WEBVTT - Carol Burnett 0:00:02.560 --> 0:00:05.360 This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the thing, 0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:09.680 My chance to talk with artists, policy makers and performers 0:00:10.039 --> 0:00:14.120 to hear their stories. What inspires their creations, what decisions 0:00:14.200 --> 0:00:19.240 change their careers, what relationships influenced their work. My guest 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:26.000 today is Carol Burnett. What brings you to terra? You 0:00:26.000 --> 0:00:28.880 you fix and you start it? I love you that 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:34.000 that that gown is gorgeous. Thank you, Stan Wind and 0:00:34.040 --> 0:00:38.920 I just couldn't resist. That's Carol as Starlett O'Hara making 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:41.559 a grand entrance wearing a set of curtains as a 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:46.239 dress with the rod still attached. Harvey Corman is smitten 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:49.440 as Captain Ratt Butler in this Gone with the Wind 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:53.760 parody on the Carol Burnett Show. The chemistry between the 0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:57.680 players on this show Burnett, Corman and also Vicky Lawrence, 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:02.040 Tim Conway and Lyle Wagoner is legendary. The show ran 0:01:02.160 --> 0:01:05.840 for eleven seasons. The first five seasons have been recently 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:10.120 released on DVD. They haven't been seen since airing over 0:01:10.240 --> 0:01:13.480 forty years ago. It is incredible and you see them 0:01:13.560 --> 0:01:17.319 and it's the first time we did the soap opera takeoff. 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:20.280 The first time, you know, Vicky and her when we 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:24.520 started out, and we were pretty raw, pretty braw. We're 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:26.319 gonna get to that because when I watched the show, 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:29.360 I saw so many little tells and so many little 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:33.119 things about how you guys crack each other up. Obviously 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:36.760 there's there's things you guys do to each other and 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:40.440 you can just see you almost with joy and almost 0:01:40.640 --> 0:01:43.720 loathing that they're like, you're kind of torturing. It's like 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:47.480 getting the giggles in church. Yes, you know. But Alex, 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:50.920 when we started the show, uh, I wanted to do 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:54.440 it as a live show. We couldn't really do it 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:57.680 live because the studio, which I love that studio because 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:00.760 it was like a TV City TV City, uh Studio 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:04.520 thirty three, which is like a little theater. You know, 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:07.480 it's like senium and the seats are down. It's not 0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:10.240 like the teared things that you have, you know when 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:14.480 when other shows, you know, and so I loved that, 0:02:14.760 --> 0:02:18.200 but we couldn't There were no flies in the theater. 0:02:18.280 --> 0:02:20.120 By that I mean where you could fly the scenery 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:22.320 in and out and really do a live show. But 0:02:22.440 --> 0:02:25.960 I wanted it to go fast because we had a 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:29.600 studio audience there and I couldn't stand to keep them waiting, 0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:33.240 because if they get bored and sit there for a 0:02:33.280 --> 0:02:36.120 long time while we take our time changing clothes and 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:40.079 so forth, we lose them. So we lose that energy 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:43.639 and enthusiasm that that you get when an audience is hot. 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:46.440 So I would have a bet with the stage hands 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:49.200 that I could do a skin out change faster than 0:02:49.240 --> 0:02:53.000 they could move that sofa across the rough. And also 0:02:53.480 --> 0:02:56.720 I didn't want um. I didn't want to stop and 0:02:56.760 --> 0:03:00.400 do pick ups something went wrong. I figured unless the 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:03.800 scenery fell down and knocked us out in ahead, I 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:07.960 wanted to keep going. So when somebody would add lib 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:10.680 or do a bit that we had not done before, 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:14.800 we never broke up on purpose ever. Ever, I just well, 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:17.000 let's it was understood that you would add lib. It 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:19.920 was understood that that was well. We never said it. 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:23.160 It just started happening, so we just let it go. 