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The Carol Burnett Appreciation Thread


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  • 1 month later...

Tim will be plugging his bio this week here in LA:  Can't wait for this evening, coming up Tuesday night featuring none other than Miss Carol Burnett! :D

 

November 12, 2013. 7:30pm:  Saban Theater, 8440 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA 90211 

Tickets, $25.

 

Tim Conway is one of the funniest guys who has ever graced television. If you were fortunate enough to catch him several years ago at Writers Bloc, you understand that he is still one of the funniest guys anywhere. Whether onThe Carol Burnett ShowMcHale’s Navy, or on Steve Allen, Tim Conway ‘s gifts of brilliant improv, physical comedy, and perfect timing have made him a model for more than one generation of comedians.

 

It was really The Carol Burnett Show that turned Conway into one of the funniest people alive. Those of us who watched TV in the 60′s remember his recurring roles on the show, among his most notorious, The Old Man, Tudball, and of course, The Dentist. Winner of shelves of Emmy Awards, Tim Conway is an iconic comedian whose personal stories are about as great as his routines. In his memoir, What’s So Funny?, Tim shares some hilarious anecdotes from his family life and his professional life that reveal the man behind the national legend.

 

Speaking of national legends, Carol Burnett, one of the most beloved entertainers in America, has struck a chord with audiences for five decades. She is the first woman to host her own comedy variety show, the spectacularly popular The Carol Burnett Show, which still maintains its hold on the American imagination long after its eleven year run. At last count, she has received 23 Emmy nominations, countless wins, and other awards too numerous to list here. She is the first woman to win both the Mark Twain Prize and the Kennedy Center Honors.

 

http://writersblocpresents.com/main/tim-conway-with-carol-burnett/

 

Additional appearances include:

 

Wednesday, November 13th, 7 p.m. – Tim Conway will be signing copies of his new book, What’s So Funny?, at the Barnes & Noble located at 189 The Grove Drive, inside of the Grove shopping center, in Los Angeles.

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What a great evening! :D

 

And yes, she told the "My second night of Once Upon A Mattress I looked out into the audience and saw this pile of orange hair" story but it's the first time I ever heard it live and it was a thrill! 

 

It was also a little disconcerting to find that Ms. Burnett remembered more stories and tales from Mr. Conway's life and memoir than he did, so thankfully she was there to keep the convo going because he really came across as a little "adelpated"... while they're both "senior citizens", she looked and sounded great and was in top form. 

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I don't understand if Lucy and Carol were such close friends why the same story is used over and over.  Is Ms. Burnett a private person and not want to go into too many stories of them together or were they weren't not that close as I think?  To me They were always hugging like sisters almost and traded guest spots and presented awards to eachother.

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I wouldn't take the fact that Carol repeats the same story about Lucy as any type of slight. Carol is extremely close to Julie Andrews and they are even godmother to each's daughters, but she always tells the same one story about Julie in interviews - that they pretended to be kissing as a joke to surprise Mike Nichols, but Lady Bird Johnson saw them instead. Carol is just someone who repeats the same stories in interviews.

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A lot of people repeat the same stories for interviews. Because we all follow Lucy so closely, we hear the repeats, but to some people they're new.

I've always been curious why after 5 consecutive seasons of trade-off appearances (Carol+2 and 4 seasons of 'CB') why they never performed together again-except talk& awards shows. Unfortunately those 4 seasons were the Bob Banner partnership years so have not been available (to my knowledge). I recently bought the CB DVD package that included the 'Rock Sisters'*, which is really delightful, innocent comedy-music you would never find on a skit show today. This was done during the 69-70 season. Lucy looks great and does her own singing. You can tell it's live because at the beginning of the song, Lucy starts singing an octave lower than Carol,but then goes up to the upper register mid-phrase. She more than holds her own. It's appearances like this, just slightly pre-Mame that make me realize why Warners wanted her. I can see their logic and the wisdom of their choice. (another great example: her singing/dancing for the Cruise to HAwaii show with Viv). Between these appearances and Mame, a scant one or two years, her vocal register dropped remarkably, both in singing and speaking. But at the time of casting, no one would have had any doubts that she could easily pull off Mame vocally--for the most part anyway. Wish they had pre-recorded the tracks before she broke her leg

 

*there's a sweet little moment in Rock Sisters, when they're performing as old ladies. Carol looks to Lucy as they're singing and breaks character for a split second. The look says to me that Carol's thinking: I love Lucy!

 

I wouldn't take the fact that Carol repeats the same story about Lucy as any type of slight. Carol is extremely close to Julie Andrews and they are even godmother to each's daughters, but she always tells the same one story about Julie in interviews - that they pretended to be kissing as a joke to surprise Mike Nichols, but Lady Bird Johnson saw them instead. Carol is just someone who repeats the same stories in interviews.

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I hope to get that DVD soon to see this skit.  I love Lucy and Carol singing Bring WHat the Boys in the Back Room Will Have" though the comedy sketches in that show were old hat and not that funny.  I agree that Lucy sings great and her voice does drop considerably from 1968 to 1971 to 1973.  She aged a lot in these years.  Everything must have accumulated on her because it happened so quickly. 

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Did anybody catch the Mark Twain award for Carol last night on PBS?  Great show, Carol looks better today than she did back in the late sixties.  Lucie Arnaz was just terrific, she looks absolutely gorgeous, has her mom's legs, and looks so easy going, when she started off talking about Once Upon a Mattress, I feared yet another repeat of that Lucy/Carol story, but she changed to something else, thank the good Lord.  Lots of Lucy mentions during the show and although the show was great, I might have selected better clips of Carol's work that really showed her off better.  At least the Chutzpah number with Lucy and Carol was shown, though edited. 

