The
quality of this set is a guaranteed 10!
The Carol
Burnett Show:
These Are The
Full One Hour Un-Edited Restored Episodes.
No Refunds and
we will Replace Any Defective Discs.
The popular
variety show made the stars household names with such
sketches as "
As the Stomach Turns", "Went with the Wind" (a parody
of
Gone
with the Wind
featuring a scene with Burnett as
Scarlett O'Hara in the dress made from a window curtain,
complete with the curtain rod), "Carol & Sis", "Mr. Tudball"
and "Mrs. Wiggins", "
The Family" (which would later
spin off into a show called
Mama's
Family
), "Nora Desmond" (Burnett's send-up
of
Gloria Swanson's character
Norma Desmond in
Sunset
Boulevard
), and "Stella Toddler." A frequent
repeated segment was "Kitchen Commercials", in which cast members
parodied TV commercials that drove a woman (Burnett) crazy. It had
frequent, high recognition
guest stars. The long-running show was frequently nominated
for
Emmys, and won three times.
A unique feature of the show
consisted of a question and answer segment involve the audience in
CBS Studio 33 and Carol Burnett. Burnett usually did this for about
3-4 minutes at the start of most shows. Burnett would ask for the
lights in the audience to be turned up ("Let's bump up the
lights...") and then randomly pick audience members who raised
their hand to ask her a question. This informality was possible due
to the design of Studio 33; cameras were to the left and right of
the stage with one below in the pit and one suspended, so the
actors were very close to the audience.
Sample
question from young woman in audience: "Have you ever taken acting
lessons?" Carol: "Yes, I have." Audience member: "Do you think it
did any good?"
The
show was rehearsed for three to four hours each day until the
Friday tapings, when two recordings were made. As there were only
two recordings, if an actor flubbed a line in both takes, the error
appeared in the broadcast, giving the show some immediacy. Pick ups
were exceptions, and usually only used for musical numbers.
Vicki
Lawrence was the only cast member, other than Burnett, to remain
with the series for its entire run. Tim Conway, though well
remembered for his appearances on the show, did not become a
full-time cast member until 1975. Harvey Korman left the show prior
to its final season; he was temporarily replaced in the fall of
1977 by
Dick Van Dyke. Original cast member Lyle Waggoner left the
series in 1974 to pursue a dramatic acting career and the next year
was cast in
Wonder Woman
.
Burnett
went on to star in
movies, write a
Broadway play, and continues to make appearances. Conway and
Korman traveled to do comedy routines all over the country. Vicki
Lawrence had a U.S. #1 hit record in 1973 ("
The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia") and went on to
star in several shows of her own (
Mama's Family
, the NBC daytime edition of
Win, Lose or Draw
, and her short-lived
talk show,
Vicki) and continues to perform around America writing and
performing comedy sketches.
These
Are The Full One Hour Un-Edited Restored Episodes
Volume
1
Guests
Dinah Shore
Aired:
November 13, 1976
Among
the many sketch specialties honed to a zany art on The Carol
Burnett Show was the movie parody, but, frankly, my dear none of
the cinematic satires achieved greater notoriety than "Went With
the Wind." This breezy lampoon of Gone with the Wind includes one
of the biggest and most memorable laughs in television history.
Remember where Starlet got that stunning new dress? Other
highlights: Carol introduces Anthony Hopkins, who's sitting in the
audience; Tim Conway plays his Oldest Man character as a butcher;
and guest star Dinah Shore takes part in the "Basin Street" New
Orleans finale. As Harvey observes in one of the special interview
segments taped for this Collector's Edition, "We did a Broadway
musical revue every week.
Roddy
Mcdowall,The Jackson 5
Aired:
March 16, 1974
This
seventh-season show marks the first "Family" sketch, wit Carol as
Eunice, Harvey as Ed and Vicki Lawrence as the ever-critical Mama -
none of whom appreciate the accomplishments of Eunice's brother,
Nobel Prize-winning writer Philip (guest start Roddy McDowall).
Michael Jackson and The Jackson 5 appear
in
two numbers, including the "This Old Man" finale, which as Carol
relates, got an extra jolt from a Los Angeles earthquake.
Volume
2
Guests
Ken Berry, Jack Weston
Aired:
October 20, 1973
Jack
Weston, who later co-starred with Carol Burnett in Alan Alda's The
Four Seasons (1981), appears in three comedy sketches during this
seventh-season show: "Computer Date," about two nervous people
bonding over world's record; "The Operation," about marital
miseries mirthfully making a mockery of medicine; and "Ethel
Herman," with Carol as the title character, a bigger-than-life
singer at a small-time supper club. Another gust star, frequent
visitor Ken Berry, gets to show his moves as both a physical
comedian and a hoofer (the song-and-dance number "It's Not Where
You Start" features the former F-Troop star performing the tune in
several different styles and costumes). And the movie parody had
Harvey Korman's Dr Jekyll turning into Carol's Ms. Hyde.
Rock
Hudson, Steve Lawrence
Aired:
January 29, 1977
Two
of Carol's favorite guest starts, Steve Lawrence and Rock Hudson,
sing, dance and clown their way through this tenth-season show.