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:28.840 Who was the bad boy in church? Usually? Do you 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:34.880 have comedy insurance? Yes? Yeah, because Harvey was trying to 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:38.600 put him on and then Tim came up and topped him. 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:41.840 I don't suppose you have comedy insurance down there, do you? Yeah? 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:45.880 It was brilliant. I don't believe when you watch this shows. 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:49.640 When you watch these shows, you're lost episodes. So that 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:53.760 audiences from our show understand that it was sixty seven 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:58.360 through seventy. Those eleven years and the first five years 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:01.600 of the show you're referring to as the lost episodes. 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:03.440 And when you see so this is the crowd young, 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:07.520 and you see over eleven years people get older. Harvey 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:09.839 has a nice kind of auburn color to his hair, 0:04:10.440 --> 0:04:13.760 and then Harvey has like a steel color to his hair, 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:17.080 and Vicky grows older, and everybody, not in any bad way, 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:19.320 but everybody in eleven years is a long time. You 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:24.440 don't see that on TV. But I will say with 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:27.680 all sincerity that I don't think you'd have to go 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:32.960 to Fred ash Stare and Gene Kelly in my mind 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:36.760 to find someone who is as trim and fit and 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:41.039 lithe as you on stage. You never had to exercise 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:43.239 a day in your life. The show was your workout. 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:46.679 The things you do when you're scissoring your way across 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:49.440 the floor during the fire scene because you think the 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:51.720 fire is happening. I look at you, and oh my god, 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:55.440 look at this woman. What she's doing to herself was 0:04:55.480 --> 0:05:00.640 it physically as demanding as it seemed, I never felt that. No, 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:04.640 I'm just in it. Well, you know, the the adrenaline 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:08.760 starts pumping when you're performing and everything. And I'm really 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:11.760 not that live. I mean, I I still can't touch 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:14.239 my toes without bending my knees. I'm not that good. 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:17.440 But I was able to do a lot of stunts 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:19.680 and things like that. I don't know. I just threw 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:21.720 myself into it. You don't think about it when you're 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:23.360 doing it. And I never hurt myself. I got a 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:25.240 few bruises here and there once in a while, but 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:29.159 I never broke a bone jumping out of windows, falling downstairs, 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:33.000 crashing through doors with burn metals exactly. Yeah, and that 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:35.040 and and there you do that exit with Burt medals. 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:36.760 I mean, I always joke with people and say, when 0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:39.599 I was young, and I was younger, I was pretty fit. 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:43.400 I said, now I'm older, and I probably could do 0:05:43.520 --> 0:05:46.400 some of those things again. But it's more my doubts 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:48.680 or my more of my concerns about it. I say 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:51.240 to somebody, like, in my real life, I might not 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:53.880 be as physically engaged as I was, But if you 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:55.680 pay me a couple of million dollars. I can still 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:57.200 run down the street with a gun in my head. 0:05:57.800 --> 0:05:59.440 It's always funny I can do what if the characters 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:02.080 doing that? You know that I'm saving a baby from 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:06.479 climbing into a well. I totally agree. And uh, in fact, 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:10.359 I never knew sometimes how I was going to do 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:14.760 a character until I got into the outfit. Interesting, I've 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:18.040 worked from the outside in. You know some actors worked 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:20.839 from the inside out. I Uh, there were lots of 