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Did anybody catch the Mark Twain award for Carol last night on PBS?  Great show, Carol looks better today than she did back in the late sixties.  Lucie Arnaz was just terrific, she looks absolutely gorgeous, has her mom's legs, and looks so easy going, when she started off talking about Once Upon a Mattress, I feared yet another repeat of that Lucy/Carol story, but she changed to something else, thank the good Lord.  Lots of Lucy mentions during the show and although the show was great, I might have selected better clips of Carol's work that really showed her off better.  At least the Chutzpah number with Lucy and Carol was shown, though edited. 

 

Agreed, while everyone who participated was fine and looked great (I still can't wrap my head around the fact CB is 80!!!), I was a little saddened that there were few "heavy hitters" as there were back in the day for Lucy (where was Betty White, for example?) and that -- despite my admiration for them -- I hardly can put Tina Fey, Martin Short and Amy Poehler in the same league as Ball and Burnett.

 

Thank GOD Julie Andrews showed up and added an air of class and sophistication to the proceedings:  I doubt that was the best clip they could have picked from the 3 specials they did but nevertheless, it was very enjoyable but another melancholy reminder that we'll never see anything like that again. :(

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Agreed, while everyone who participated was fine and looked great (I still can't wrap my head around the fact CB is 80!!!), I was a little saddened that there were few "heavy hitters" as there were back in the day for Lucy (where was Betty White, for example?) and that -- despite my admiration for them -- I hardly can put Tina Fey, Martin Short and Amy Poehler in the same league as Ball and Burnett.

 

Thank GOD Julie Andrews showed up and added an air of class and sophistication to the proceedings:  I doubt that was the best clip they could have picked from the 3 specials they did but nevertheless, it was very enjoyable but another melancholy reminder that we'll never see anything like that again. :(

Oh so true, that's what I was thinking, out of those three great specials, this slapsticky sketch is the best they could do?????

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I bought the Carol Burnett Christmas special dvd on the weekend and could not wait to sit down and watch it and it was just so bad, comedy never held up, sketches unfunny, only the musical numbers were any good and stood the test of time.  A real disappointment, not a great commercial for getting her other shows.

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Did anybody catch the Mark Twain award for Carol last night on PBS?  Great show, Carol looks better today than she did back in the late sixties.  Lucie Arnaz was just terrific, she looks absolutely gorgeous, has her mom's legs, and looks so easy going, when she started off talking about Once Upon a Mattress, I feared yet another repeat of that Lucy/Carol story, but she changed to something else, thank the good Lord.  Lots of Lucy mentions during the show and although the show was great, I might have selected better clips of Carol's work that really showed her off better.  At least the Chutzpah number with Lucy and Carol was shown, though edited. 

Can Somebody Help Me To See This?, Where Can I Download It In HD Quality, I Tried Dailymotion But The Video Was No Good And Audio Was Out Of Sync

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Congratulations to Miss Carol Burnett for her first ever Grammy nomination  for "Best Spoken Word Recording" for the audio book version of "Carrie ane Me".  This was the category that White girl won in a couple of years ago!!! :HALKING:  :HALKING:

Given what the nom is for should she win -- although quite honored I'm sure "just to be nominated" ;) -- I have no doubt this award would mean more to her than many she's garnered -- all well-deserved to be sure -- over the years.  You go, girl!  :peachonthebeach:

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  • 2 months later...
  • 4 months later...

Carol is returning to Broadway in Love Letters. :HALKING:

 

It's a rotating cast. Here is the lineup:

CAST SCHEDULE

 

Saturday, September 13, 2014, through Friday, October 10, 2014

Brian Dennehy & Mia Farrow

 

Saturday, October 11, 2014, through Friday, November 7, 2014

Carol Burnett & Brian Dennehy

 

Saturday, November 8, 2014 through Friday, December 5, 2014

Alan Alda & Candice Bergen

 

Saturday, December 6, 2014, through Friday, January 9, 2015

Stacy Keach & Diana Rigg

 

Saturday, January 10, 2015, through Sunday, February 1, 2015

Anjelica Huston & Martin Sheen

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  • 2 months later...

Carol is returning to Broadway in Love Letters. :HALKING:

 

It's a rotating cast. Here is the lineup:

CAST SCHEDULE

 

Saturday, September 13, 2014, through Friday, October 10, 2014

Brian Dennehy & Mia Farrow

 

Saturday, October 11, 2014, through Friday, November 7, 2014

Carol Burnett & Brian Dennehy

 

Saturday, November 8, 2014 through Friday, December 5, 2014

Alan Alda & Candice Bergen

 

Saturday, December 6, 2014, through Friday, January 9, 2015

Stacy Keach & Diana Rigg

 

Saturday, January 10, 2015, through Sunday, February 1, 2015

Anjelica Huston & Martin Sheen

In another time, the casts might have been

 

Larry Keating and Edna Skinner

 

Vivian Vance and William Frawley (u/s Phil Ober)

 

Gale Gordon and Mary Wickes

 

Iris Adrian and Jody Gilbert

 

Howard McNear and Marjorie Main

 

Don Loper and Sheila MacRae (u/s Mrs. Richard CARlson)

 

and maybe even the return to Broadway of

Keith Andes and Lucille Ball

 

It's too bad Lucy never realized her ambition to do another stage show.  She talked about it many times: the idea of doing something for 2 weeks here and there.   The "Love Letters"  arrangement would have been perfect.  Her main complaint about "Wildcat" was that the grueling 8-show/week schedule had NO end in sight.  If she had stayed with it until the very end, it could have very easily lasted 2 or 3 years.

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