Much to the amazement of Tim's long-suffering Mr. Tudball, Rock is
the dashing suitor hopelessly smitten with Carol's magnificently
blank Mrs. Wiggins. As Carol says in one of the special
introductions taped for this Collector's Edition, "The IQ Fairy
never did pay her a visit." Steve sings "You Take My Heart Away."
Rock and Carol play a husband-and-wife anchor team airing their
grievances while on the air. Then both Rock and Steve join the cast
for a '40s-style finale packed with songs by Broadway legend Jule
Styne (including "People, "Together," "Small World" and
"Everything's Coming up Roses").
Volume
3
Guests
Carl Reiner,
Aired:
January 19, 1974
Carl
Reiner, the versatile mirth master who played second banana to Sid
Caesar throughout the '50s (on both Your Show of Shows and Caesar's
Hour), appears with another of television's great second bananas,
Harvey Korman, in the "Funny6 Lady" sketch, which features Carol as
a stand-up comic seeing a marriage counselor because she can't stop
pelting her husband (Harvey) with one-liners. The psychiatrist
tries shock therapy: She must remain absolutely quiet while he asks
her such questions as, "How lazy is your brother-in-law?" The
first-rate second bananas also appears with Carol in "Accident
Prone," about a couple trying to get a Small State insurance
policy, and "La Caperucita Roja," a Mexican-flavored retelling of
Little Red Riding Hood (the wolf is a bull, played by Carl, and
Harvey in Grandma).
Steve
Lawrence
Aired:
January 10, 1970
In
one of the special interview segments taped for the Collector's
Edition, Tim Conway reveals that his very real frustration with an
intercom was the inspiration for the very first "Mrs. Wiggins"
sketch, which is among the highlights of this Mr. Tudball tries to
explain the new intercom system to Mrs. Wiggins (Carol), but either
the intercom or his secretary isn't quite wired right. In 1978, Tim
won both writing and acting Emmys for his work on The Carol Burnett
Show. Musical numbers include frequent guest start Steve Lawrence
singing "In the Still of the Night," a tunes from 1915 medley
performed by Steve and Carol, a salute to Universal Studios and a
tribute to big-band leader Glenn Miller (songs include "Moonlight
Serenade" and Pennsylvania 6-5000").
Volume
4
Guests
Rock Hudson, Nancy Walker
Aired:
February 15, 1975
Rock
Hudson turns song-and-dance man for two segments, both featuring
his McMillan & Wife co-star, Nancy Walker (also known as Ida
Morgenstern on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda). First, very
tall Rock and very short Nancy team up for an up-and-down rendition
of "Mine." Then the guest stars join Carol and the cast for "When
My Baby Laughs at Me," a spoof of When My Baby Smiles at Me, the
1948 film with Betty Grable and Dan Dailey. Carol Burnett Show
announcer Ernie Anderson, Tim Conway's close friend and for many
years "the voice" of ABC on promotional spots, makes a brief
appearance in this movie parody. Rock plays Skip Hoot, the
vaudeville golden boy who turns into a fourteen-carat heel when he
walks out on , his devoted wife and show business partner
(Carol).
Roddy
McDowall
Aired:
November 1, 1975
Making
of the several guest appearances on The Carol Burnett Show, Roddy
McDowall gives his host some advice on tongue twisters a
lighthearted lesson that leads to a rendition of the song "Moses
Supposes." Roddy and Carol return to play a feuding couple in the
"Assembly Line" sketch, right after Harvey Korman and Tim Conway
portray "tough" truck drivers coping with divorce. Ten Tim and
Vicki Lawrence appear in a true musical-comedy sketch (she handles
the music, singing "For Once in My Life," while he, of course
handles the comedy). This ninth-season show also has more than a
little fun with The Little Foxes, spoofing the film version of
Lillian Hellman's play. Carol has the Bette Davis role, Virginia,
who is hoping that her invalid husband (Roddy) will soon die. It
all builds to an
"explosive"
finale.
Volume
5
Guests
Jim Nabors,
Aired:
September 25, 1976
The
tradition at The Carol Burnett Show (CBS, 1967-78) was for Carol's
"special buddy" Jim Nabors to appear in the first episode of each
season. This 10th-season opener teams the former Gomer Pyle star
with Carol for a rendition of "The Rain in Spain" that harkens back
to his very first appearance on the long-running variety show. He
then joins the entire cast for a satire on the soap satire Mary
Hartman, Mary Hartman (featuring Carol's pig-tail perfect
impression of Louise Lasser) and the "Shipwreck in Tahiti" musical
number. Another highlight is one of the finest "Family" sketches,
with Eunice (Carol), Ed (Harvey Korman) and Mama (Vicki Lawrence)
sitting down for a "friendly" game of Monopoly. Carol's Eunice
reveals a lifetime of disappointment and resentment between Baltic
Avenue and Boardwalk.
