Review: AN EVENING OF LAUGHTER AND REFLECTION at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall

I'm So Glad We Had This Time Together

An Intimate Interview with Comedy Legend Carol Burnett

It's not every day you answer your phone and the voice on the other line says,

"This is Carol Burnett!"

"Oh my God, you just made my day", I squealed without thinking.

(Did I really just say that, I thought to myself. Oh Lord, be professional. You've worked with hundreds of celebrities. Take a deep breath and recover.)

"And you just made mine", Miss Burnett responds with her contagious, recognizable laughter.

We both had a great chuckle over our first exchange, which set the tone for the rest of a delightful interview.

Carol Burnett has a way with people. She befriends you immediately, puts you at ease and opens up her heart to a candid conversation. What you see is what you get and fans will have the opportunity to get up close and personal with this cherished living legend during her upcoming tour, An Evening of Laughter and Reflection, Where the Audience Asks the Questions. This show has Miss Burnett doing what she does best - connecting with her audience. Besides taking questions, she will be showing clips from her shows in a format that harkens back to the legendary openings of The Carol Burnett Show where her studio audience had an unfiltered opportunity to engage Carol with questions and receive spontaneous answers. "I love the spontaneity of these evenings," said Carol.

Miss Burnett graciously spent some time answering a few questions for our BroadwayWorld readers prior to her show at Sarasota's Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall on Valentine's Day. This is one of the most candid and delightful interviews I have had the privilege of conducting. Here's our conversation:

Please tell us what we can expect from this awesome evening with you.

It's not like I have a partner or do a stand up routine. I open the program by showing about a 7-minute clip of some of my favorite questions and answers from The Carol Burnett Show. Anyone who has seen my show will then know what to expect. Then I come out and we bump up the lights and I call on people randomly. There are no planned questions at all. That makes it a lot more fun because it's off the cuff. I'm kind of flying without a net but it's fun and I never know what anybody is going to ask. There are no pre-planned questions. Then interspersed during the show I'll show a few clips from some of my favorite movie takeoffs and some of the favorite musical guests we had.

You really are taking a chance and opening yourself up to anything! We all admire that about you.

Well I've been doing this for so long that sometimes some of the questions are very similar, so I have developed stories around those questions. I have stories about Tim and Vicki and Harvey and our costume designer Bob Mackie. It keeps the ole grey matter ticking and keeps me on my toes. I can't be thinking about what I did yesterday or what I am going to do tomorrow. I have to be in the present and in the moment. So it's also a good exercise for the brain! The audience is my partner in this show, and the show is as good as the questions they will throw at me!

I don't think your fans are anticipating interaction with you. What a treat!

Well when you come to the show, have your questions ready and raise your hand!

Let's go back a few years. You've had a challenging childhood yet it seemed your sense of humor served you well even back then. I heard you invented an imaginary twin sister. Was that to entertain yourself or confuse other people?

Yes. And Yes. I used to fool my gang in the old neighborhood by running in the house in one door and changing clothes and coming out another door as my "twin". You know we were all poor but we entertained ourselves. My parents and my grandmother had a great sense of humor. There were certainly a lot of things we needed, but we made ourselves laugh.

Many of us grew up watching The Carol Burnett show. What did Carol Burnett grow up watching?

I grew up going to the movies. That was in the 40's and 50's, so we didn't have television. But that was way back in the day when they would run double features. So my grandmother would save up our pennies and we would go to as many as 3 or 4 double features in a weekend. I would get to see at least 6-8 movies a week.

What effect did seeing all of those movies have on you?

You know what it did? It imprinted me in some funny way because there was never any cynicism in the movies back then. The bad guys lost and the good guys won. And so I never felt that I couldn't do something that I wanted to do - like Mickey (Rooney) and Judy (Garland) wanting to put a show on Broadway, like they talked about in their movies. Well sure, why not! And when I got the chance to move to New York, it never occurred to me what I would have a terrible time. I was naïve enough to make it work. Movies were inspiring back then.

We all know your grandmother raised you and was very dear to you. Would you share your fondest memory of your grandmother?