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:22.560 times I had no idea what I was going to 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:24.839 do until I went into the costume fitting and saw 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:28.360 what Bob Mackie had created for me. How did that 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:32.320 union with him and that collaboration with him begin? Where 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:35.000 did you first meet Bob? Well when we were getting 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:36.520 ready to do the show, and we said, you know, 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:40.200 costuming is going to be really important because the costume 0:06:40.240 --> 0:06:44.520 designer isn't going to just design for me. That costume 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:47.960 designer is going to design for every everybody you see 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:53.560 on the screen, dancers, singers, guest stars, rep company. Everything 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:57.280 you see has to be coordinated by the one person. 0:06:57.839 --> 0:07:04.040 So um we had seen um Alison Wonderland on television. 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:07.640 I remember Carol Channing was the Queen of Diamonds or 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:13.840 Hearts or something like that, but fantastic, wonderful costuming. And 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:17.880 then I'd seen Mizzy Keener I think it was in Vegas, 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:21.600 and aside from the gorgeous gowns she wore, she also 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:24.680 did a lot of fall down humor and you know, 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:29.040 fat suits and crazy outfits and so forth. And the 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:32.320 common denominator was Bob Mackie, and we said, you know, 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:34.920 we've got to meet Bob Mackie and see if maybe, 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:37.360 you know, he would be the one. So we got 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:40.560 in touch with him and he came over to her 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:44.400 house bing bong. I opened the door and there stood 0:07:44.400 --> 0:07:46.840 this guy that looked like he was twelve years old, 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:50.280 just fresh and adorable, and he came in. He was 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:55.000 about twenty four five years old, and he we just 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:57.200 liked him right away. We knew he had the talent. 0:07:57.280 --> 0:08:00.240 So we hired him right then on the spot. And 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:02.120 it was one of the best decisions. You see me, 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:05.960 who was we my husband? To talk about your husband, well, Joe, 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:09.440 Joe Hamilton's was the producer of the Gary Moore Show. 0:08:09.480 --> 0:08:11.560 That's where we met. And so when I was going 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:14.560 to do my show, of course he was going to 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:17.240 be the producer. So we were, and you were on Broadway. 0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:20.160 I had been, and then we moved to California. For 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:25.400 moving to California, well, I ready, I was raised there. Yeah, 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:28.520 I was raised in your grandmother in Hollywood. I didn't 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:31.360 know that. I'm I know you grew up in San Antonio. No, 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:34.319 I grew up I was seven years old. And then 0:08:34.360 --> 0:08:36.600 we left and moved to Hollywood at a granny's house. 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:41.880 That's right. We're in Hollywood, a one room apartment, one 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:45.000 block north of Hollywood Boulevard, the one that Now this 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:47.000 is what you pulled on your ear? Yeah, that was 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:50.760 hello to her? Yes, yes, And where was she at 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:52.439 the end of her life, still in California? Was still 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:55.600 in California? Did she come and see? Well, she she 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:58.480 died before I got my show, but she had seen 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:00.680 me do the Gary Moore Show, in the had Sullivan 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:05.920 Show and so forth. And you accomplished. Yeah. Well, at 0:09:05.960 --> 0:09:08.160 first when I got the chance to go to New 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:11.800 York from California, because I wanted to be on Broadway, 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:14.520 I wanted to be ethel Merman, Mary Martin, you know that. 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:19.880 And she was not for it. She said, you're bloodstooth 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:22.040 it and you'll be dead in a week in New York. 