Carol Burnett | Good Hang with Amy Poehler

What this episode is about

In this engaging conversation, comedy icon Carol Burnett reflects on her groundbreaking career, including her influential sketch show, films, and recent roles, while sharing insights into her impact on the comedy landscape and the importance of her legacy to today's performers. Amy Poehler and guest Rachel Dratch celebrate Burnett's contributions to sketch comedy and discuss the lessons learned from her enduring presence in the industry.

Key takeaways

• Carol Burnett taught us that laughter can be a joy, not just a punchline—redefining comedy's checklist.
• Women in comedy don’t need a special spotlight; they just need the stage—and Carol's show was the ultimate launchpad.
• Laughter can be earnest; Carol showed us authenticity trumps edgy—her silliness was the most radical thing of all.
• The Carol Burnett Show was an accidental manifesto of joy, proving that fun is a powerful comic weapon.
• It's not just comedy; it's emotional imprinting—kids learned versatility from Carol without even realizing they were taking notes.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Amy Poehler (Host) · 41 min speaking
• Carol Burnett (Guest) · 21 min speaking
• Rachel Dratch (Guest) · 7 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 10:00: Once Upon a Mattress, Rachel Dratch, Uber Eats, Carol Burnett
2. 10:00 – 20:00: Julie Andrews, Carol Burnett, Once Upon a Mattress, Lucille Ball
3. 20:00 – 30:00: Palm Royale, Better Call Saul
4. 30:00 – 40:00: Once Upon a Mattress, Lucille Ball, Rachel Dratch, The Gary Moore Show
5. 40:00 – 50:00: Lucille Ball
6. 50:00 – 1:00:00: Vicki Lawrence, Julie Andrews, The Gary Moore Show
7. 1:00:00 – 1:08:55: Annie, Lucille Ball

Notable quotes from "Carol Burnett | Good Hang with Amy Poehler"

• Brunette. Carol, the star creator, benevolent captain of the Carol Brunette Show, an incredible sketch show that changed comedy as we know it and influenced so many of us. an incredible actor.

  about Carol Burnett · at 0:11

• 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 grocery order with code new Aldi26. So whether your fridge is empty and you're.

  about Uber Eats · at 1:42

• Yeah. when you said, Will you ask a question of coette? I got a little paralyzed because I was she's such an icon that I got like kind of my brain got kind of tongue tied. I'm what do you ask someone that's had.

  about Rachel Dratch · at 3:34

• Of Once Upon a Mattress when we were young people in our schools. And Carol Bernett originated the part of Winfrid on Broadway. I got to play that part in my high school. Rachel played the more I played the boring part of Lady Larkin.

  about Once Upon a Mattress · at 8:32

• And you know I the other friendship that I want to talk to her about is her and Lucille Ball.

  about Lucille Ball · at 10:44

• I said I'm in. Don't I don't even bother sending me a script. I want to work with these ladies. I want to lock eyeballs with them and get in the sandbox and play.

  about Palm Royale · at 21:23

• Famous show that's going to change comedy but and so we called her that summer and she came and read. And there was another girl who' had a lot of experience. Vicki was raw, but saw something.

  about Vicki Lawrence · at 57:37

• Okay here comes the movie. And when you were Miss Hanigan, it was like I saw that character for the first time. I really understood her.

  about Annie · at 1:00:33

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Carol Burnett — Person · Main guest · 2 mentions · first at 0:08
  Central interview subject; discusses her career (The Carol Burnett Show, Broadway, film/TV) and mentorship/friendships with other comedy icons.
• Lucille Ball — Person · Referenced mentor / industry predecessor · 6 mentions · first at 10:48
  Presented as a mentor figure who validated Burnett early (backstage at Once Upon a Mattress) and later guested on Burnett’s special; used to discuss women producing/running shows.
• Rachel Dratch — Person · Pre-interview guest / fan voice · 3 mentions · first at 1:30
  Appears early to discuss Burnett’s influence on women in sketch comedy and to tee up questions (physical comedy, friendships/mentors).
• Julie Andrews — Person · Referenced friend / peer of guest · 3 mentions · first at 10:06
  Discussed as Burnett’s longtime close friend (“chum”), highlighting enduring friendships and shared Broadway-era origins.
  They sat next to each other and held hands. They call each other and I think I believe they call each other chum. and I'll find out. But I want to ask her about Julie cuz they have been friends since the 60s.
• Vicki Lawrence — Person · Referenced discovery / collaborator · 3 mentions · first at 55:37
  Burnett recounts discovering Lawrence via a fan letter and hiring her for The Carol Burnett Show, illustrating Burnett’s eye for talent and mentorship.

Books & papers

• Once Upon a Mattress — Book · Referenced work · 8 mentions · first at 6:41
  Discussed as a significant Broadway show where Carol Burnett originated the role of Winnifred.

Media & podcasts

• The Carol Burnett Show — Media · Core topic · 1 mention · first at 0:19
  Central theme of the episode, discussing the impact and legacy of the show on comedy and the guests' careers.
  Creator, benevolent captain of the Carol Brunette Show, an incredible sketch show that changed comedy as we know it and influenced so many of us. an incredible actor in films such as the Four Seasons or the.
• Annie — Media · Referenced work · 1 mention · first at 1:00:37
  Mentioned as a film where Carol Burnett played Miss Hannigan, significant to Gen X women.
• Palm Royale — Media · Referenced work · 3 mentions · first at 0:38
  Current project Carol Burnett is working on, highlighting her ongoing career.
• Better Call Saul — Media · Referenced work · 2 mentions · first at 0:33
  Mentioned as a show Carol Burnett appeared in, showcasing her versatility.
  Incredible actor in films such as the Four Seasons or the star turn as Miss Hanigan and Annie. You may have seen Carol in Better Call Saul or Palm Royale which is out right now.
• The Gary Moore Show — Media · Referenced work · 2 mentions · first at 35:32
  Mentioned as a show Carol Burnett worked on, contributing to her early career.
  Twist 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 the and Sunny and Sher were in the same studio as you right.

