was Jean Eckhart who was producing a show call once upon a mattress.

And she said, can you come down now to the Phoenix Theatre and audition for George Abbott? Wow. And it's projection is that protection. I took this subway down. I sang what I had to do.

Do you remember your audition song? I sang everybody loves to take a bow. Was it's what I'm going to show called Hazel Flag. I got back. The phone was ringing.

They said, you got the part. And had I gotten Babes and Arms, which never left Florida. I wouldn't have had mattress. Isn't it weird how when you look at life and you think if just the slightest thing moved here and the slightest thing here. And some of the best things happen when you're disappointed at first.

That's right. You look back and say, you know, if that hadn't happened, this would. That's right. This episode is brought to you by Apple Watch. Your heart tells the story of your health.

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Can you tell everyone that story? I know you've told it before, but to me, you were very kind to talk and always talk about Lucy whenever you get a chance to, but you were very kind to talk about her and a documentary that I did. You told this story, which I think is not only so indicative of how wonderful and supportive a person she was, but how she saw in you something very, very special that we all eventually came to know. I remember we opened in May of 1959 and got great reviews. I was like, wow, I was thrilled.

And the second night, it was a buzz backstage and everything. And I said, what is it? Lucy's in the audience. I was more frightened. Oh, yeah.

She was, then I was opening night. Oh, what year was this? 1959. So I remember I was stupid. I peeked through and I saw this orange hair in the second row.

Oh, my God. Anyway, I got through the show and she wanted to come backstage and it was off-Broadway theatre and it was really funky. You know, I had a couch where the coil was sticking up. Yeah. And it was kind of, anyway, you know, I'm a salucible.

Oh, come on. And she headed for the couch and I said, oh, look, she said, no, I see it. So she sat on the right end of the couch and, oh, God, 20, 25 minutes. And she called me kid. She was 22 years old and she was leaving.

She said, kid, if you ever need me for anything, you give me a call. Wow. You know, so actually, about four years later, I was working and doing stuff and CBS wanted me to do an hour long special. Right. I could get a major guest star.

So the producer said, you got to call Lucy. I said, I can want to bother her. She can do a say, I'd love to kid, but I'm busy, you know, so I got up the nerve and I called her. Hey, kid, you're doing great. What's happening?

I'm doing a show. I know you're bad. I was like, and she said, hold on. When do you want me? She's such a bad.

So she did the show. We did it together. Yeah. I mean, I think about Lucy a lot when she was very ahead of her time and also we talked about this when we were when we talked about her together. She was producing and running shows, even though she wasn't getting the credit, just like you were producing your show.

She was so ahead of her time. Well, there's a story. When she did my show, you know, we had a lot of fun together and we were, had a dinner break. So we went across the way to the farmer's market, you know, and she's knocking back a couple of whiskey sours. And she says, you know, kid, because my husband at the time, Joe, was producing our show.

Yeah. You know, and I, he just did it. And she said, you're very fortunate. You've got Joe to do it for you. She said, because when I was married to the Cuban, she said, Desi did everything.

Yeah. He invented the three camera system. A lot of people don't know that he said he took care of the scripts. He took care of the costumes. He took care of the lighting.

All I had to do was come in and do silly Lucy on Monday and do the show. Then we got a divorce. She says, now I know I have to be like Desi. I got to get it. And she said, I didn't know what they had a script reading of the new Lucy show.

And she said, it was terrible. And I thought, well, Desi wasn't here to fix it. You know, she says, I got called lunch. She said, and I went back and I figured I have to be strong. I have to be confronted, but still not afraid.

You know, so she went back and she said, and I told them in no uncertain terms of writing what they had to do, how to fix it. I was just really tough. And then she took another little drink. She said, and kid, that's when they put the S on the end of my last name. Yeah.

Yeah. And so we, every birthday, on my birthday, she was in the flowers. Happy birthday, kid. And this one morning I got up, it was my birthday and she had died that day on my birthday. And I got to flowers that afternoon.