Ken
Berry, Carl Reiner
Aired:
December 14, 1974
This
eight-season show features another of Carol's favorite guests, Ken
Berry, who gives them the old "Razzle Dazzle" in a late-1800's
barbershop number. The former F-Tropp and Mayberry star also plays
Hamlet in a clever musical spoof of the Shakespearean tragedy about
the melancholy Dane ("the boy in black is blue"). Harvey does
double duty as erudite host Alister Cookie and King Claudius, while
Carl Reiner, creator of The Dick Van Dyke Show, contributes a
spirited portrayal as the ghost of Hamlet's father (whose having
such a great time in the afterlife, he doesn't want to be avenged).
That's after Carl saves the day in the Airport '75 parody,
"Disaster '75" (with Carol and Harvey on board as Norma Desmond and
Max).
Volume
6
Guests
Ken Berry,
Aired:
March 26, 1977
It
was tough for a performer to keep a straight face in a comedy
sketch with Tim Conway. First Harvey Korman fails to do so when
Tim's wonderfully sarcastic Mr. Tudball tries to implement a
fire-safety plan with Carol's fabulously vacant Mrs. Wiggins. Then
Vicki Lawrence breaks up when Tim plays a soldier stranded in the
desert with a commanding officer (Harvey) who has a militant
approach to mirages. Frequent guest star Ken Berry taps his way
through "I Got Rhythm," then joins the cast for "Babes in Barns," a
parody of such Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland "let's put on a show"
movie musicals as Babes in Arms. Ken Berry was Carol's co-star in
the network television production of "Once Upon a Mattress" in the
early '70's.
Bernadette
Peters
Aired:
February 16, 1974
It's
Carol's turn to break up at Tim's antics during an "As the Stomach
Turns" parody of The Exorcist. Guest star Bernadette Peters has a
devil of a good time playing 12-year-old Raven, Carol's possessed
niece. Tim, a favorite guest star before becoming a regular in
1975, is the exterminator-turned-exorcist who battles evil with
such symbols of purity as a white shoe worn by Pat Boone, a picture
of Doris Day drinking a glass of milk and a branch from the King
Family's Christmas tree. Bernadette then sings "Blame It on My
Youth," and returns for the finale, a mini-musical salute to
composer Harry Warren. Harvey and Tim also team up for a World War
II sketch about Japanese sailors in a two-man submarine out to sink
Cleveland (the city where Tim got his start on
television).
Volume
7
Guests
Roddy McDowall, Bernadette Peters,
Aired:
March 17, 1975
Three
actors played Eunice's brothers in "Family" sketches: Roddy
McDowall, Tom Smothers and Alan Alda (a fourth brother, Vinton, was
played by Ken Berry in the signoff series, Mama's Family). This
eight-season show marks the second of Roddy's three appearances as
Philip, a Nobel Prize-winning writer whose success is lost on
Eunice (Carol), Ed (Harvey Korman) and Mama (Vicki Lawrence). Roddy
also appears in one of the series' sharpest movie parodies, "The
Lady Heir," a terrific take-off on The Heiress. The episode's other
guest star, Bernadette Peters, sings "All That Jazz," appears with
Carol in a bit about typists who are the same type and joins the
company for the mini-musical Paris finale (featuring the songs of
Fiddler on the Roof composers Harnick and Bock).
Betty
White
Aired:
November 22, 1975
Betty
White (Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show) plays Eunice's
sister, Ellen, in another classic "Family" sketch. Old resentments
and painful revelations are hopping as the sisters "help" Mama
clean up the attic- and Ellen tells Eunice what became of her
beloved pet rabbit, Fluffy. Betty, later one of the stars of NBC's
Golden Girls, also appears with Carol in a sketch abut two former
cheerleaders attending a "Class of '32" reunion. She then joins
Carol, Harvey, Vicki and Tim Conway in a tribute to the Ziegfeld
Follies. During her monologue, Carol introduces Betty's husband,
Password host Allen Ludden, who is sitting in the audience (Ludden
and White had appeared as themselves in the classic Password
episode of The Odd Couple).
Volume
8
Guests
Sammy Davis Jr.,
Aired:
September 20, 1975
The
versatile Sammy Davis Jr. lights up this ninth-season show, drawing
on his considerable gifts as an actor, comedian, singer and dancer.
In the poignant and incisive "Backstage" sketch, he plays a star
returning to his Southern hometown and encountering a childhood
friend (Carol) who's prejudices remain very much alive. After
performing a medley of his hits (including "Yes I Can," "What Kind
of Fool Am I," "I Gotta Be Me," "Hey There" and "Candy Man"), Sammy
appears in a Western skit as a jilted deputy packing a six-gun and
hurt feelings after getting dumped by the Marshall (Harvey Korman).
The Caribbean finale is a salute to composer Harold Arlen,
featuring such tunes as "Stormy Weather," "Follow the Yellow Brick
Road" and "Get Happy."
Shirley
Maclaine
Aired:
October 4, 1975
Another
versatile performer, future Oscar winner Shirley MacLaine (Terms of
Endearment), guest stars in this ninth-season show, reading and
singing about funny fan letters with Carol, playing a mother coping
with little league-obsessed parents and appearing as Carol's
"reflection" in the "Gorgeous" finale. The episode also includes
the"Family" sketch in which Eunice (Carol) insists that Ed (Harvey)
tell Mama (Vicki Lawrence) why they got married and "The Hollow
Hero" sketch with Tim Conway as the palace guard stubbornly
refusing to let the Queen (Carol) enter without the password.