Sponsors

• Uber Eats — Company · Sponsor · 2 mentions · first at 1:42
  Presented as the platform offering Aldi groceries with discounts.
• Aldi — Company · Sponsor · 1 mention · first at 1:44
  Mentioned as a sponsor offering discounts through Uber Eats.
  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 grocery order with code new Aldi26. So whether your…

Full transcript with timestamps

0:05 Welcome everyone to another episode of Good Hang. This is a very special one for me. Um, we have comedy legend Carol Brunette. You know, Carol, the star creator, benevolent captain of the Carol Brunette Show, an incredible sketch show that changed comedy as we know it and influenced so many of us. um an incredible actor in films such as the Four Seasons or the star turn as Miss Hanigan 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 um you know I discovered Carol from my living room watching her show with my mom and we're going to talk about so many things today. Um, and uh, you know what? Don't worry about what we're going to talk about. It's going to be so good. It's Carol. It's Carol Bernett. She's here and we can't believe it. So, before we get started, we always like to talk to someone who is uh, a

1:05 friend or a fan of our guest. And, um, you know, when you are uh, when you start in sketch comedy um, 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 Brunette and I think a legend in her own right. sketch comedy and that is friend of our pod. Um, one of my many wives, the great Rachel Dr. 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 grocery order with code new Aldi26. So whether your fridge is empty and you're too tired to shop or you just ran out of essential ingredients in the middle of meal prep, don't worry. Fill your fridge in just a few taps and get 20% off your first Aldi order on Uber Eats. For orders over $60, you can save up to $20.

2:09 Ends February 28th, 2026. Terms apply. See app for details. What do you say I wanted Rachel? Rachel,

2:28 I want to show you. I want to show you how far I've come. Amy, what the lessons learned, the improvements made.

2:37 Listeners, Rachel Drach is holding up her untangled headphones. Well, I see a little tangle. There's a tiny kink. There we go.

2:45 But you've always But you've always been into a tiny kink. Anyway, here you go.

2:54 Changes have been made. You look And I'm ready to go. You look great, D. Thank you. I put on a little lipstick for you.

3:03 You know, I love you in a blue. You I love my baby those baby blues in a baby blue.

3:09 There you go, Dra. You know, genuinely when I was like, who can I talk to about the genius that is Carol Bernett? I thought about us because we grew up on Carol. Like she feels like so influential. We whether she knows it or not and I hope to tell her today. It feels like she just influenced us so much.

3:34 Yeah. I mean, when you said, "Will you ask a question of coette?" I got a little paralyzed because I was like, she's such an icon that I got like kind of my brain got kind of tongue tied. I'm like, what do you ask someone that's had such an influence, a pillar of comedy? Yeah.

3:51 I psyched to talk to you before we before I talked 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?

4:03 I mean, my first exposure was the Carol Bernett 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 um just that like the joy that they all seem to be having together and her also like the way she would talk to the audience afterwards like there was no sort of putting on airs about her. She just seemed it seemed like it is like she is who she seems like just a fun regular person. No. Um sort of oh a woman shouldn't be doing this like but I mean we always get asked about women in comedy and like we always hate we get asked that way cuz 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 unconscious unconscious like you're seeing guild around her and you're seeing John Baluchi and you're not thinking like but she's a woman

4:58 doing this. You're just like getting this sort of role model. you're getting the the mother bird imprint on the baby bird,

5:05 you know. Yes. So, Carol Bernett was definitely like that. Just the um the silliness, the joy in being silly, the joy in like making faces that make you look like you're not a lady, like acting like you're not a a lady. Like that all was just so

5:23 joyous and so good for girls to see. But again, I don't want to get all free to be you and me, but it was just like who she was. a a reference that probably nobody reme.

5:34 But they should. But they should. Okay. Children, you should know. You didn't KNOW YOU WERE GETTING THE MESSAGE you were getting. It's free to be.

5:41 But it was a boys could have dolls. Okay. Boys could have dolls. Yeah. Carol's show at times as like the 70s came onto the scene like Carol's show was like, oh, like that 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 and time, I'm like I think that's what what was drawn why I was so drawn to that show. Exactly what you just said. It looked like everyone was having fun.

6:10 Like I don't think at when we were growing up at times I thought that comedy was actually going to be fun.

6:18 I know that sounds stupid, but it was like it felt like it had to have Yeah. It 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?

6:34 Yeah. And just like full tilt clowns, you know, like clowning around, you know, like when she did Once Upon a Mattress.

6:43 Okay, let's talk about that. It seems like that might have been What the hell do I know talking about this time period? 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.

7:04 Physical 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? Get the answer, Nola. Get the answer on that scoop. Also, you two have to compare notes. You You I'm sure you Have you told her that you also played Wifred in Burlington High School? Is she aware?

7:31 Thank you for bringing that up for people that didn't listen to the very highly popular Rachel Drach episode. And Drach, I got to tell you something. That episode was gang busters.

7:43 Are you getting a lot of good feedback? I'm getting a lot of good feedback about that. Yes. Every time I hook in with you, I go viral.

7:52 And that doesn't mean that you get sick with a fever. That doesn't mean I get a virus. I'm not going to avoid the obvious joke here, but yeah. Um, we don't NEED MORE OF THAT. WE DON'T NEED MORE. NO. UM, NO. UM, BUT LET'S I HOOK MY wagon to you. Things happen for the best. Well, um, thank you for hooking again. But, but for people who didn't, for the I don't know, one or two people that didn't listen to that episode,

8:23 where have you been under a rock? Check it out. And then you what you'll find is that Rachel Drach and I talk about how we were both in um productions of Once Upon a Mattress when we were young people in our in our schools. And Carol Bernett originated the part of Winfrid on Broadway. I got to play that part in my high school. Rachel played the more

8:45 I played the boring part of Lady Larkin. So, right, who um who uh in the in the musical is pregnant, but when Rachel did it, because they were so young, they had to take that part out

8:59 and then I had nothing to play. So, then it got even more boring. But I know this is about Carol Bernette, but I've got to work through this. When we did our episode of Good Hang,

9:10 a lot of people commented on our obvious love for each other and friendship that was so obvious because we like laughed our way through the whole thing. But um I was so I was kind of wondering since I'm talking to you like for her about her female friendships about you know does she have friends that are like her true blues from like before show biz that she relies on or even now like her first of all like her like non-show biz friends or her showbiz friends like who has you know been there along the way that is part of her journey that she has um kind of like, you know, the little support group with or something.

9:51 I love that because when I was lucky enough to do uh 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 and I think I believe they call each other chum. and I'll find out. But I want to ask her about Julie cuz they have been friends since the 60s.