Happy birthday, kid. Do you believe in ghosts or spirits? I don't not believe in them. Yeah. Do you feel like you've ever been visited by?

Yeah, I feel like you'd be a funny ghost. Oh, hello. Yeah. You know, see if you're here. We get out, we just bored out.

But yeah, I mean, and Carol, you're like that for so many people. I mean, I feel like you're a mentor to so many women. Like you said, you got things handed to you and you handed down. You passed it on. The spirit of that felt like it was embedded in the Caravanette show because you were skipping a lot.

But obviously you go to a New York, you're in Broadway, you're in Broadway, you're Gary Moore. And do you feel like, I mean, you were physical in a way back then and away back and away now. I mean, first of all, you look terrific. You look terrific. You're 92?

Yeah. I mean, you're just, I mean, physically, your body has been so good to you. You have a command of your body and always have. And it's like, and I guess one of the questions that Rachel Dratch and Rachel had that we were talking about is this idea of physical comedy, which was, I love doing it. Yeah, when you would do the show, would you do warmups, like physical warmups, would you stretch?

Like before the show was about to start. I was very athletic as a kid. I would roll a skate. I would do all kinds of climate sign. Yeah.

Yeah. And so I was quite, and I could run like the wind. I was very fast. Would you have those legs, Carol? Well, they're the last things to go.

Babe, you got, I mean, what I would give for long legs, you have the best legs. Thank you. You probably could have been a long distance runner. When I was in your high school, my physical teacher, because I could run, she sent a letter home to my grandmother saying, could Carol stay after school? And I could be coaching her.

And my grandmother said, no, running is bad for the heart. Whatever that was. That was, that was definitely back then when everyone was a little scared of everything. Everything. Yeah.

Like she said, when I went to New York, yeah, yeah, we did an awake or bloods to there. Yeah. So yeah, so physically, and also, Carol, do you feel like you have a thing that happens because you've done a lot of live stuff where when there's something that's a little wrong, you know, something's going a little wrong. There's like a little fun electricity where you get where you get excited. Okay.

Now what am I going to do? Yeah. You've always had that. Yeah. I love that.

Yeah. Like we were accused a lot of breaking up. And out of the show, there would be people you guys would laugh. Well, yeah. But out of 270 so much shows, I can't, there was, in fact, I kind of looked at stuff because it was usually Conway who was after Harvey to break him up.

I don't think we more than 15 times of 200. But people remember that. Yeah. Because it was so delicious. It was.

But then people say, Mother shouldn't have done that. That kind of fun goof around thing. Oh, yeah. I mean, that just goes to show I think what I felt watching even from, you know, it was a family. Yeah.

Yeah. It was 10 years that you made that show together. 11. And what was it? I decided I wanted to quit after 11.

Do you remember the last moment of the last show? Well, yeah, it was when I sat on the bucket as the charwoman and then I just talked about how we were going to not come back, you know, and I cried. It was bittersweet. Yeah. But it was time.

Yeah. But the first thing I was going to say about how important that show was to me is you, and I know you've spoken about how it was a section that, at first you thought, I'm not sure why I'm doing this. But do you watch your old stuff? Do you watch Clips and stuff? I'm not like Norma Desmond.

You're not in your bedroom all day watching on Clips and herself? Yeah, the face is then. But you must, everyone said, well, stumble across something that comes, your phone must know who you are. Well, yeah, yeah. Well, actually, when I wrote my last book was about doing the show.

So I had to watch a lot to, you know, I went fast through some of the, and some of the sketches I, oh, God, they were terrible. Yeah. And some were wonderful. I remember it a lot. Yeah.

Yeah. Do you, and do you watch comedy now? Like, well, I asked my guests, not really. Yeah. Do you watch anything now that you're liking or?

I watch T.C.M. I go to the visit all the people that I loved when I was growing up. Who did you, comedically? Who did you love growing up? Who did you love?