Well she was a character. When I got on the Garry Moore show and Nanny was in the audience, Garry Moore was very gracious to introduce her and told the audience that my grandmother who raised me was in the audience that night. Her name was May White and Nanny had done herself up really pretty. When Garry said "stand up Mrs. White", she stood up clasped her hands over her head and shook them like a prizefighter! Oh my God, I was so embarrassed! But what a great memory!

What was it like going to Hollywood High School? Were there celebrity's kids, mean girls and bullies to deal with?

No, not at all. I was very quiet. I was a good student and editor of the Hollywood High School News. And you know at first I thought I would go into journalism and be a writer. So when I got the chance to go to UCLA, I thought I would major in journalism but at the time UCLA didn't offer a journalism major. You could take a class and join the Daily Bruin, but there was no major. So I looked in their catalog and noticed there was a Theater Arts English major that allowed me to take playwriting courses, because I wanted to write. However taking a Theater Arts course also meant you had to take an acting course. As a freshmen you had to take scenery building, a course in costumes, etc., and so in taking this acting course, I was terrified. I got up and did this scene - it was kind of light, a lot of the other kids in the class were doing heavy dramatic pieces. I chose a light monologue and I got laughs! And they were in all the right places! I liked it. I liked it a lot. So if UCLA did offer a course in journalism and I wasn't forced to take an acting class as part of my studies, I would not be talking with you now. It was like the luck of the draw for me. I just never thought I would ever be a performer.

You mentioned you were the editor of Hollywood High News. As a writer and interviewer, I would like to know if you interviewed any celebrities.

I knew there were famous celebrities that had gone to Hollywood High and one of them was a famous movie star back in the day named Joel McCrea. I got the bright idea I wanted to interview him. I called the studio where he was contracted and introduced myself as a student at Hollywood High who wanted to interview Mr. McCrea. Well they must have taken pity me on me I guess. They said ok and I could meet him in his office. I took a bus and a streetcar and I interviewed Joel McCrea! He was so nice. You know I was just this green kid coming in asking, (with a bit of a Texas drawl), "How'd you git yer start?" But he was so sweet. I got back and wrote the article and had a photograph with him. Then I got one lined up with Lana Turner, but a substitute snitched on me because I cut class to go interview her and never got to do the interview. The wonderful upshot though was when I got my show; Lana Turner came on as a guest! So that was pretty awesome. Going to the movies like I did and growing up on Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth, I was so fortunate to have them on my show.

Do you have a favorite memory from your long running TV show that is your stand out favorite?

Well gosh, there are so many for me that stand out. I think what stands out the most for many people was the Gone with the Wind takeoff. It was brilliantly written and was 20 minutes long. We were the only variety show where some of the sketches were 15-20 minutes long. The Family sketches would go 15 minutes! The Gone with the Wind sketch was originally written where I would go up the stairs and come back down with the draperies in my hand but our costume designer Bob Mackie came up with the idea to use the curtain rod and wear it as part of the dress.

You kept Bob Mackie busy on your show.

Bob designed 65 costumes a week - everything that everybody wore, not just what I wore - Mrs. Wiggins, Mama. Eunice, you name it. In 11 years Bob designed upwards of 17,000 costumes. He is brilliant. Sometimes I wasn't quite sure how I was going to do a character until I went to the costume fitting and saw what he was going to put me in, then that gave me my character. I would think to myself, "ahh, that's who she is".

What shined on your show was the love you had for each other, the camaraderie and joy of performing together. What was a week like in the life of Carol Burnett and crew while filming your show?

We really did love each other and loved working together. It was so easy. We came right from the Garry Moore Show. Many people who worked that show came with us, the head writer, the choreographer, the director and of course the producers, so it was so simple. Monday, we would go in at ten o'clock in the morning. First I'd take the kids to school, then go to work and read the script. Tuesdays we'd have music rehearsal and go to lunch. We would block one of the sketches and be done in time to pick up the kids after school. Wednesdays were costume fitting, lunch and running through the sketches - fine-tuning those and then the choreography and a run through for the crew. Thursday I didn't have to go to work until two o'clock - that was when we would block with the cameras and would have orchestra that night. Friday, that was a long day - rehearsal in the morning, then bringing in the audience for the first show. The audience would leave and we would be doing notes, then a new audience would come in for the second show and we would be done in time to take our guests to dinner.