Harvey and Tim then team for "200 Years Ago Today," a spoof of the
Bicentennial spots then airing constantly during commercial
breaks.
Volume
9
Guests
Steve Lawrence
Aired:
February 5, 1974
Carol
appears as one of her many regular characters, ancient acting coach
Stella Toddler, in a sketch about the tottering teacher being
immortalized in cement at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. This
seventh-season episode also features two of her favorite guest
starts: Steve Lawrence, who sings "Maybe This Time," and Tim Conway
(before becoming a regular), who plays a man who can't quite stop
monkeying around after being chomped on by a chimp. Steve and Tim
both appear in the "Ad Men" skit with Harvey Korman (each having a
tough time stifling the giggles), playing advertising executives
acting like lovers caught in a romantic triangle. Everybody then
sings and dies their way through a musical finale about death
scenes.
Steven
Lawrence
Aired:
February 2, 1974
Aired
a few weeks after the previous episode on this Collector's Edition
Volume, this show brings back Steve and Tim as guest stars- and
shows what happened during the dress rehearsal for the "Ad Men"
sketch (for once, it's Tim who loses his comedic composure and
collapses in laughter). But Tim gets Harvey chuckling in a sketch
about the Oldest Man helping an actor who requires the fastest,
most efficient dresser available. Steve sings "Rainy Days and
Mondays" and appears in the "Bachelor Party" sketch as a man who
accepts a dangerous bar bet and winds up putting the moves on his
fiancee's sister (Carol). He then joins the cast for a mini-musical
salute to George Gershwin, which is staged like a Busy Berkeley
musical.
Volume
10
Guests
Steve Lawrence, Lily Tomlin
Aired:
November 8, 1972
Lily
Tomlin, having become a comedic sensation on Rowan & Martin's
Laugh-In, is the guest star for this sixth-season episode. She
appears in the opening number, "We're All Playing in the Same Band"
(with the show's other guest star, Steve Lawrence); performs a
monologue as a woman abandoned by her boyfriend; plays newly
divorced "poor Shirley" in a "Carol & Sis" sketch and portrays
the tough prison matron in the satirical "Caged Dames." Steve
performs a two-song medley- "I Get Along Without You" and "Can't
Live (If Living Is Without You"), then does his Marlon Brando
impression for a sketch about "the Godfather" trying to enjoy a
quiet honeymoon. Carol, as the Charwoman, cleans up the dancers'
dressing rooms and sings "If They Could See Me Now" and "Baby Dream
Your Dream."
Alan
Alda
Aired:
December 21, 1974
Five-time
Emmy winner Alan Alda (Hawkeye Pierce on M*A*S*H) appears in a
"Family" sketch as Eunice's brother Larry, a commercial artist who
makes the dreadful mistake of getting home for a Christmas visit.
Alan then appears with Carol in the "Nobody Does It Like Me" sketch
(playing a put-upon department store Santa) and "Morton of the
Movies" (as a shy fellow who can only woo a girl by using dialogue
from favorite films). The big finale, "Take Me Back to Manhattan,"
features songs about the Big Apple: "East Side, West Side," "New
York, New York (A Hell of a Town)," "The Lullaby of Broadway,"
"I'll Take Manhattan" and "How About You." Alan later cast Carol in
The Four Seasons, The 1981 film he directed.
Volume
11
Guests
Gloria Swanson,
Aired:
September 29, 1973
Gloria
Swanson's appearance on The Carol Burnett Show was due to a fan
letter. The fan letter was written by Gloria Swanson- to Carol
Burnett. The silen-screen legend had been Carol in a sketch as Nora
Desmond, the CBS star's takeoff on faded film star Norma Desmond,
Swanson's memorable character in director Billy Wilder's Sunset
Boulevard (1950). "And so we got Miss Swanson to come on the show
because she wrote me a letter and said she'd gotten a kick out of
it," Carol says. Swanson, 76, when she appeared on this show, sings
and dances her way through "I've Been Around" and "A New Fangled
Tango." She returns for the touching "Silents is Golden" number, in
which Carol's Charwoman character imagines herself in a silent
movie with Charlie Chaplin (Played by Swanson)
Steven
Lawrence, Paul Sand
Aired:
November 3, 1973
And
speaking of Billy Wilder, this episode, also from the seventh
season, includes the hilarious "Double Calamity" sketch , a takeoff
on the director's 1944 film noir classic, Double Indemnity.
Frequent guest star Steve Lawrence will kill you in the Fred
Macurray part while Carol gets away with murder (well, almost) in
what stands as one of the series' sharpest movie spoofs. The
evening's other guest star, Paul Sand, joins Carol in "Pregnant
Pause," a sketch about a man coping with jealousy stirred up by his
wife's pregnancy. Steve Lawrence sings "I've Got You Under My
Skin," later joining Carol and the cast for a salute to Irving
Berlin, a mini-musical number that includes such beloved tunes as
"White Christmas," "Easter Parade," "Top Hat," "Alexander's Ragtime
Band," "Always," "Heat Wave" and "God Bless America."