Who would you visit right now if you could on T.C.M.? Carol Lombard. Yeah, that's who my mother named me after actually. She was a beautiful comedic actress and could really, you know, with a turn of it to this, she was, and that's the movies. You know, comedically, I kind of fashioned my show not only after Gary, but after Sid Caesar.

And Sonny and Cher were in the same studio as you, right? They were next door. Do you and Cher hang out? You know. Did you guys ever hang out?

Not really. Did you watch their show? Yeah. Did you watch their show? And you saw many times our studios were joined by the ladies' room in Men's Room.

So if there was a break or I had to go through the ladies' room and watch they rehearse something, sometimes she and Sonny, and even separately, sometimes just walk on while I was sitting there and just doing questions and answers. I'll probably get around. You always great fun. Oh, that's so fun. She's lovely.

She is lovely. I mean, I don't know. We just don't run around the same circle. She just seems cool. She's cool.

Cher, if you're listening. We love you. She should come on that show. You heard it here for Cher. Carol said she'd be a great guest.

She'd be a great guest. I'd love to have her on. What's your sign, Carol? What's your sign? A Taurus?

Of course. Earth sign. What does that mean? I'm lying on bull. You're bull.

By your and Earth sign, I'm a Virgo. Tina's a Taurus. I know nothing about astrology. Yeah. But only who else is Taurus is Shirley McLean and Barbara Streisand.

They have the same birthday. You heard it here. Carol thinks you guys should come on this podcast too. I think so. One of the most special moments of doing your wonderful special that you and Brian produced for your birthday a couple of years ago.

Number one, it was like the first time I had been out since COVID. But also you and Julie Andrews were together. You held hands during a lot of that. Yeah. Right, so.

Yeah. Tell us when you first met Julie and how important a friend she is. I was doing mattress and she was in Camelot. So she was a queen and I was a princess. And some friends, mutual friends said you two ought to meet because there's a similarity there.

And later on, Julie, don't even talk about, come on. It's like a blind date. You ought to be to see it. Anyway, she had Sunday night off from Camelot and we worked on Sunday night. So she came with her friend.

And I had my friend there, two gentlemen, just friends and she watched mattress and we went out to a Chinese restaurant afterwards and we never stopped talking to each other. The poor guys who were with us, they just sat there and listen, it was as if we were joined at the hip from the beginning and always and she taught me some dirty words. Did you know that being so, you know, you don't have to swear. No, occasionally. Yeah.

Occasionally. If I stub my toe, you know what comes out. And what kind of friend is Julie? My chum, we love each other. We were like our sisters.

She don't, unfortunately, I'm not unfortunate, but for me, and yeah, she lives on the East Coast. Yeah. So you can. So yeah, we, it was so sweet of her to come to the 90th. Yeah.

To be with you. Where were you when the sound of music came out? Did you go to the premiere? Do you remember the movie? Yeah.

No, I didn't go to the premiere, but I remember she used to send me dirty limericks when she was filming. Perfect. She did, I wish I could remember it or even tell it. I think about, she did a whole parody on these are a few of my favorite things. I mean, brilliant.

So good. So good. So good. Okay. And then you worked with some, you've worked with amazing people.

You have had an amazing life where you've gotten to play around with people who are kind of at the beginning of their careers and their careers. Was there anyone that you met as a young actor? I love to ask people this. Like a young, you met them and it was maybe their first job and you saw something and you said, oh, they're going to be very successful and favorite. Vicky Lawrence.

She brought me a fan letter and we were going to do the show and we knew we were going to do something with Harvey and me where I'd be raising my kid sister and we'd be a married couple. And so I'm reading my fan mail. And this was in December of 66 and we were going to go on in the fall of 67 and I'm opening up this letter and it's from this 17 year old girl, Vicky Lawrence, who's very nice letter saying people say that I remind them of you and you know, and then she enclosed a newspaper article that had her picture in it. She looked so much like me when I was 17. That's interesting.

And then in the article, they said she was going to be in a contest called Miss Fireball of Inglewood with eight other girls. And so the local paper was doing a bit on each one of those girls that this was her article and I look at it and then I look at the date. The contest is tonight. The letter had been set three weeks ago and it got to me from CBS tonight. So my husband's coming downstairs and I said, don't get too comfortable.

