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        <title><![CDATA[Carol Burnett takes a deep dive into her classic CBS variety show]]></title>
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            <media:title type="html">Carol Burnett takes a deep dive into her classic CBS variety show</media:title>
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        <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&#8220;The Carol Burnett Show&#8221; is making its streaming debut.</p><p>Starting Monday, all eleven seasons of the fabled comedy/variety show, which aired on CBS (1967-1978), will stream on shoutfactorytv.com, Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV and Android apps.</p><p>Fronted by Burnett, the series featured a stellar ensemble cast &#8212; Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Tim Conway and Lyle Waggoner &#8212; and cooked up a weekly recipe of comedy sketches, musical numbers and A-list guests.</p><p>In 1973, it moved to Saturdays at 10 p.m., capping CBS&#8217; vaunted lineup of &#8220;All in the Family,&#8221; &#8220;The Jeffersons,&#8221; &#8220;The Mary Tyler Moore Show&#8221; and &#8220;The Bob Newhart Show.&#8221;</p><p>Burnett, 87, spoke to The Post about the impact of her trailblazing series, her memories of working with her supporting cast and some very special guest stars.</p><p><strong>What made the show work?</strong></p><p>We all had great chemistry. I know it sounds Pollyanna-ish but we loved each other and I think it showed.</p><p>I remember when I was doing &#8216;The Garry Moore Show,&#8217; when I was in my 20s &#8212; Gary was the star and Durward Kirby and I were the second bananas. Gary would sometimes read something [in the script] and say, &#8220;You know what, Durward or Carol, you can say it funnier than I can.&#8221; I realized that what was I had to do when I got my own show. And we weren&#8217;t that topical. We seldom addressed anything that was going on at the time. For the most part we wanted to go for belly laughs &#8212; and I dare anyone today to look at the &#8220;Dentist Sketch&#8221; with Tim and Harvey and not lose it. It&#8217;s timeless, and funny is funny.</p><figure id="attachment_15750133"  class="wp-caption alignright"><strong><noscript><img data- data-src="/uploads/2020/05/carol-burnett-01.jpeg" class="lazyload" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==" /><noscript><img  data-src="/uploads/2020/05/carol-burnett-01.jpeg" /></noscript></noscript><img class="lazyload" src='data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20210%20140%22%3E%3C/svg%3E' data- data-src="/uploads/2020/05/carol-burnett-01.jpeg" /></strong><figcaption class="wp-caption-text"><span>Carol Burnett and Harvey Korman.</span><span class="credit">Courtesy Everett Collection</span></figcaption></figure><p><strong>Your most memorable moments on the show?</strong></p><p>Gloria Swanson called us and wanted to be on because of our takeoff on &#8220;Sunset Boulevard.&#8221; She said, &#8220;Can I come and play in your sandbox?&#8221; She did a number with the boys and she and I did a silent movie takeoff in black-and-white &#8212; I was a charwoman and she was Charlie Chaplin and the dancers were the Keystone Kops. She wrote in her autobiography that that was the most fun she ever had on television. I grew up in the &#8217;40s and &#8217;50s and my grandmother and I would save our pennies and to go the movies and see the double features. So I fell in love with Betty Grable, and later on, to have her on as a guest was just unbelievable. We had Rita Hayworth, Lana Turner, Bing Crosby &#8212; people I was raised on, so to speak. It was like I&#8217;d died and gone to heaven.</p><p>When I was 3 or 4 in San Antonio, where I was born, I was with my grandmother in a movie theater when I saw Jimmy Stewart [onscreen] and said to my grandmother, &#8220;He&#8217;s my friend.&#8221; Later on it came true: he did become my friend and we got to be close with him and his beautiful wife, Gloria. When I did my final show &#8230; all of the sudden there was Jimmy at the piano singing &#8220;Ragtime Cowboy Joe.&#8221; I just burst into tears. Those childhood dreams came true.</p><p><strong>Favorite guests?</strong></p><p>Steve Lawrence, Bernadette Peters &#8212; she was the first one we signed [as a guest star]. She was 19 when we saw her [off-Broadway] in &#8220;Dames at Sea.&#8221; Ken Berry was one of my favorites: he could sing and dance and was funny. Jim Nabors was my good luck charm &#8212; he was a guest on every first show we did for 11 years and was my middle daughter&#8217;s godfather.</p><figure id="attachment_15750146"  class="wp-caption alignright"><strong><noscript><img data- data-src="/uploads/2020/05/carol-burnett-02.jpeg" class="lazyload" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==" /><noscript><img  data-src="/uploads/2020/05/carol-burnett-02.jpeg" /></noscript></noscript><img class="lazyload" src='data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20210%20140%22%3E%3C/svg%3E' data- data-src="/uploads/2020/05/carol-burnett-02.jpeg" /></strong><figcaption class="wp-caption-text"><span>Carol Burnett</span><span class="credit">©CBS/Courtesy Everett Collectio</span></figcaption></figure><p><strong>Describe Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Tim Conway and Lyle Waggoner in a nutshell.</strong></p><p>I don&#8217;t know anyone better at comedy than Harvey. He had comedy chops like you wouldn&#8217;t believe. He made my game better.</p><p>Vicki hardly spoke the first semester (laughs). She was very shy and she was like a sponge the second season. She started out playing my kid sister in a recurring sketch and we began giving her roles in other sketches and she grew and grew. And she wound up being my mother! [in &#8220;The Family&#8221; sketches].</p><p>I don&#8217;t think there was anyone funnier than Tim. He would come up with stuff that was so inventive. He was a guest for the first eight years and then we said, duh, why don&#8217;t you come on every week?</p><p>It was Carl Reiner&#8217;s suggestion that we hire Lyle, a good-looking announcer I could go gaga over. Carl thought that was funny when I did that on &#8220;The Garry Moore Show&#8221; &#8230; but after a while I didn&#8217;t want to keep doing that. I was a grown woman with children. So we started putting Lyle into more sketches and he developed into a very good sketch performer.</p><p><strong>Do you consider yourself a trailblazer?</strong></p><p>I don&#8217;t [but] others have said that. It was what I knew because of &#8220;The Garry Moore Show.&#8221; CBS didn&#8217;t want me to do a variety show. They said that&#8217;s a man&#8217;s game &#8212; Gleason, Caesar, Dean Martin, Milton Berle &#8212; but I had it in my contract that they would give me 30 one-hour comedy/variety shows. They tried to talk me out of it and wanted me to do a sitcom called &#8220;Dear Agnes.&#8221; Oh God, I didn&#8217;t want to be &#8220;Dear Agnes&#8221; each week. I remember the first taping with Lyle, Vicki and Harvey. Just before we started I said, &#8220;Let&#8217;s just go out there and have fun&#8221; &#8212; and that&#8217;s what we did for 200-odd shows for 11 years.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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