Volume
12
Guests
Dick Van Dyke, Tony Randall,
Aired:
February 21, 1976
Two
Emmy-winning stars of Classic situation comedies, Dick Van Dyke
(Rob Petrie on The dick Van Dyke Show) and Tony Randall (Felix
Unger on The Odd Couple), are the guest stars for this ninth-season
installment. In her opening chat with the audience, Carol gives one
of her hilarious updates on what's happening in her favorite
daytime serial, All My Children, and reveals that she's about to do
a cameo appearance on the afternoon soap opera. "I've never been on
a soap opera before, "she tells the audience, "but I've never been
hooked on a soap opera before."She also reveals that, as a child,
she first wanted to be an artist. Van Dyke returned to The Carol
Burnett Show as a regular at the beginning of the long-running
programs eleventh and final CBS season.
Roddy
McDowall
Aired:
October 30,1976
Carol
gives another All My Children update in the opening chat of this
tenth-season show, and tells the audience that her favorite
character is the hard-luck Eunice. One of Carol's favorite guest
starts, Roddy McDowall, appears as a pushy documentary director
trying to film brilliant surgeon Harvey Korman's operation on
resident cutup Tim Conway. Roddy returns for "The Lift," one of the
word-play skits that he and Carol performed so expertly and
charmingly. Vicki Lawrence sings "Hollywood Seven," and Tim is in
fine exasperated form in a "Mrs. Wiggins" sketch about Mr. Tudball
installing a buzzer on his office door. The finale, "Without a
Word, Without a Sound," is a tribute to silent comedy, with Carol
as Buster Keaton to Roddy and Harvey's Laurel and
Hardy.
Volume
13
Guests
Roddy McDowall, Ken Berry,
Aired:
January 8, 1978
Roddy
McDowall makes his third and final appearance in a "Family" sketch
as Eunice's brother Philip, a world-renowned writer whose
accomplishments are little appreciated and less respected by his
ever-bickering relatives. Home to receive an honorary degree from a
local university, poor Philip is constantly criticized by Mama
(Vicki Lawrence). Aired during the eleventh and last CBS season for
Carol Burnett's variety show, this episode allows frequent guest
star Ken Berry and regular Tim Conway to showcase their
considerable gifts for physical comedy in a silent-screen sketch
about two slapstick pool players. Everyone returns for "High Hat,"
a takeoff on Top Hat, with Ken and Carol making like Fred Astaire
and Ginger Rogers.
The
Regulars
Aired:
January 22, 1977
"Tonight
is a family show," Carol tells the audience during the opening of
this tenth-season episode. She's not talking about a G rating for
the material, of course - she means that there will be no guest
star and that the entertainment load will be carried by the
regulars. That means spotlighting the dancers in choreography set
to "Nadia's Theme." That means Tim playing a less-than-confident
door-to-door salesman not really trying to sell a vacuum cleaner to
Vicki. that means Carol, Harvey Korman, Tim and Vicki playing four
off-key classical musicians. And it means Carol making an
eyebrow-perfect Joan Crawford in "Torchy Song," a spoof of Torch
Song, the 1953 film about a tough Broadway musical star who falls
for a blind pianist.
Volume
14
Guests
Hal Linden,
Aired:March
5, 1977
Versatile
Hal Linden, who spent eight ABC seasons in Barney Miller (1975-82),
guest stars in this tenth-year show, reminding viewers of his
Broadway experience in such musicals as Bells Are Ringing and the
Rothschilds. After a rendition of "I Wont Last a Day Without You,"
he returns to play the aptly named Snakey in "Riverboat," a
mini-musical takeoff on Show Boat (with Carol as Ruby Lee, Harvey
Korman as the Captain's daughter). Tim Conway plays his Oldest Man
character as a ship's shakey skipper, crashing through scenery and
breaking up Harvey. And Carol and Harvey chew up the scenery as
Funt and Mundane in a "Ham Actor" sketch about the stage couple
taking their smash-hit play to increasingly larger venues- until
they're booked to play the Astro-Bowl.
Eydie
Gorme,
Aired:
February 4, 1977
Also
from the tenth season of Carol Burnett's beloved CBS variety show,
this episode includes the classic "Family" sketch about Eunice
preparing for her "bit break" in show business - the chance to sing
"Feelings" on The Gong Show. Other highlights include a "Mrs.
Wiggins" encounter with Tim's Mr. Tudball trying to "teach" his
blank-faced secretary about Las Vegas gambling and a bit with
Harvey as a TV reporter coaching Carol though an emotional
interview about the kidnapping of her husband. Guest star Eydie
Gorme sings "What I Did for Love," returning for musical finale
incorporating such movie songs as "Hooray for Hollywood," "Be a
Clown," "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," "Thanks for the Memories,"
"Top Hat," "San Francisco," "The Lullaby of Broadway" and "Sonny
Boy."