We're going to the Miss Fireball contest tonight. He said, what? And I showed him the article. But should you be okay, but shouldn't you try to tell her? You know, don't make her nervous.

I said, you're right. Her father's name was listed in the article, Howard Lawrence. So I called the operator and I said, got the phone number. And so it rings and this lady has just hello. I said, hi, I said, is Vicki Lawrence there?

And she said, this is her mother. Who's calling? And I said, it's Carol. Vicki comes up here footsteps and Vicki comes up to, yeah, hi, Marsha. It's not Marsha.

Is Carol, I got it. Would you be okay if we come to the crowd? Okay. So we went. Wow.

And she did a couple of jokes as she sang and she won the contest. And she was like you in peeking out and seeing, just like you saw Lucy, she's peeking out seeing Carol. Exactly. And so I was in touch with, I said, we're going to be doing a little, well, be in touch. We're going to be doing a little very famous show that's going to change comedy.

But so we called her that summer and she came and read. And there was another girl who had a lot of experience. Vicki was wrong, but it's not something. You saw something. And today, no network would let us do that.

Higher than 18 year old girl with no experience. That's right. I'm going to talk forever about the biz because the biz has changed so much. I know. You know, it's, you can't be happy being 92, but I'm glad I'm 92 because none of this would have happened today for me.

It might have been something might have happened, but it wouldn't be. There's no way we could do what we did before. 28 piece orchestra, 65 to 70 costumes a week, two guest stars, a major, you know, a rep company. Yeah. You know, and also CBS left us alone.

Right. Are you telling me that they really didn't give you any notes? That was one note in 11 years. Sorry, I'm laughing. It's the guy who was doing a sketch where I was a nudist.

And I'm behind a fence that says keep out. And so I'm hanging over the fence, you know, bare shoulder and then my legs are bare with high top tennis shoes and Harvey's voice over. And it's just, he's interviewing me. And it's a bunch of jokes about a nudist colony. I mean, it's no big deal.

Right. So one of the lines with, so what do you nudists do for entertainment? You know, I said, well, we have dances every Saturday night. And he said, oh, how do you nudist dance? And I said, very carefully.

Well, that was too blue. You have to change that line. Sometimes the change is even dirtier. Hello. So what do you do?

Well, we have dances every Saturday night. Well, how do you do? How do you dance? Cheek-a-cheek. Incredible.

So much better. And they were like, that's it. That's better. That's good. Also, I don't have really any questions other than Annie.

That's all Carol. Just Annie was so important. Annie is remained so important, but was very important to Gen X women. Wow. I mean, I've talked about it with Rachel Dratchen, a bunch of people in this, like, how big Annie was as a musical.

It was all parts. We were that age. And then when the movie came out, we thought, okay, here comes the movie. And when you were Miss Hannigan, it was like I saw that character for the first time. I really understood her.

I went to John Euston at the beginning. And I said, I think she should drink. It wasn't in the original that she should have a little difficult because it would only make sense that this won't go. Yes. That's a good idea, Derralized the Way to Now.

This is my favorite story about Annie. Tim Curry, Bernadette and I, the villains, Easy Street was going to be this big number. So being a Hollywood movie, they decided to change it from the original, where it's just the three in the orphanage to this big, huge thing where they had this street open up. They had 400 dancers, singers, this people hanging out. I even had a monkey grinder with a monkey in there.

And Tim and Bernadette, this takes away from the number. It's a big Hollywood production. Huge. It's a week to film. And at that time, a million dollars or so.

Okay. All right. So we wrapped. I flew back. I was at the time living in Honolulu.

Bernadette flew back to New York, Jim London. And I had always wanted more of a chin. I had a week chin. Now there was an orthopedic surgeon in Honolulu who said, you know, I can just get a little more. I said, I don't want to be Kirk Douglas.