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:23.679 Why do you think she said that she didn't want 0:09:23.720 --> 0:09:25.080 me to go. She was trying to talk to you 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:26.839 out of it. Yeah, she didn't want to lose you. 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:30.160 Correct to show business. Correct is the sodom and gomra. 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:34.040 She just didn't want me to be away from her. Yeah, 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:36.600 to leave her. But when I got my first show, 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:40.440 it was a Paul Winchell Kitty TV show, I auditioned 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:43.040 and I got a gig on that, and I called 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:44.800 Nanny and I said, Nanny, I'm going to be on 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:48.040 Paul Winchell Show Saturday. And she said, well, say hello 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:50.920 to me and said, Nanny, I don't think they're gonna 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:56.680 let me say so. We uh, we figured out I'd 0:09:56.679 --> 0:09:59.400 pull my ear, which meant hi, Nanny, I love you, 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:02.079 and then lay or when I got successful at Mannheim, Nanny, 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:07.160 I love you. Your checks on the way and when 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:10.920 you when you go. How would you describe when you're 0:10:10.920 --> 0:10:13.360 on Gary Moore show. You're one of a company, Yes, 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:17.959 and you come to Los Angeles to do your show 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:21.920 and you're part of a company, But you're not just 0:10:22.040 --> 0:10:23.760 part of a company. You're the star of the show. 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:29.640 With your show, however, But I remember Gary Moore and 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:32.800 I learned a lot from him. He was so wonderful 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:35.079 and it was his show, The Gary Moore Show, and 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:39.000 it was very popular, variety comedy variety show. And Derward 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:43.040 Kirby was a sidekick Gerward and me and Mary and 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:47.240 Lauren were the second bananas, but he never treated us 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:50.679 as second bananas. For instance, Alex, we would come in 0:10:50.800 --> 0:10:53.240 on a Monday to read the script for that week, 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:55.600 and he'd look at it and he said, and he'd 0:10:55.640 --> 0:10:58.760 have a joke or something. He said, you know, I 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:02.160 can't I can't give this joke to Durward he can 0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:05.240 do it better than me. Or give this line to Carol. 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:08.280 She she can't say it funnier than I can't. So 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:10.560 it was a true rep company, and that's what I 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:15.720 learned about my show. He set a true you know, 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:17.920 so his name was on it, but we were a 0:11:17.920 --> 0:11:21.320 true rep company. My name was, you know, the head 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:24.680 of it. We were a true rep company. Because when 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:28.640 that happens and you don't want to hog it, you know, uh, 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:31.800 the show gets better. You give it to Tim, you 0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:35.880 give it to who's got yeah, and and do it 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:38.760 you know, Oh, you know, years ago when I was 0:11:38.800 --> 0:11:41.600 doing the Gary Moore Show. One of the guests that 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:46.280 week one week was ed Wynn, you know, the old 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:50.160 wonderful Vaudevillian comedian. And so we were sitting around lunch 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:53.160 one day and he was regaling us with stories and stuff, 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:56.520 and he said he started to talk about the difference 0:11:56.720 --> 0:12:00.840 between a comic and a comedic actor, and Gary said, 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:05.760 what is it? He said, well, a comic says funny 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:10.079 things like Bob Hope. A comedic actor like Jack Benny 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:15.959 says things funny. Well that good. So Joe, your husband 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:18.960 and you you get out to l A, you start 0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:21.760 to do the show. Who's in charge creatively? Who's the 0:12:21.760 --> 0:12:25.680 final word creatively? We both you and your husband. Yeah, 0:12:25.720 --> 0:12:28.640 we've done cast the show. Where did you find them? Well, 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:32.520 Harvey was on the Danny Kay Show. Danny had a 0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:35.360 comedy variety show and Harvey was his How many years 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:39.400 did show run? You know, I don't