Volume
15
Guests
Steve Martin, Betty White,
Aired:
March 5, 1978
One
of the last shows aired during the eleven-season CBS run of The
Carol Burnett Show, this high-energy installment gets a power boost
from comedy's wild-and-crazy guy, Steve Martin, who plays Richard
Dryface in an "As the Stomach Turns" sketch that takes close aim at
Close Encounters of the Third Kind. the evening's other guest star,
Emmy winner Betty White (Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore
Show) plays Canoga Park's leading interior decorator in the spacey
"Stomach Turns" turn,, then reprises the character of Ellen,
Eunice's snooty sister, in a "Family" installment about the
less-than-civil siblings arguing about where Mama (Vicki Lawrence)
should live. The grand finale is "Beach Blanker Boo Boo," a spoof
with Steve and Carol taking the Frankie and Annette roles.
James
Garner, George Carlin, Ken Berry
Aired:
March 12, 1978
Also
among the final shows aired by CBS, this one starts with Carol
describing her 1959-62 run on The Garry Moore Show as "her biggest
break in show business." The studio audience also wants to know
about Carol's plans for the future, and she tells them about an
upcoming TV movie based on humorist Erma Bombeck's writings
(broadcast later that year, it was titled The Grass is Always
Greener Over the Septic Tank). The lineup for this close-to-last
hurrah is impressive: frequent guest star Ken Berry, prime-time
veteran James Garner (Maverick, The Rockford Files) and comedian
George Carlin. Berry plays a psychiatrist treating four patients in
a remote cabin and Carlin plays a man getting his teeth "cleaned"
by his vengeful ex-wife (Carol).
Volume
16
Guests
Pearl Bailey,
Aired:
October 25, 1972
Carol
Burnett's wonderful array of recurring characters included
hard-luck Eunice, magnificently dense Mrs. Wiggins, accident-prone
Stella Toddler, the Charwoman and, featured in this sixth-season
episode's opening sketch, faded silent-screen star Nora Desmond
(based, of course, on Gloria Swanson's Sunset Boulevard character,
Norma Desmond). Harvey Korman, as usual, is her devoted butler,
Max, while Tim Conway plays the advertising executive hoping to
convince Nora to do a television commercial for bug spray. Guest
star Pearl Bailey sings "Where Is Love," later returning to play a
psychiatrist in a comedy sketch that culminates with a rendition of
"A Good Man is Hard to Find." Tim plays his Oldest Man character in
a sketch about Roman galley slaves before hopping into the title
role of the "F. Lee Bunny" skit about a rabbit defense
lawyer.
Eydie
Gorme, Paul Sand
Aired:
October 13, 1973
Throughout
the long run of the Carol Burnett Show, regular Harvey Korman
appeared in a number of films, including Mel Brooks' Blazing
Saddles and High Anxiety. Also cast as a con artist in the 1974
musical version of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, Harvey performs
"Royalty," a song from that movie, during this seventh-season
episode. Guest star Eydie Gorme sings "Take One Step," and another
of Carol's friends, Paul Sand, plays a nervous newlywed in the skit
titled "Honeymoon Sweet." The two guest stars join Carol, Harvey,
Vicki Lawrence and Lyle Waggoner for a "Salute to Movie Series"
number that includes spoofs of Dr. Kildare, The Cisco Kid, Tarzan
and The Wolf Man (with Carol and Paul as a lost couple wandering
into a castle where they encounter Eydie as an old woman and Vicki
as a gypsy fortune teller).
Volume
17
Guests
Joel Grey, Vincent Price,
Aired:
February 9, 1974
Funny
thing about Vincent Price: he could be frightfully funny. Although
primarily known as a horror star, he amply demonstrated his flair
for comedy by scaring up laughs in numerous appearances on The Red
Skelton Show, in guest shots on sitcoms (from F Troop to The Brady
Bunch) and in such films as Champagne for Caesar and His Kind of
Woman. Small wonder he was a welcome guest on The Carol Burnett
Show. In this seventh-season episode, he stands at podium to tell
anecdotes about Abraham Lincoln's sense of humor, then returns to
play a spy in a sketch with regular Harvey Korman. The episode's
other guest star, Oscar winner Joel Grey (Cabaret), appears in a
"Carol and Sis" skit with Carol and Vicki Lawrence, also teaming
with Carol for the "Punch & Judy" finale about a street
entertainer (Vincent) and his puppets.
Jackson
5
Aired:
January 24, 1976
Carol
sings "Anybody Named Jackson" in this ninth-season episode of her
long-running CBS variety show, only to be joined by five people
named Jackson- the Jackson Five- who launch into "Forever Came
Today." Michael and his brothers return later in the show to
perform "Body Language" with Vicki. Other highlights include the
skit "Washington Wacko" (with Harvey as a senator, Carol as his
unpredictable wife and Tim Conway as his campaign manager) and
"Swiped Life" (a spoof of A Stolen Life, the 1946 Bette Davis-Glenn
Ford movie about twins, one naughty, one nice). The closing number
features Carol's Charwoman cleaning up a three-ring circus,
pretending to be the star of various acts. She is joined in
pantomime by legendary clown Emmett Kelly, who takes a seat while
she signs "It's Only a Paper Moon" and "Look for the Silver
Lining."