10:25 Wow. And I mean, talk about our age, like powerhouse like Yeah. Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Carol Bernette, and their friends. Come on, chums.

10:37 You and I've always said that you are my Julie Andrews. And you know I uh the other friendship that I want to talk to her about is her and Lucille Ball.

10:49 Yes. They were buddies and Lucille was you know kind of a mentor to her. She was probably in her 40s when she met Carol in her 20s but came backstage after um a performance of Once Upon a Mattress and said like you got it kid.

11:08 Wow. I know. I feel like there's a direct line between a lot of the women I know who worked with who love Carol like Kristen Wig who works with Carol on Palm Royale 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 Carol. Well, Amy, you're so good at talking to people. Like, you've met her, too. But I always admire how good you are at talking to the the idols and icons.

11:42 Well, I'm talking to one right now. I'm talking to one right now. You're doing a great job.

11:50 All right, Rachel Drach, I know you're busy. Um, what are you having for dinner tonight before I let you go?

11:55 Oh, I don't even know. Well, I know you've got some Broadway plans tonight. Enjoy your night in the town. New York City. Rachel is out and about.

12:02 Yes, she is. Yes, she is. And with new haircut, looking great. All right bud. Thank you.

12:08 Thank you for doing this, Drachie. All right, see you. Love you. Bye. This episode is brought to you by Subaru. For me, going the extra mile means taking the long way home. If you're going to grab snacks and the 10-minute trip turns into a 2-hour journey, suddenly you're on a new street, then your ice cream is melted in the back, and you know, we've solved the meaning of life. But luckily in my Subaru Hybrid, that's right, I have one and I love it. That extra mile is built right in with longer range and better fuel efficiency than ever before. The Subaru Forester Hybrid and the Subaru Cross Track Hybrid. Great cars. I have them both. Love goes the extra mile.

12:50 Visit subaru.com/hybrid to learn more. This episode is brought to you by Allstate. Checking All State First could save you hundreds on car insurance. That's smart. Not checking your calendar and agreeing to three things on the same night. Double booked is one thing, but triple booked, yeah, checking first is smart. So, check All State First for a quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with All State. Potential savings vary subject to terms, conditions, and availability. All State North American Insurance Company and affiliates Northbrook Illinois.

13:24 Hi, Carol. Love you. Love you. First of all, you look wonderful. Back at you, honey.

13:30 I'm so happy to see you. I mean, I I I got the chance to see you in person maybe longer than I'd like to admit. Maybe like a year or two ago. I don't think I've seen you.

13:40 Well, I think you at the 90th. At the 90th. And then we did it when you presented me with an award.

13:46 I got to got to say nice things about you, which is the best. I did. Thank you.

13:50 And um I I I just, you know, I just want to get this out of the way. Carol, you are everything to me. You're the reason why I'm in comedy and you are

14:00 Oh, come on. a living legend and it is really uh very emotional for me to get to talk to you. I'm

14:07 thrilled that you're here and it means a lot to me. So, thank you. You know what?

14:11 If I had never been born, you'd be doing what you're doing. So, Well, we'll never know.

14:19 We'll never know. But and you know um 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 we you and 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

14:41 you remember the movie it's a wonderful life and Jimmy Stewart has this angel named Claris. There are things that have happened to me where I feel I've got Clarence on my shoulder

14:53 from the very early on. Yeah. In life, I remember I we uh I lived with my grandmother.

15:02 Yeah. In one room, a block north of Hollywood Boulevard. And uh we were poor. Our rent was a dollar a day, $30 a month. And sometimes we could hardly ma manage that. And so I graduated from Hollywood High and I desperately wanted to go to UCLA

15:26 and my grandmother said, "Forget it. You know, we can't afford the tuition. There's no way." Guess what the tuition was?

15:35 UCLA in 1951. Yearly tuition. Yeah. Uh well, for a semester. So Okay. For a semester.

15:43 Yeah. $1,000. $43 and we couldn't afford it. Yeah. So, we lived in this apartment building right at our a room face the lobby. So, every morning I would check uh there was a there was a pigeon hole mailboxes for all the apartments and I would look out and see if we had a little letter or something in this in our slot. So I go and there's a letter in this slot. This one morning I came out and I opened it up in our room. My name was typewritten 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. Wow. So that was Clarence, you know, and I got to go to UCLA.

16:41 Then I got a catalog that said theater arts and I looked through that and there was a one called theater arts English.

16:47 So I entered the theater arts department but also at that time if you were a a freshman no matter what if you wanted to theater arts film, theater arts theater, theater arts English, you had to take an acting course.

17:02 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. I thought, "Oh my god." And I came in late, actually, and all the other kids were teamed up. And so I was the oddball. And the um teacher gave me a couple of monologues to choose from.

17:26 One from The Country Girl and one from a play called The Mad Woman of Shyo. And I picked The Mad Woman because it was shorter, you know. And I got up and I I it it didn't even occur to me to read the play. I had no all I did was memorize it and I said,

17:44 "I'm doing a a scene from the mad woman of Chaot." I didn't know how to pronounce it.

17:50 And I did and she gave me a D minus. And she said, "The only reason I'm not failing you is because you memorized it."

17:59 Sounds like a great teacher. Well, she was she was right. She was right. And then I got into a one act that uh one of the students had written where I played a hillbilly woman. And of course we're from Arkansas in Texas. And all I remember is 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.

18:25 Was that your first laugh you remember getting like performing? Yeah. And from then on and then some of the other students would come up and some of the she said would you be in another one act? Would you be all of a sudden I thought I kind of like this.

18:41 Yeah. When I was talking to Kristen Wig who was here doing this who I know you love.

18:46 Yeah. She said that she kind of burst into tears when she met you and I hate it when people look at me and cry.

18:56 Why am I scaring them? What am I doing? when they point at you and cry. Yeah. But what I was going to say is Kristen talked about how important it was to meet you and um 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.

19:21 You know which door to go through. Yes. And you have to kind of deliver. Yeah. And what I love about your work which continues even to this very moment, this very day because you are working non-stop is you are this beautiful combination of luck meets opportunity meets gratitude meets flexibility meets collaboration. 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.

19:58 No, you don't. But you can't. But people do. Then they're wrong. Yeah. You know, they don't,

20:05 right? But you also are so confident and skilled in what you know you can do. You show up for those lucky moments. And

20:13 I want to talk about all of that stuff today. But, you know, I think sometimes with I I'm lucky to know a lot of non-aggenarians like my, you know, the ' 90s are the new 80s, babe.