know, fine, something 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:42.080 like yeah more than two right, And he was going 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:44.520 to go off the air. And we had seen his 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:47.000 show and love the show, and we said this, Harvey 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:50.520 Corman is just sense. It's like Carl Reiner to Sid 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:53.640 Caesar and Art Carney to Jackie Gleeson. You know, we 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:56.360 wanted to get a rep company. We said, oh my god, 0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:59.120 and Danny's show was going off the air when we 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:03.200 were going on. We said, let's get Harvey Corman. So 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:06.000 that's what we did. I practically attacked him in a 0:13:06.080 --> 0:13:09.760 parking lot at CBS. I think we had already called 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:12.760 his agent, but I I ran into him. Not I 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:14.880 wasn't in a car, but I ran into him in 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:17.880 the parking lot at CBS, and I just grabbed, you 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:19.839 gotta be on my show. You gotta be on it. 0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:23.679 So we got him and Tim, well, Tim was it 0:13:23.760 --> 0:13:26.960 a regular at the get go. He yeah. We had 0:13:27.040 --> 0:13:30.760 him on maybe twice a month or something until duh, 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:33.520 finally the penny dropped him. We hired him in the 0:13:33.600 --> 0:13:38.760 ninth year for every single week. I mean, was he 0:13:38.800 --> 0:13:41.520 had He was it something you just hadn't considered. He 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:43.600 wasn't available, he didn't want to sign on. Well, he 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:46.559 had done a couple of other shows in the meantime 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:49.280 he did. He had a variety show that didn't work, 0:13:49.320 --> 0:13:52.440 and he had a comedy western that was filmed, which 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:54.600 was a big mistake because Tim needs to be in 0:13:54.600 --> 0:13:58.080 front of an audience. You know, I have a funny 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:01.679 story about his can's elation for this one. It's a 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:04.760 funny s cancelation story i've ever heard. He was doing 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:08.760 this show called Wrango and it was he was inept 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:12.440 cowboy and it was filmed and so, and it was 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:16.480 not very good. So he's in the motor home after 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:19.160 they've done one scene one day and he's changing and 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:21.640 putting on his boots and stuff like that, and there's 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:24.880 a knock on the door and it was an underling 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:28.200 actually from ABC, who was sent to tell him that 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:32.520 the show was canceled. But he was nervous and he said, 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:36.920 I'm uh warn't Warren Tart or somebody from ABC MI MI, 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:41.359 Mr Conrad and Tim said why how are you? What? 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:45.480 What can I do for you? And the guy said, uh, 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:50.360 stop doing this. You can pack up your dressing room. 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:54.680 He just didn't. He he took off his boots and 0:14:54.720 --> 0:14:58.200 went home. In fact, every show he'd done only ran 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:00.800 about thirteen weeks because that was an arm then and 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:03.120 then it was canceled. So at one point he had 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:08.160 a license plate that said thirteen weeks. But what a genius? 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:11.760 Who was the woman you're in a sketch, and I 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:16.760 was maybe one of them, the one with the French 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:23.800 revolutionary sketchy. She was. She was on our show nineteen times. 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:28.000 She was. She's still with us. Nanny's about she's in 0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:33.080 her nineties and she was wonderful to work with, absolutely wonderful. 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:35.840 You you are you see you're talking to someone who 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:38.920 you know. Back then show business with show business, he 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:43.480 did Broadway that you did, uh sitcoms and variety shows 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:45.760 like yours, the old great variety shows that you don't 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:50.320 see as much anymore. You did game shows, passwords there 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:54.720 passed Alan Luddon. Yes, you saw you saw Geene Rayburn 0:15:54.840 --> 0:15:59.880 with that antenna like microphone match game. Richard Dawson was 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:02.840 smash my gosh. And who was the one that was 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:09.160 Klugman's wife Brett Brett Summers those people because you knew 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:13.120 they all had like a flask, they were having a drink. 