That's a very different way from filming in today's world.

Today is crazy! I've done some TV guest shots and there is actually 22 minutes to a show. It would take 5 hours to complete filming. And it's done by committee. Everybody has something to say and then you'd have to change it and redo it, right in front of the audience! We would never do that. We would do our show like a Broadway production. I didn't want to keep our studio audience waiting because they are important to us to not be tired and enjoy the taping. I would make a bet with the crew that I could make a costume change faster than they could move a couch around a corner! So that's the way we did it. We would do an hour and 15 minutes usually and within 2 hours we would be done and everybody was happy - the audience would go home and we would go out to dinner. You know what's funny, a lot of times we would be leaving for the night and we would see other shows still taping - red (recording in session) lights on until one or two in the morning! I thought, we're not making movies here; we're doing a live show - as live as we could do it.

You ran a tight ship. You had a well-oiled machine!

Yeah we did. You know our guest stars couldn't believe it. I remember one time we had Gloria Swanson on. She wrote me a fan latter after we did a takeoff on Sunset Boulevard, so invited her to come on the show and she couldn't believe that we did those sketches and that she learned whole musical numbers with the boys and that we did a silent movie takeoff as a finale. In her book, her autobiography, she wrote that it was the most fun she had ever had doing television. She was just delightful. So were Betty Grable, Rita Hayworth, Martha Raye, Bing Crosby, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé, the list goes on. Gosh having all those people that I grew up on, actually on my show was incredible. Steve Lawrence was my favorite sketch guest performer. He is so funny and we did a lot of movie takeoffs with him like, The Postman Always Rings Twice, From Here to Eternity, African Queen, and Laura. Steve used to say if we were running long on a taping to cut his song and not the sketch. He loved our sketches.

You mentioned you ran your show like a Broadway production. Broadway is a big part of your illustrious career. Our BroadwayWorld readers would love to know your favorite Broadway memory or story.

It would have to be when I was doing Once Upon a Mattress. That was my big Broadway break. At that time I was also doubling, doing the Garry Moore show at the same time. I would rehearse Garry's show all week during in the daytime and then I would go do Mattress at night. When we taped Garry's show on Friday nights, Garry set it up so I could leave at 8pm and take the subway to go do Mattress. On the weekends I would do 2 shows on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. So I never had a day off in several months. Well the whole point of Mattress was that the Princess I was playing would sleep on 20 mattresses but could never get any sleep because she could feel the pea on the bottom mattress. There's a whole pantomime that is very active about why she can't sleep. Well in one of the performances I got on top of the mattresses, and in front of the whole audience, I fell asleep! I passed out I was so tired. Suddenly I hear the stage manager in a loud whisper calling me to wake up. I only nodded off for about 20 seconds but it was enough to worry everybody. It's a wonder I didn't fall off the mattress! So finally Garry said he was going to change the schedule and they gave me Sunday's off.

Your new Netflix program A Little Help with children helping adults to solve their problems is adorable. It's reminiscent of the old Art Linkletter's Kids show. Was A Little Help your idea?

No it was my manager's idea. I met my manager through my chum Julie Andrews and we have been together about 3 years and he's great. He said he thought I would have fun talking with a bunch of kids and that is how that show came about. It is so much fun to do and there's no rehearsal. You never know what the kids are going to say.

What question have you never been asked that you would like to address in this interview?

I've been asked so many questions I can't think of one. Well I do have a pretty smart cat. She's a Bengal. She looks like a little tiger. We named her Nikki because she was born on Christmas Day. When she gets hungry she takes the phone off the hook!

She is smart! Maybe she's calling for take out!

Yes, it's like room service. She has us trained if we are in another room and see the light from the phone lit up, we go over to her bowl and there she is waiting to be fed.

Do you have a charity or cause close to your heart in which interested fans can contribute and help support in your name?

Yes! Thank you for asking.

The Teddy Bear Foundation in Santa Barbara provides funds for families whose children have cancer.

https://www.teddybearcancerfoundation.org/

Girls Inc. teaches young girls that they can be or do anything and gives them courage.

https://girlsinc.org/

Stephen Sondheim's Young Playwrights nurtures young writers, encouraging and developing future playwrights

http://youngplaywrights.org

What would you like to say to today's aging generation?