20:23 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 how is work feeling?

20:36 It feels the same. Yeah. I don't you know I I'm 105 years old but I it's still like when we were doing po are doing Paul Morel and all that I'm just as excited

20:48 as I was when I came out and said I'm back you know it's the same thing and uh I was just what another thing I was thrilled about Palm Royale was when Abe Sylvia called me he's was the creator and director and showrunner all of that just uh two three years ago I guess it was and said we're going to do this show and we'd love you to be a part of it. I said what's it about who's and then he told me who was going to be in it.

21:20 Yeah. Kristen Wig, Allison Janney, Laura Dur. I said I'm in. Don't I don't even bother sending me a script. I want to work with these ladies. I want to lock eyeballs with them and get in the sandbox and play.

21:35 Yeah. And it's it was really of course the first few episodes I was in a coma. So

21:42 yeah, I know you have it in your contract that you need to be able to sleep on set.

21:47 Exactly. Yeah. Just get up at 5 in the morning, go get made up, go right back to bed. But you know you but those women that you talk about you know have become your friends and you are and and I and I feel grateful for this too is that you're a living example of it's just like

22:05 one 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 uh Better Call Saul.

22:14 That start that was just before Paul Royale. Yeah. And I was a big fan of Breaking Bad and Vince Gilligan and I watched Bhen Kirk and all. Yeah. And Vince Gilligan said, "We'd love you to come." I I'm there no matter what. So, it it was a wonderful uh wonderful time for me, too.

22:33 You know, you're 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 describe it?

22:48 You'd have to lock your doors and every morning when I would go out getting go ready to go to school, I'd look up and there was a Hollywood sign and we used to climb the Hollywood sign.

23:00 Wow. Yeah. The neighborhood kids and I now you can't get near it. Sure. But we would fly kites or roller skate and they would say, "Yeah, I'm bored. Let's go climb the sign." So we don't Yeah. And it it was just And it was kind of rickety then. They fixed it up. now. And there were splinters and I would climb up and I'd get splinters and it's a wonder 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 then we do the Tars and yell and all of that.

23:32 Yeah. And also growing up like that, we played. Yeah. We went out and played until it was time to go in for supper.

23:42 Yeah. today and no one knew where you were. Yeah. Yeah. If I I'd hear my grandma say, "Carol, come on." You know, and we'd come in and and but and I say, "I'm going out and play now after school."

23:55 And then you you you spoke about your grandmother who was instrumental in your life and how you would go to the movies together.

24:02 Yeah. So, take us to that. What were you watching? Who were you seeing on the screen? Well, we would uh go to the second runs because uh they were cheaper than going if we 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.

24:23 So, uh we would see we would go one, two, three, four, maybe six movies a week.

24:30 Wow. We see and that was in the 40s and Betty Greyel and Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland and uh Tyrone Power and all of those which maybe none of the people listening know those people anyway. Uh they were my favorites.

24:47 Yeah. And uh Linda Darnell was a beautiful woman. She's not as well known today as

24:53 you know what I don't know Linda Darnell. Oh, I have to tell you, my grandmother and I, you know, we would go and hang over the ropes when there would be a premiere on Hollywood Boulevard and we did and to watch the movie stars come in. Right. So, I'm I'm 9 years old and Nanny is standing there and the ropes are holding all of us back and coming walking up by us was Linda Darnell.

25:19 I got to look her up while you talk. Do Okay. And so my grandmother grabbed her by this and said, "Linda, Linda, give this little girl your autograph. She just loves you. She did." And Linda Darnell 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's your name?" And I told her and I'm looking at this gorgeous and I realized her nostrils didn't match. What? What happened?

25:57 It was just like a millimeter up. And suddenly we saw suddenly you realize nothing is

26:07 nostrils. Look up. You know, our faces are different when you put they're different.

26:15 Symmetry is not my strong my strong point. I don't think it is for anybody, you know, but I But I remember that.

26:23 You remembered that so clearly. Oh my gosh. Who else did you have in that autograph book?

26:28 Oh gosh. I had uh Betty Greyel. Oh wow. Oh wow. She Linda is so pretty. I'm looking her up right now. She proves my theory that the more far apart your eyes are.

26:40 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 uh going we would go to the Grumman's Chinese where they have the courtyard with everybody's handprints and footprints and so forth. And I remember putting my handprints into Betty Greybel's handprints.

27:06 And just a few months ago, I got my handprints after all these years after. And I remember putting my and I'm wondering will somebody someday put their handprints on mine, you know, wouldn't that be kind of wild?

27:22 Yeah. But I Yeah. So cool. And also is I mean is I feel I did have a a fairy godmother. Betty Greyel was one of my first guests on my show.

27:36 Whoa. Did you tell her the story of Oh, yeah. What was she like? Adorable. Very funny.

27:41 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 loud and she and Betty had worked together and they were good friends. So it was for me, my god, I'd grown up watching Betty Gravel, watching Martha Ray. I was all through. 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 was she would be going

28:14 constantly go I mean really really loud. She just loved Coca-Cola. So, we're in the wings ready and we're doing the show and Betty and and uh Martha and I are ready for our queue to go out and Betty took one and did again and Martha Ray said, "Oh, for God's sakes, Betty, why don't you just fart and save your teeth?

28:50 I thought I was going to die." And then we had to go out and do the finale. I was just hyster I I want to talk to you about because you talk a lot about people coming through your show, the Carol Bernett show. I mean, when you host a show, I know that from SNL and 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.

29:22 But it I mean it was a a joy. Yeah. In fact, in 11 years I we didn't have one rotten person.

29:30 Yeah. 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 Juliet Prrow or uh dancers and singers on the show,

29:44 we also would try to put them in a sketch. Yeah. So that they cuz if they went on another show, other shows, they would just do their bit

29:53 and that would be it. Or they may be in a finale also. But we would put Gwen Verden in a sketch. I even did a sketch

30:01 with Ray Charles. Wow. What was the sketch? It was a piano bar. Mhm. 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, you know, 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 I just love it." He said that nobody has ever asked me to do lines

30:42 before. Wow. So he really he loved it. Wow. Okay. When you when you were in your 20s in New York

30:49 Yeah. First of all, what was it like being in New York in the in the Was it late It was the 50s.