Volume
18
Guests
Eydie Gorme,
Aired:
February 23, 1974
Although
frequent guests on The Carol Burnett Show, and married, Eydie Gorme
and Steve Lawrence made most of their appearances separately, each
shining in song and comedy. Eydie was the guest for this
seventh-season episode, singing "The Way We Were" and "How About
Me." Then she has some musical fun with the rest of the cast in a
series of short skits that spoof familiar song titles and lyrics.
Tim Conway, not yet a regular on the show, breaks up both Harvey
Korman and Lyle Waggoner in a sketch about a "brutal " Nazi
interrogator. Vicki Lawrence plays a fortune teller giving Carol a
lively reading. And Lyle and Vicki play Nick and Nora Charles in a
parody of The Thin Man. This was the last season for Lyle, who had
been with the show since it premiered in 1967. He soon was playing
Major Steve Trevor on Wonder Woman.
Joanne
Woodard
Aired:
February 14, 1976
Oscar-winning
actress Jo Anne Woodward (The Three Faces of Eve) is the guest star
for this ninth-season episode. She jumps right in, playing Eunice's
old school chum in one of the "Family" skits with Vicki Lawrence as
Mama and Harvey Korman as Ed, who is working on a tricky puzzle.
Other highlights include a sketch about a wealthy couple (Vicki and
Harvey) arguing "through" their servants (Carol and Tim Conway); a
musical number with Carol and Joanne playing wallflowers at a
dance, singing "Let's Be Buddies" and "Why Can't I?"; a "Mrs.
Wiggins" skit with Tim's long-suffering Mr. Tudball again trying to
teach his dimbulb secretary how to work the office intercom; and
the "Everything Old Is New Again" finale with Carol Vicki and
Joanne in sun hats and turn-of-the century dresses.
Volume
19
Guests
Madeline Kahn,
Aired:
October 16, 1976
Madeline
Kahn the guest star for this tenth-season episode, had something in
common with Carol Burnett Show regular Harvey Korman. Both were
members of the big-screen stock company assembled by
writer-director-comedian Mel Brooks for his films. Each had
wonderfully wacky roles in Brooks' Blazing Saddles (1974), High
Anxiety (1977) and The History of the World, Part One (1981). She
gets several chances to shine throughout this show, starting with
her portrayal of a director/actress rehearsing hard-luck Eunice
(Carol) for a part in a play. She and Carol then sing a duet,
"Friend," both returning to participate in the "That's Showbiz"
parody of That's Entertainment. the episode also features the "Mrs.
Wiggins" sketch about much-exasperated Mr. Tudball (Tim Conway)
doing battle with a vending machine that refuses to cough up a cup
of coffee.
Ben
Vereen
Aired:
February 26, 1977
Another
tenth-season episode with a versatile guest star, this show
spotlights the many talents of Ben Vereen, who, like Carol Burnett,
has starred in Broadway musicals (Pippin and Jesus Christ
Superstar), films (Sweet Charity and Funny Lady) and TV programs
(teamed with Jeff Goldblum on ABC's Tenspeed and Brown Shoe).
Vereen introduces his family during Carol's opening
question-and-answer session with the audience, then sings and
dances his way through the delightful "If you Believe" fantasy
number. He displays his knack for comedy playing a divorce lawyer
being courted by a bickering couple (Harvey KIorman and Carol) in a
restaurant, returning for the finale, a selection of tunes by
Harold Arlen (including "Common Get Happy," "Off to See the
Wizard," "That Old Black Magic," "Wish Upon a Star" and "I Love a
Parade").
Volume
20
Guests
Vincent Price, Joan Rivers,
Aired:
January 4, 1975
Before
her talk shows and her many red-carpet stints with daughter Melissa
at award shows, Joan Rivers brought her stand-up comedy act to The
Carol Burnett Show for this eighth-season episode. The other guest
star, making his third appearance in three seasons, is that horror
star who could make you scream with laughter, Vincent Price. Carol
and Vicki Lawrence sing "Born in Brooklyn," a number about famous
entertainers from Brooklyn (a show-business honor role that
includes Joan Rivers). And later, Vincent and Vicki play ambitious
understudies to ham actors (Carol and Harvey Korman). both guest
stars have key roles in "The Walnuts," a parody of another hit CBS
series, The Waltons. The finale, "Sarah and the Moose," is a
takeoff on Peter and the Wolf, with Vincent as narrator, Joan as
Sarah, the forest Ranger and Harvey as the moose.
K
ay
Cole
Aired:
November 6, 1976
The
first of about thirty "Family" sketches aired in 1974, before
frequent guest Tim Conway became a regular on The Carol Burnett
Show. After getting to know Eunice, Ed and Mama in eight outings
about the feuding family, the writers introduced a character for
Tim, a hardware store employee named Mickey in 1975. This
tenth-season episode features one of the best sketches with this
Tim addition to the "Family": Mickey inviting everyone to his
little apartment for a Chinese dinner. Making her first TV
appearance, guest star Kay Cole sings and dances with the cast in
the "Boys & Girls Like You & Me" number, returning to join
Carol and Vicki for the finale, a medley of rain songs ("Soon It's
Gonna Rain," "Rain On the Roof," "I Get the Blues When It Rains,"
"Rainy Days and Mondays").