I don't want to be, I want to, I want to, I want to, I want to, I want to, I want to, I want to, I want to, I want to, I want to, I want to, I want to, I want to, I want to, I want to kind of like to feel like, you know, I was just like, two or three millimeters. I'll just, I have a little more of a chin. Yeah. Okay. So no big deal.

He fixed it and had a more of a chin. Okay. So about a month later, I get a call and it's a race start. Who's a producer? He said, we're going to reshoot the easy street member, which is the three of you.

I said, thank goodness. That's great. So now Jim and Bernadette and I are in her office, handling his arm and Mr. Houston says, well, what I think we'll do is we'll do it from when Carol ran into the closet to find Annie's lock it. We'll pick it up when she comes out with the lock it.

I went to Mr. Houston, call me John here. John, two months ago when I ran into the closet, I didn't have a chin. And now I'm coming out of the closet with the chin. He thought, sure minute.

Thanks. Well, dear, just come out looking determined. Great direction. I mean, I guess I want to end, Carol, by asking you, what is the best part about being in your 90s? That you're not 105.

Yeah. That's, that's, that's, yeah, they're good. Yeah. Do you feel like a kid? I was like, oh, a bunch of us were sitting around the table.

So how do you really feel inside? I said, 11 percent. And I remember maybe that's because that's when I would climb the sign. When I would roll her skate, when I would put my hand press with Betty Grebel. I don't, I don't know.

But something about being 11. Go figure. Well, I loved you when I was 11. So when I'm with you, I feel 11 too. So it's really nice.

And you know, you know, I knew I was going to cry. I knew I was going to cry. And Jenna said when I cry that she would start saying, cry, cry. But I knew I would cry about Carol. That is that sense of play, that sense of play.

Like, you know, you, especially young girls, like, went, they're kind of really magical at 11. They haven't quite become so conscious. Maybe that's it. Yeah, they're not too smart. Yeah.

That's why we're not talking about teenagers. Good luck. Yeah. 11 is still very sweet. Yeah.

When they're teenagers, you are so stupid. Yeah. You have no idea what life is about because you're too old. Totally. But they're like, like, tender moment before you become self-conscious when you can still kind of like do your thing and not really remember when my daughter, Carrie, who we lost a few years ago, when she was five years old, we caught her in a fib.

And I said, that's not good. So you have your dinner and you go up to bed and you can't stay up. And then I went in afterwards and she was upset. And I sat on her bed and I'm looking at her and I said, sweetheart, you know, we love you very much. But you know, if you tell a little fib, then later on it might become bigger and people don't want to be a liar.

And she is looking at me like, you know, I'm thinking, I'm going to get a medal as a mother of the year. I am so happy. I could hear violins. I was so perfect. And she's looking at me.

And finally I stopped. Are you okay, sweetheart? You want to say anything? She said, what, darling? She said, how many teeth do you have?

Yeah. Okay. Perfect. Perfect. Yes.

May we all get back to that in a second time. Thank you so much for doing this. And me so much. Thank you for coming. Well, thank you so much, Carol Burnett.

I cried. And look, I don't want this to become a thing. Okay. I don't love crying. But if anyone's going to get me there, it's Carol Burnett.

I'm now technically using the good hand tissues that I have mocked other people for using. And now, well, it got me. So, Karma's a bitch. But for this polar plunge, I guess just, you know, thank you, Carol. You are a legend.

And you mean so much to me. Thank you for doing the show. And it just also makes me think about all the women that we talked about in this interview, Lucille Ball, Betty Graybell, Linda Darnell, Phyllis Diller, Elaine May. You know, all these different actresses, do yourself a favor and check them out. Type them in your phone or ask your computer to bring up a picture of them or whisper into your robot's ear that you want to see some of their highlights because it's just a reminder of all the good performances.

And also watch that great film stage door, which is a great film about what Carol was talking about about women living in a house trying to be actresses. Anyway, I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm crying. I cried. It's over.

I've lost all credibility. Thank you so much for listening. And we'll see you. Bye. Thank you.