30:54 50s. Did mad men get it right? Like was was I lived at the rehearsal club. Yeah. talk about the rehearsal club.

31:02 Well, um I got I got a chance to go to New York. I a benefactor lend me the money to go. I had never been any further east in Texas or California.

31:12 And I remember my grandmother saying, "You can't go to you." She said, "Your blood's too thin. You'll be dead in a week.

31:22 So much for that." You know, I Good. Thank you. So anyway, I I said, "I'm going to New York. I have this money. I'm going. And I was so stupid and naive.

31:34 How old were you? 21. 21. Yeah. I didn't know where I was going to stay. Right. You just showed up and said, "We'll figure it out."

31:41 It's like the movies, you know, I'm going to get there. Now I'm in a Broadway show. So I'm on the uh airplane and I see an ad for the Alangquin Hotel. I thought, "Well, I think I'll go there."

31:54 And I had something like $30 some odd dollars left. And so it was raining. I had a cardboard suitcase and got up to the angel along and I checked in and he said that'll be $9, you know. And I said for the week he said no for the night. $9 for like but okay. So I gave the $9 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 I hung up and I thought, "What am I going to do? I'm in New York."

32:31 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 uh she went to uh 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 a call.

32:47 So, I that was the one number I had and I called her. Her name was Eleanor Eie. And I the phone rang and they said, "Hello." I said, "Uh, is Elanor Eie there?" And they 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, it's Carol." I I You're here. Where are you? I said Alan Quinn. She said, "Get out. Are you crazy?" She said, "Come up here." Gave me the address. I left. I got bing bong and it's a brownstone four stories

33:24 and I had no idea but I rang the doorbell. Some some gal opened the door. She said what? I said I'm here to see Elanor beh. 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

33:42 and all women. all women and it's was called the rehearsal club and maybe about 25 women live there and Ellie said maybe we can get you uh a a way to stay here. Yeah.

33:56 And she said I'll introduce you to the house mother Carlton and Miss Carlton came. She said well you're in luck. 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.

34:17 Oh, cool. And she said, "This is a transit room, so it's the biggest and it's where we put new people and uh you'll have four roommates. There'll be five of you." And she said, "Um, there are rules. No men be on the parlor." Uh, and they can't stay past 10:00 or or midnight on weekends.

34:40 You cannot spend the night. You have to be in Yeah, it was very very strict. Uh, 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.

34:55 Wow. But you you must like go on auditions and you so forth and so on. So it was very

35:01 It's making me think of the Lucille Ball stage door. That's what it was written about.

35:06 Stage door was about the rehearsal club. That was it. I was just going to Yeah, absolutely.

35:10 How funny. 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 want to ask you, was there ever a job that made you feel secure, financially secure?

35:32 Only when I got uh 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 gonna be able to take care of my family. And were you taking care of your family then?

35:48 Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, Once Upon a Mattress is a Broadway show that you open, you opened that show. You were the original

35:58 Winterfred. Okay. So, we've talked about it on this podcast, that particular uh show, and I know I've shared this with you cuz I got to be Wifred in my high school production of Once Upon a Mattress

36:11 and listened to your cast recording to try to learn the part. And Rachel D, the great Rachel D from SNL also was in Once Upon a Mattress. She jokes that she was the boring part, the lady larkin part,

36:24 right? Um and um and I spoke to her earlier today about you. Give her my I will and we we talked about how in influential you were to us. Um but when when you were doing Once Upon a Mattress, um you were getting like finally getting paid to be an actor,

36:45 $80 a week. Well, what happened actually again Clarence? Yeah. I had been a auditioning for um uh before I got mattress uh when I left UCLA to go to New York. My friend 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 he directed Pajama Game, Damo. He was the musical director of all time. And I said that I'm gonna be okay.

37:17 But that's what I'm talking about. That's not Clarence. That's Carol. Well, hold on though. Wait. This is weird.

37:22 But that's manifesting. You put it out there in the universe. That's right. So, what happened was uh you I was in New York for a while and then I got a chance to audition for a a re They were going to reissue not reissue redo a show called Babes in Arms

37:38 that Rogers and Hammersteiner Hart wrote. and they were going to open it in Florida and bring it to Broadway. I auditioned and it looked like I was gonna 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. I Oh. So, I hung up the phone. Swear to God. Hung up the phone. Two minutes later, the phone rang and it was Jean Echart who was producing a show called Once Upon a Mattress. And she said, "Can you come down now to the Phoenix Theater and audition for George Abbott?"

38:22 Wow. And I Rejection is God's protection. Carol, I took the subway down. I sang what I had to do.

38:30 Do you remember what you sang? Do you remember your audition song? saying everybody loves to take a bow was a it's from a show called Hazel Flag. I got back the phone was ringing they said you got the part and had I gotten Babes in Arms which never left a Florida

38:49 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 moved here

38:57 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

39:05 That's right. When you were doing Once Upon a Mattress, you we we spoke we we mentioned Lucy Lucille Ball and but can you tell everyone that story? I know you've told it before, but to me, you know, 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 in a documentary that I did,

39:32 and you told this story, which I think is not only so indicative of how wonderful and supportive a person she was,

39:40 but how she saw in you something very, very special that we all eventually came to know. I I remember we opened in uh May of 1959 and got great reviews. That's it was like wow, you know, I was thrilled and the second night there was a buzz backstage and everything and I said, "What is it? Lucy's in the audience." I I was more frightened.

40:13 Oh, yeah. That she was than I was opening night. Oh, I What year was this? 1959. So, I remember I I was stupid. I peaked through and I saw this orange hair in the second row. I Oh my god. Anyway, I got through the show and she wanted to come backstage and it was off Broadway theater and it was really funky, you know, and I had I had a couch where the coil was sticking up, you know, and it was a kind of anyway, you know, and it was Lucio Ball. Come in, you know, and she headed for the couch and I said, "Oh, look." She said, "No, I see it coin." you know. So, she sat on the right end of the couch and oh god 20 25 minutes and she called me kid

41:00 she's was 22 years older and she as she was leaving she said kid if you ever need me for anything you give me a call. Wow. you know. So, actually four about four years later, I was working and doing stuff and CBS wanted me to do an hourlong special, variety special if I could get a major guest star. So, the producer said, "You got to call Lucy." I said, "I don't want to bother her. All she can do is say, "I'd love to, kid, but I'm busy." You know?