I feel the main thing is to keep doing what you love, if that's possible. Keep as active as you can be and be grateful for the good things. I have a friend who would say every morning when she would wake up, she'd say the things she was grateful for in her life. And when she went to bed she counted the "did wells" she did that day - going for a walk, or doing exercise, or brushing her teeth, being kind to somebody. One of my favorite things is, my friend actor Jimmy Stewart -my favorite actor, he had twin girls who were getting ready to go to college and they asked their dad for advice. His advice for his girls were to always remember to be nice to people. That was his mantra. That's who he was. Be nice to people.

What advice do you have for young women pursuing a career in any profession in light of the ME TOO movement?

I never had that problem because Garry Moore was a gentleman through and through. And then when we did my show, my husband was producing. So there wasn't any of that around me but I am happy about the Me Too movement. I would like to say to these women hang in there and don't let anybody take advantage of you.

Do you have any advice for those looking to follow in your footsteps and pursue acting?

Yes, I get questions when we do the tour sometimes on what advice I would give as an actress. First, you have to have the fire in your belly. You have to really want it and when you get rejected you have to hang in there. I remember one time when I really thought I had the job. I was auditioning for summer stock and it came down to me and another girl. I thought I had it. But I didn't. She got it. But what saved me, and I don't know how I thought of it, and this is really good advice, but I thought to myself, it was her turn. My turn will come. So every time I got rejected I would think that just wasn't my turn. It wasn't my time. And then I got Once Upon a Mattress! Then it was my turn. You have to remember that when you audition, people are looking for a certain type. It's not against your talent. They want a certain type. Keep that fire in the belly and press on.

What is your favorite joke?

I can't tell a joke to save my soul! I can't do stand up. It's just not in me. That's why I like to do sketches, because it's character-driven.

Miss Burnett you are a living legend, comedy icon, conqueror of stage, screen, television and the National Enquirer, what remains on your bucket list to conquer?

I want to write some more. I've done 4 books already. I love to write. I do it all by myself on the computer. I love that! I'm also looking to do a screenplay about my daughter Carrie.

I love the book you wrote about Carrie's journey. What a lovely tribune to your daughter that you lost too soon. (Carrie and Me: A Mother-Daughter Love Story)

There is interest in doing that story. It could be my next project. I wouldn't be in it but I would help write and co-produce.

Award-winning actress and best-selling author, Carol Burnett is recognized worldwide by fans and colleagues for her work in literary circles, on stage and screen, and most notably for her television program, The Carol Burnett Show. TIME magazine named The Carol Burnett Show as one of the top 100 Best Television Shows of All Times averaging 30 million viewers per week. Her show was also one of the most honored programs in television history, garnering 25 Emmy Awards during its 11 year run. It is Ms. Burnett's artistic brilliance, respect and appreciation of her fans, her graciousness, integrity, warmth, and humor on and off screen, that has made her one of the most beloved performers in the entertainment industry and one of the most admired women in the world.

Aside from her beloved Carol Burnett Show, Ms. Burnett is a highly acclaimed actress being honored with Emmys, Golden Globes, People's Choice Awards, the Horatio Alger Award, an Ace Award, and the Peabody. A Kennedy Center Honoree, she has also been honored with the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for Humor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

An Evening of Laughter and Reflection Where the Audience Asks the Questions, is coming to a city near you. Don't miss your opportunity to spend a delightful evening with one of the world's most treasured performers. At press time below is the list of cities where Miss Burnett will be appearing.

Feb 8 Jacksonville Moran Theater

Feb 12 Clearwater Ruth Eckerd Hall

Feb 14 Sarasota The Van Wezel

Feb 18 Orlando Dr. Phillips Center

May 14 Charlotte Ovens Auditorium

May 17 Durham DPAC

May 21 Nashville The Ryman

Sarasota fans can get more information on Miss Burnett's show coming to the Van Wezel on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2019 at www.vanwezel.org

For those of you who want to watch the iconic The Carol Burnett Show, here is a link to her official YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCry6nxAo2tfVyO6lEboiU3w

To post a comment, you must register and login.