0:16:14.280 --> 0:16:16.920 It was a party. Well they did that with Hollywood Square, 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:22.320 Hollywood Square and everybody would get Snucker exactly. We would 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:24.800 do Paul lind in my house to harass my mother. 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:30.320 I had a childhood that was just immersed. It was 0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:34.240 just a wash in this comedy. I watched you, I 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:38.360 watched Gleeson, I watched Alan Funt. I mean, I'm a 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:42.640 kid born in nine, grew up in the sixties watching TV, 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:46.120 pretty much a bandon TV after that. And then I 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:48.240 go and I go to acting school, and of course 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:51.800 everyone wants to do O'Neil and check Off and Ibsen, 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:54.520 and we all want to plumb the depths of our soul, 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:56.960 and rightfully so. But then I do a sitcom and 0:16:57.000 --> 0:16:59.400 I realized I'm stealing from all those people. And I 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:03.320 saw and no one more than Corman, no one more 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:07.800 than And he is so talented. He was one is 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:12.120 timing and his tone he could when he did still 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:17.560 Zachary Scott in Mildred Farce. You know, unbelievable, how he 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:21.400 smarmie he was, and he channeled Clark Gable. I mean, 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:23.800 I swear he didn't know how he was. He was 0:17:23.920 --> 0:17:25.960 so nervous that week when we were going to do 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:29.120 Went with the Wind, uh, and he said, I can't 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:32.600 do Gable. But the minute he got into the drag, 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:36.879 he became again what I was talking about. He became 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:39.800 custom lead the way, yeah, and the wig and the 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:43.359 and the mustache and the whole outfit. And everything. He 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:49.159 became Clark Gable. The show is, of course. I mean 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:51.680 I want to talk about it in terms of not 0:17:51.800 --> 0:17:53.879 how things have changed, because I think people beat that 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:55.760 to death a little bit. But I mean, you're a 0:17:55.840 --> 0:18:00.280 woman at your show, and did everybody uh treat you 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:01.920 the way you wanted to be treated? Back then? It 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:04.159 was all like yeah, yeah, sure, honey, put Joe on 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:07.960 the phone. That's about right. Well, I it was my 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:13.480 doing too, you know. I in that era there the 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:16.280 only one who really would speak up was Lucy. She 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:20.399 was very strong. But it's not in my nature to 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:24.239 take over confront or anything. You know, like if if 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:27.920 a sketch wasn't working or something, instead of like Gleason 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:31.119 or Sid would say, let's look, guys, the stinks now, 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:33.200 come on, you gotta fix it. But but you know 0:18:33.280 --> 0:18:37.159 they would do that. I would say, I'd call the 0:18:37.200 --> 0:18:40.560 writers down into the rehearsal hall and I'd say, you know, guys, um, 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:43.640 I'm not doing this too well. Do you think maybe 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:46.640 you could help me out with a different line here there? 0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:49.880 Because you know, otherwise I would have been a bit 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:54.639 in their you know. And yeah, and I wired the writers. 0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:58.760 How many writers did you have Well, we had about 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:03.919 seven for the comedy, and we had three special material 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:06.639 writers who did all the original music and songs and 0:19:06.760 --> 0:19:11.040 medley and finales and so a music department, right, and 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:14.480 uh so that was fine, but I would have a saying. 