41:37 So, I got up the nerve and I called her. felt a little, hey kid, you're doing great. What's happening? I went I'm doing a I and I know you're I was and she said, "Hold on. When do you want me?"

41:53 She's such a badass. So, she did the show. We And we did it together. Yeah. I mean, I think about Lucy a lot when when um she she was very ahead of her time and also we talked about this when we were when we talked about her together. She, you know, she was producing and running shows even though she wasn't getting the credit just like you were producing. Yeah.

42:15 Your show, she was so ahead of her time. Well, there's a story. She uh when she did my show,

42:24 you know, we were we had a lot of fun together and we were uh had a dinner break. M

42:31 so we went across the way to the farmers market, you know, and uh she's knocking back a couple of whiskey sour and she says, you know, kid, cuz my husband at the time, Joe, was producing our show.

42:45 Yeah. You know, and I he just did it. And uh she said, "You're you're very for you got Joe to do it for you." She said, cuz when I was married to the Cuban, she said, she said, Desessie did everything.

43:01 Yeah. He invented the three camera system. A lot of people don't know that. She said he she 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 be Silly Lucy on Monday and do the show.

43:15 Then we got a divorce. She said, "Now I know I have to be like Desi. I got to, you know, and she said, I I I didn't know what show they had a script reading

43:27 of the new Lucy show. And she said, and it was terrible. She It was terrible. And I thought Desessie wasn't here to fix it, you know. She says, "I 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 to write it what they had to do, how to fix it. I was 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."

44:12 Yeah. And so we every birthday on my birthday, she would send me flowers. Happy birthday kid.

44:19 Yeah. And uh this one morning I got up, it was my birthday and she had died that day on my birthday and I got the flowers that afternoon. Happy birthday, kid.

44:32 Do you believe in in ghosts or spirits? I don't not believe in them. Yeah. Like, do you feel like you've ever been visited by Lucy?

44:42 Yeah, by Lucy. Don't you feel like she'd be a funny ghost? Oh, yeah. Hello. Yeah. Did you know

44:51 Lucy if you're here? Lucy if you're here. Lucy, we get our Ouija board out. But yeah, I mean and and she and and Carol, you're like that for so many people. I mean, I feel like you're a mentor to so many women and you you like you said, you got things handed to you and you hand it down. You pass it on. the spirit of that felt like it was embedded in the Carol Bernett show because so you were skipping a lot but obviously you go to a New York you're you're in Broadway you Gary Moore and do you feel like I mean you were physical in a way back then and away back and way and a way now. I mean first of all

45:34 you look terrific. Well, thank you. You're 92. Yeah. I mean, you're you're just

45:39 Oh, thank you. I mean, physically, your body has 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 Drach and I Rachel had that we were talking about is this idea of physical comedy, which was

45:56 I love doing it. Yeah. When you would do the show, would you do warm-ups, like physical warm-ups? Like, would you stretch? Like before the show was about to start,

46:04 I was very athletic as a kid. I would roller skate. I would do all kinds of climb the sign.

46:10 Yeah. Yeah. And uh so I I was qu and I could run like the wind. I was very You have those legs, Carol.

46:18 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.

46:26 Thank you. You probably could have been a long-distance runner. Well, it when I was in junior high school,

46:32 my physical a 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 meant."

46:48 That was that was definitely back then when every everyone was a little scared of everything.

46:53 Of everything. Running is bad for the heart. Yeah. Like she said, when I went to New York, you know.

46:58 Yeah. You'll be dead in a week. Your blood's too thin. Yeah. So you 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, when something's going a little wrong, there's like a little fun electricity where you get where you get excited.

47:18 Okay, now what am I going to do? Yeah. Oh, yeah. You've always had that. Yeah. Yeah.

47:22 Yeah. I love that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we were accused a lot of breaking up and out of

47:29 So on your show there would be people you guys would laugh. Well, yeah. And but out of 270 some odd shows I can't there was I in fact I kind of looked at stuff because it was usually Conway who was after Harvey

47:45 to break him up. I don't think we uh more than 15 times out of 27. But people remember that.

47:56 Oh yeah. Because it was so delicious. It was. But then people say, "Well, they should shouldn't have done that."

48:01 That kind of fun goof around thing. I mean, that's that that just goes to show I think what I felt watching even from, you know,

48:09 it was a family. It was a family. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was 10 years that you made that show together.

48:15 11. And and what was I I decided I wanted to quit after 11. Do you remember the last mo the last moment of the last show?

48:23 Well, yeah. It was when I sat on the bucket as the charw woman and then I just talked about how we were going to not come back, you know, and uh I Yeah, I cried. It was bittersweet.

48:35 Yeah. But it was time. Yeah. And when and the last thing I'll say about the 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 of

48:51 like Norma Desmond? YOU KNOW you're not you're not in your bedroom all day watching old clips of yourself faces then. Well, you must every once in a while stumble across something that comes. Your phone must know who you are.

49:09 Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, actually, when I wrote my last book was about doing the show,

49:14 so I had to watch a lot to Yeah. You know, uh I went fast through some of them and some of the sketches I Oh god, they were terrible.

49:24 Yeah. And some were wonderful, you know, but I hadn't remembered a lot, you know.

49:28 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Do you um And and do you watch comedy now? Like what? I I asked my guesses.

49:35 Not really. Yeah. Do you watch anything now that you're liking or I watch TCM Turner? Did you visit all the people that I loved when I was growing up?

49:46 You know, who did you comedically? Who did you love growing up? Who made you growing up comedically?

49:51 Who who would you visit right now if you could on TCM? Uh Carol Lombard. Now that you know she was that's who my mother named me after actually. Uh she was a beautiful comedic actress and could really you know with a turn of a twist to this she was and that that's the movies you know uh

50:13 comedically uh I kind of fashioned my show not only after Gary but after Sid Caesar

50:21 and the and and Sunny and Sher were in the same studio as you right they were next door.

50:25 Do you and Sher hang out? No. I did you guys ever hang out? Not really. No, but we know each other friends.

50:36 Yeah. Did you watch their show when it was times our studios were joined by the ladies room and men's room? So if we there was a break or I had I go through the ladies room and watch them rehearse something. And sometimes uh like she and Sunny and even separately sometimes just walk on while I was doing questions and answers and we'd get around.

