Carol burnett is still making us laugh at age 85
Comedian Carol Burnett loves her live audiences as much as they love her
At the age of 85, after more than a half-century starring on stage and screen, Carol Burnett continues to reign as one of Hollywood’s queens of comedy.
Carol Burnett, on the give-and-take at her live shows ...
“I don’t do standup. The audience is my partner. If they ask some fun questions, then it’s a fun evening ... I look at it as if, with that person at that moment, we’re having dinner together and they just asked me a question. We’re having a conversation.”
Burnett, on whether audiences region-to-region respond in different ways ...
“People are people. However they relate to me, or whatever they remember, I don’t find any difference. I could be in Arkansas or Florida or Oregon or Vancouver or Toronto. It’s pretty much the same. Funny is funny.”
Burnett, on what she’s asked about the most. Near the top of the list: the famed ‘elephant’ sketch in which Tim Conway and Vicki Lawrence attempted to one-up each other, and Burnett’s tugging on her ear (which started as a way to say hello on-air to her grandmother) ...
“Is Tim Conway really that funny in real life? Yes. How did you discover Vicki? How does the Tarzan yell fit? With each of those, I have a story I can tell as opposed to just a curt answer. I’ve gotten these questions so many times. But then I’ll get questions I’ve never had. As I say, there are no plants in this audience.”
Burnett, on whether Conway, during broadcasts of The Carol Burnett Show (which ran from 1967-78), went out of his way to make his castmates break — as in, make them laugh in the middle of a sketch ...
“Yes (laughs). Absolutely. And to break up the cameramen. And the audience. He would come up with that stuff and, 99 per cent, we would use it.”
Burnett, on the difficulty of keeping a straight face when the audience recognized the show’s performers were starting to break, which would then make the crowd laugh even more ...
“It’s very hard. It was usually Tim’s fault. He would instigate. We would do two shows Fridays in front of two different audiences. The first show, we would do it just the way it had been rehearsed. The second show, that’s when he’d go crazy and do stuff we’d never seen before. Dress versus live. We’d been criticized on occasion for allowing us to break up. But my view was I didn’t want to stop and do retakes. I wanted it to be as if we were on a Broadway stage, and if that’s what happens, that’s what happens. The danger of it, to make sure that everybody knows we’re doing this on the fly.”
Burnett, on the joy of continuing to perform in front of live crowds ...
“I’ve been quoted saying this before: It keeps the old grey matter ticking. You have to be on your toes. You can’t be thinking about what you did yesterday or what you might do tomorrow. You have to be in the present moment.”
Burnett, on if she saw the 30 Rock storyline in which Matt Damon played an airline pilot and love interest of Tina Fey’s character. His first name: Carol. His last name, revealed after multiple appearances: Burnett ...
“What? No. Oh my God. That is really funny. I didn’t see those episodes. I’ll have to try and get it. Oh, that’s funny.”
Burnett, on the shows that entertain her these days ...
“I’m into a lot of the more serious stuff. Better Call Saul. Breaking Bad. Homeland. House of Cards. Recently, what made me laugh out loud is Schitt’s Creek, with Eugene (Levy) and Catherine (O’Hara). They can do no wrong.”
Burnett, on a celebrity that would turn her into a fan ...
“Probably George Clooney. Never met him. Another one I’m kind of gaga over is Meryl Streep. Growing up, my idol was Jimmy Stewart. I did get to meet him and we did become friends. That was one of the thrills of my life. As a little kid, I remember my grandmother and I went to the movies in San Antonio. I had to be three or four because my feet didn’t touch the floor. I remember seeing this real tall, lanky guy and his voice — that drawl he had — I fell in love on the spot. I told my grandmother, ‘Nanny, you know what, he’s my friend. I haven’t met him yet, but he’s my friend.’ She said, ‘Oh, that’s nice. Now drink your Ovaltine.’ I knew someday in my soul, I hadn’t met him but I will, and we’re going to be friends. And that actually happened.”
Burnett, on how often someone tells her she was their hero or role model ...
“I don’t want to brag but ... (laughs). Just the other week, there were two little girls with their parents and they knew me from Annie. The parents came up. ‘Would you mind?’ One of the girls gave me a hug. I almost started to cry, it was so cute.
“A few years ago, it was a Q&A. This little boy raised his hand in the second row. I said, ‘Hi, what’s your name?’ He said, ‘Andrew.’ I said, ‘How old is you, Andrew?’ He said, ‘Nine.’ I said, ‘And you know who I am?’ There was a pause, and he said, ‘Surprisingly, yes.’ (Laughs) The whole audience went crazy.”
Burnett, passing along a message to 10- and seven-year-old sisters in Saskatoon who loved Burnett’s gem of a performance as the belligerent orphanage caretaker in ‘Annie’ ...
“Give them my love. Tell them Miss Hannigan really isn’t that mean.”