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:17.879 I'd walk into the writer's room. Ernie Rosen was our 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:19.960 head writer, and I said, you know, I'd love to 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:23.040 do Mildred Pierce. Can we do Mildred Pierce someday? Or 0:19:23.080 --> 0:19:26.439 I want to do Postman Always Rings twice, Double Indemnity, 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:31.040 African Queen Love Story, all of those you got, Well, 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:32.960 we never did that. Let me go back and do 0:19:33.640 --> 0:19:36.119 that one, you know. And so they would do that. 0:19:36.320 --> 0:19:40.840 But I did dream a sketch once. I dreamed can 0:19:40.880 --> 0:19:43.960 you say it on the air? Sure it was. I 0:19:44.080 --> 0:19:45.879 dreamed it, and we put it on the air. I 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:49.879 was in a shower, I mean the door covered me, 0:19:50.040 --> 0:19:52.560 you know, and the water was coming down and I 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:57.440 was getting wet and washing and I'm singing, well on 0:19:57.520 --> 0:20:01.480 the moment I wake up, dream a little dream of you, 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:04.680 and I'm singing. The band is playing so forth, and 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:08.480 then I turned the water off, get a towel, kind 0:20:08.520 --> 0:20:11.200 of dry off, wrap it around myself, opened the door 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:14.960 exit and the camera pans in and there are three 0:20:15.160 --> 0:20:22.160 musicians in tuxedos playing ringing wet your there. It worked, 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:25.080 It was very funny. So you had those writers, and 0:20:26.160 --> 0:20:29.680 how much writing did you do? Didn't expand over the years, 0:20:29.720 --> 0:20:31.760 but you became more confident. How about this? Not about this? 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:35.080 We wrote on our feet. When we get the sketch, 0:20:35.320 --> 0:20:38.480 we'd start to rehearse and Harvey would say, you know, 0:20:38.560 --> 0:20:41.119 can I just feel like saying this instead of that? 0:20:41.720 --> 0:20:44.400 So we do it. I would do it tim so forth, 0:20:44.880 --> 0:20:48.440 and I have to compliment our writers. They never complained. 0:20:48.920 --> 0:20:51.560 They came down and if it was funny and working, 0:20:51.840 --> 0:20:58.160 they said, great, keep it in. Carol tells a story 0:20:58.200 --> 0:21:01.920 about her friend Lucy All addressing the writers of The 0:21:02.040 --> 0:21:05.760 Lucy Show. When the pilot wasn't working. Lucy wasn't afraid 0:21:05.800 --> 0:21:08.800 to speak her mind. She told her kid, that's when 0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:11.160 they put the S on the end of my last name. 0:21:14.080 --> 0:21:18.240 Explore the here's the thing archives. I talked with Kristin Wigg, 0:21:18.600 --> 0:21:22.440 who early on preferred her scenes unscripted for some reason. 0:21:22.520 --> 0:21:26.840 It was less scary to me than having words in 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:29.200 front of me, because I think when you're handed a script. 0:21:30.000 --> 0:21:31.280 You know that you're supposed to do it in a 0:21:31.359 --> 0:21:33.960 certain way. People will think like, how is she reading this? 0:21:35.000 --> 0:21:37.800 But when you're improvising, there's nothing to compare it to 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:42.920 and you can do Take a listen at Here's the Thing, 0:21:43.040 --> 0:21:49.560 Dot Org. This is Alec Baldwin, and you were listening 0:21:49.600 --> 0:21:52.679 to Here's the Thing. The Carol Burnett Show was an 0:21:52.840 --> 0:21:56.480 ensemble show that welcomed the biggest stars of television and 0:21:56.600 --> 0:22:00.879 film as its guests. Burt Reynolds, Jerry Lewis, Phillis Diller, 0:22:01.080 --> 0:22:05.000 the Jackson Five Share. Everyone wanted to work with Carol. 0:22:05.440 --> 0:22:07.720 That was what we talked about, you know, the get go. 0:22:07.960 --> 0:22:10.119 I said, you know, aside from having a rep company, 0:22:10.160 --> 0:22:13.119 I want to have guest starts, but I don't want 0:22:13.240 --> 0:22:16.679 to have a guest star stay, like a Steve Lawrence 0:22:17.000 --> 0:22:19.240 who would come on and just sing a song and 0:22:19.320 --> 0:22:22.119 maybe we'd see him next in the finale. I wanted 0:22:22.160 --> 0:22:25.920 to integrate everybody into the show so many times, I 0:22:26.000 --> 0:22:30.080 mean almost every sketch, Almost every guest star we had, 0:22:30.359 --> 0:22:33.280 we put in sketches, so they were throughout the show. 0:22:33.600 --> 0:22:36.920 Remember the company? Yeah, correct, And so that's certainly what 0:22:37.080 --> 0:22:39.680 Bert was without naming names when people came out? Were 0:22:39.760 --> 0:22:42.439 some better than others? What did you do when they 0:22:42.480 --> 0:22:44.840 came on? Did you just kind of diminish their role 0:22:45.080 --> 0:22:48.000 the show? No, they were all pretty good, but some 0:22:48.160 --> 0:22:51.679 were you guys, that fabulous h Steve Lawrence is one 0:22:51.720 --> 0:22:55.600 of the funniest human beings in the world and hysterical, 0:22:55.800 --> 0:22:58.680 and he was one of my favorite sketch performers. We 0:22:58.840 --> 0:23:02.440 did Postman Always Drinks twice, we did African Queen together, 0:23:02.560 --> 0:23:06.920 we did Double Indemnity together, we did um uh from 0:23:06.960 --> 0:23:10.720 Here to Eternity together, I mean. And he was brilliant. 0:23:11.080 --> 0:23:14.320 And so when we first went into syndication many years ago, 0:23:15.280 --> 0:23:17.440