51:00 Yeah. It's great fun. Oh, that's so fun. She's lovely. She is lovely. I mean, I don't know her.

51:04 We just don't run around in the same circle. She just seems cool. She's cool. Sher, if you're listening, we love you.

51:11 She should come on this show. You heard it here first, Sher. Yeah. Carol says she'd be a great guest. Love to have her on. What's your sign, Carol? H.

51:20 What's your sign? A Taurus. Of course. Earth sign. What does that mean? Well, I know I'm bull.

51:27 You're bull. But you're an earth sign. I'm a Virgo. Tina is a Taurus. You know, we Somebody's got to get this stuff done. Somebody's got to get stuff done. Tor T torren. And again, I know nothing about astrology.

51:39 Yeah. But Oh, well, you know who else is Taurus is um Shirley Mlan and Barbara Stryand.

51:45 They have the same birthday. They And you heard it here. Carol thinks you guys should come on this podcast, too.

51:52 I think so. One of the most special moments of of doing your um wonderful special that um you and Brian produced uh for your birthday a couple years ago. Number one, it was like the first time I had been out since co was like, "Yay!" Um um but also you and Julie Andrews were together and you held hands during a lot of that and sat next to each other and

52:21 my chum. Yeah. Yeah. Um tell us when you first met Julie and how important a friend she is to you.

52:27 Um I was doing Mattress and she was in Camelot. So she was a queen and I was a princess. and uh some friends, mutual friends said you two ought to meet cuz there there there's there's a similarity there and you'd be and later on Julie and I even talked about oh come on it's like saying a blind date you ought to be to see 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 the 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 listened. It was as if we were joined at the hip from the beginning

53:22 and all always and she uh she taught me some dirty words. You would think I was

53:30 because you're not a big you don't you don't love to swear. You know, you don't like that. No, occasionally. Yeah. You know, occasionally if I stub my toe, you know what comes out.

53:41 And what kind of friend is Julie? My chum. We love each other. We are relate. We're sisters. She unfortunately, not unfortunately, but for me and she lives on the east coast.

53:54 Yeah. So you kind of So yeah, we uh and it was so sweet of her to come to the 90th to be with me. Do would you re where were you when the Sound of Music came out? Did you go to the premiere?

54:04 Uh do you remember that the movie? Yeah. Uh no, I didn't go to the premiere, but I remember she used to send me dirty limmericks when she was filming.

54:15 She she did I wish I could remember it or even tell it. I think about uh she did a whole parody on these are a few of my favorite things. I mean, brilliant.

54:30 So funny. So good. So good. Um, okay. And then, um, 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, at the end of their careers.

54:46 Um, was there anyone that you met as a young actor? I love to ask people this like a 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 in favor."

54:59 Vicki Vicky Lawrence, she wrote 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's sister and we'd be a married couple. And so I'm reading my fan mail this one night and uh this was in December of ' 66 and we were going to go on in the fall of 67

55:23 and I'm opening up this letter and it's from this 17year-old girl Vicky Lawrence who's very nice letter saying people say that uh I remind them of you young you and then she enclosed a newspaper article that had her picture in it. She looked so much like me when I was 17. I thought that's interesting. And then in the article, they said she was going to be in a contest called Miss Fireball of Englewood uh 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 and then I look at the date.

56:02 The contest is tonight. The letter had been sent three weeks ago and they got to me from CBS or it's tonight. So my husband's coming downstairs and I said, "Don't get too comfortable. We're going to the Miss Fireball contest tonight."

56:20 Wow. He said, "What?" And I showed him the article. I said, "But should you?" Yeah. Okay. But shouldn't you try to tell her, you know, don't don't make her nervous. I said, "You're right." So 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 answers, "Hello." I said, "Hi." I said, "Is uh Vicky Lawrence here?" And she said, "This is her mother who's calling." And I said, "Is Carol B?" VICKI. Vicki comes. I hear footsteps. Vicki comes up. said, "Yeah, hi Marsha."

57:07 I said, "It's not Marsha. It's Carol. I got to Would you be okay if we come to the Okay. So, we went."

57:16 Wow. She did the guitar. She played the gazoo. She did a couple of jokes and she sang and she won the contest.

57:23 And she was like you in peeking out and seeing just like you saw Lucy, she's peeking out seeing Carol.

57:29 Exactly. And so, uh, I was in touch with I said, "We're going to be doing a little I'll be in touch.

57:35 We're going to be doing a little very famous show that's going to change comedy but

57:40 and so we we called her that summer and she came and read." And there was another girl who' had a lot of experience. Vicki was raw,

57:49 but saw something. You saw something. And today, no network would let us do that. Hire an 18-year-old girl with no experience. That's right.

58:00 They wouldn't allow I mean, Carol, we could talk forever about the biz because the biz has changed so much.

58:05 Yeah, I know. I 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.

58:16 It it might have been something might have happened, but it wouldn't be there's no way we could do what we did before. Mhm.

58:23 28 piece orchestra, you know, 65 to 70 costumes a week, two guest stars, a major uh, you know, rep company.

58:33 Yeah. You know, and also CBS left us alone, right? I remember you telling me that they really didn't give you any notes. They just

58:43 There was one note in 11 years. Sorry, I'm laughing. And so the guy was we were doing I was doing a sketch where I was a nudist and I'm behind I'm behind a fence that says keep out and so I'm hanging over the fence you know bare shouldered 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 no big deal,

59:12 right? So, one of the lines was, "So, uh, what do you nudist do for, uh, uh, 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, choose this to the network. That was too blue.

59:35 You have to change that line. Sometimes the change is even dirtier. Hello. So, uh, what do you do? Well, we have dances every Saturday night. Well, how do you do how how do you how do you dance? Cheek to cheek. Incredible. So much better.

59:58 Oh, and they left and they were like, "That's it. That's better." That's good. Also, I I don't have really any questions other than Annie That's all Carol just Annie was so important. Annie is remains so important but was very important to Gen X women.

1:00:21 Wow. I mean we've I've talked about it with Rachel Dr. a bunch of people in this like how big Annie was as a musical. It was all parts for we were that age and then when the movie came out we thought okay here comes the movie. And when you were Miss Hanigan, it was like I saw that character for the first time. I really understood her.

1:00:42 Well, I went to uh John Houston at the beginning and I said, I think she should drink. It wasn't in the original uh that she should have a little bit cuz it would only make sense that this woman, you know. Yes.

1:00:58 And so he he that's a good idea, dear L. Now, this is my favorite story about Annie.

1:01:06 Uh Tim Curry, Bernardet and I, you know, the villains. Yeah. Uh 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,

1:01:29 singers, this people hanging out. I even had a a monkey grinder with the monkey and and Tim and Bernard and I said this takes away from

1:01:39 the number they're just big Hollywood production huge and you know took a week to film

1:01:46 and at that time a million dollars or so and you okay all right so we wrapped I flew back I was at the time living in Honolulu

1:01:56 Bernardet flew back to New York Tim London and I had always wanted more of a chin. I had a weak weak chin. Now, there was an orthopedic surgeon, orthopedic, no oral surgeon in Honolulu

1:02:11 who said, "Oh, well, you know, I can just give it a little little more." I said, "I don't want to be Kirk Douglas,

1:02:16 right? I don't I want it rains. I'd kind of like to feel it, you know." And I said, "Just like two or three millimeters. That's all. Just I have a little more of a chin."

1:02:26 Yeah. Okay. So, no big deal. He'd fix it and more. Okay. So, about a month later, I get a call and it's Ray Stark who's a producer. He said, "We're going to reshoot the Easy Street number with just the three of you." I said, "Thank goodness. That's great." So, now Tim and Bernardet and I are in the her office, Hannah's office, and Mr. Houston says, "Well, what I think we'll do is we'll do well from when Carol ran into the closet to find Annie's locket. We'll pick it up when she comes out with the locket." I went, I Mr. Houston, call me John Deere. John, two months ago when I ran into the closet, I didn't have a chin.

1:03:20 And now I'm coming out of the closet with with a chin. And he thought for a minute, he's

1:03:31 Well, dear, just come out looking determined. Great direction. That's my favorite Andy story.

1:03:40 I mean, I guess want to end, Carol, by asking you, what is the best part about being in your 90s?

1:03:46 That you're not 105. Yeah, that that that's yet to come. A kid. Yeah. Do you feel like a kid?

1:03:56 A few years ago, a bunch of us were sitting around a table said, "How do you really feel inside?" I said, "1%." And and I remember maybe that's because that's when I would climb the sign

1:04:09 when I would roller skate, when I would put my handprints with Betty Greyel. I don't I don't know. But something about being 11. Go figure.

1:04:21 Well, I loved you when I was 11. So, when I'm with you, I feel 11, too. So, it's really nice.

1:04:30 And you know, you I knew I was going to cry. I knew I was going to cry. And Jana said when I cried that she would start saying cry, cry, cry. So, but I knew I would cry. But Carol, that is

1:04:47 that sense of play. Yeah, that sense of play. Yeah. Like, you know, you especially young girls like when they're kind of really magical at 11.

1:04:56 They haven't quite become selfconcious. Maybe that's it. Yeah. They're not too smart all yet. That's why when I talked about teenagers, good luck.

1:05:04 Yeah. 11 is still very sweet. Yeah. When they're teenagers, you are so stupid. Yeah. you had you have no idea what life is about cuz you're too old.

1:05:13 Totally. But there there's that like tender moment before before you become self-conscious when you can still kind of like do your thing and not really worry about

1:05:21 I remember uh when my daughter Carrie whom I we lost a few years ago when she was 5 years old uh 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 know you can't stay up. is just going. And then I went in afterwards and I 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 and I'm and she is looking at me like, you know, I said and I'm thinking I'm going to get a medal as a mother of the year. I am so I I could hear violins. I was so perfect. And she's looking at me and finally I stopped and I said, "Are you okay, sweetheart? You want to say anything?" She said, "What, darling?" She said, "How many teeth do you have?"

1:06:32 Okay. Perfect. Carol, perfect. Yes. May we all get when we all get back to that innocent time.

1:06:45 Thank you so much for doing this. It means so much that you're here. I love you, Carol. Thank you for coming. And thank you so much for coming.

1:06:55 Well, thank you so much, Carol Brunette. Um, I cried and um, look, I don't want to I don't want this to become a thing, okay? I don't love crying and I'm I'm you know but if anyone's going to get me there it's Carol Brunette. I'm now technically using the good hang tissues that I have mocked other people for using and now well it got me. So karma's a [ __ ] Um but uh for this polar plunge I guess just I you know um thank you Carol you are a legend and um 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 Greybel, um Linda Darnell, Phyllis Diller, um Elaine May, uh um uh you know, we all these all these different actresses. Do yourself a favor and check them out. um type them in your phone or um ask your computer ask your computer to bring up a picture of them. Um or uh whisper into your

1:08:00 robot's ear that you want to see some of their highlights because uh it just it's just a reminder of all the good performances. And also watch uh that great film Stage Door, which is a great film about what Carol was talking about about a whi women living in a house trying to be actresses. Anyway, I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm crying. I've cried. It's all It's over. I've I've lost all credibility. Um, thank you so much for listening and we'llh see you soon. Bye. You've been listening to Good Hang. The executive producers for this show are Bill Simmons, Jenna Weiss Berman, and me, Amy Polar. The show is produced by The Ringer and Paperkite. For The Ringer, production by Jack Wilson, Cat Spalain, Kaia McMullen, and Aia Xanerys.

1:08:42 for Paperkite production by Sam Green, Joel Levelvel, and Jenna Weiss Berman. Original music by Amy Miles.

1:08:50 Was a really good Hey

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Carol Burnett | Good Hang with Amy Poehler"?

Amy Poehler (Host), Carol Burnett (Guest), Rachel Dratch (Guest).

What is "Carol Burnett | Good Hang with Amy Poehler" about?

In this engaging conversation, comedy icon Carol Burnett reflects on her groundbreaking career, including her influential sketch show, films, and recent roles, while sharing insights into her impact on the comedy landscape and the importance of her legacy to today's performers. Amy Poehler and guest Rachel Dratch celebrate Burnett's contributions to sketch comedy and discuss the lessons learned…

What is mentioned in this Good Hang with Amy Poehler episode?

13 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Carol Burnett, The Carol Burnett Show, Once Upon a Mattress, Annie, Lucille Ball, Palm Royale. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Carol Burnett | Good Hang with Amy Poehler"?

The episode runs 1 h 9 min; the transcript is about 12,088 words in 261 timestamped sections.

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