Volume
21
Guests
Jim Nabors,
Aired:
September 14, 1974
The
opening number of this eighth-season episode is called "With An
A,B,C." Dancers hold up large cards with letters, forming one word
after another until they spell out, "Carol Burnett Show ." It's
appropriate because the appeal of The Carol Burnett Show was indeed
as simple as A-B-C. Do I need to spell it out for you, each week,
staged the equivalent of a Broadway musical-comedy revue. Carol's
good buddy Jim Nabors sings "One Life," returning to appear with
Carol, Harvey Korman and Vicki Lawrence in the "Gunslinger" comedy
sketch and the song-and-dance finale, "Rimshot." Carol, Vicki and
Harvey also appears in what was only the second "Family" sketch,
with Eunice,, Ed and Mama trying to maintain a loving spirit after
returning home from church.
Telly
Savalas, Smothers Brothers
Aired:
October 12, 1974
Another
eighth-season treat, this episode features the Smothers Brothers,
as well as Telly Savalas, then in his second CBS season as
lollipop-licking police lieutenant Theo Kojak. In 1974, Kojak was a
Sunday-night series for the network. Just a few years earlier, the
Smothers Brothers also had a Sunday-night series on CBS but their
relationship with the network was not so amicable. The Smothers
Brothers Comedy Hour (1967-69) was canceled after many fights with
the CBS censors and management over material and guest stars. After
Dick Smothers tries to get through a song, frequently interrupted
by his brother, of course, Tommy returns to play Eunice's
hospitalized brother in the third "Family" sketch. Telly Savalas
sings "Rubber Bands and Bits of String," then appears in the
"Broken Merger" sketch with Harvey Korman.
Volume
22
Guests
Tim Conway,
Aired:
February 22, 1975
During
the opening question-and-answer period of this eighth-season
episode, Carol does her famous Tarzan yell and lets a man from the
audience feel her double-jointed hip. How's that for versatility?
As the old show business expression goes, you ain't seen nuthin'
yet. Almost every show displayed Carol's gifts as an all-around
entertainer: comedian, singer, dancer, character actress. After
chatting with the studio audience, she plays Eunice in a "Family"
sketch about mama falling and needing a wheelchair, sings the duet
"If mama was Married" with Vicki Lawrence (Harvey Korman making an
appearance as Mama Marcus), appears in a skit with Harvey about a
wishing well and plays Cleopatra in the production number finale
that includes such songs as "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and "Up a
Lazy River." Also featured is an Oldest Man skit with Tim
Conway.
Family
Show
Aired:
March 13, 1976
This
ninth season episode features several of the show's best-loved
recurring characters. There is a "Family" skit with Ed (Harvey
Korman) agreeing to take Mickey (Tim Conway) to a hardware
exhibition, then trying to keep it a secret from Eunice (Carol) and
Mama (Vicki Lawrence). Then there's a sketch with Tim's
long-suffering Mr. Tudball trying to wish Carol's ever-vacant Mrs.
Wiggins a happy birthday. And the grand finale features Carol's
Charwoman remembering back on the season, so glad that "we had this
time together." Other highlights include the "Baby Face" number,
with everyone dressed in children's clothing, and "The Digs," a
sketch with Carol and Harvey as couple that can't help tearing
things apart and tearing into each other. The irony is that few
television shows boasted a happier family than The Carol Burnett
Show.
Volume
23
Guests
Maggie Smith,
Aired:November
15, 1975
Maggie
Smith was between her two Academy Award victories when she
guest-starred on this ninth-season episode of The Carol Burnett
Show. She was named best actress in 1970 for her stirring portrayal
of an eccentric English teacher in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
In 1979, she took home the golden statuette as best supporting
actress for her work in Neil Simon's California Suite. After giving
Carol a musical lesson in talking with a Cockney accent, she
appears in an outstanding "Family" sketch as a teacher concerned
about Bubba Higgins, the academically challenged son of
ever-battling Eunice (Carol) and Ed (Harvey Korman). She also joins
Carol, Harvey, Tim Conway and Vicki Lawrence in the big "Show Biz"
finale, which includes such tunes as "Comedy Tonight," "Be a
Clown," "Let Met Entertain You" and "There's No Business Like Show
Business."
Betty
White
Aired:
November 22, 1975
Another
ninth-season episode, this show marks Betty White's first
appearance in a "Family" skit as Eunice's self-centered sister,
Ellen. It's Mama's birthday, and Eunice (Carol) is not only furious
about Ellen arriving late, but also because Mama (Vicki Lawrence)
continues to treat Ellen as the favorite. At the time this episode
aired, Betty White had one more season to go in her acclaimed
four-year-run (1973-77) on another celebrated CBS comedy series,
The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Two months after this episode aired, she
picked up her second Emmy for playing "Happy Homemaker" Sue Anne
Nivens on Mary Tyler Moore's esteemed situation comedy. Also
featured in Carol's comic take on the song "By The time I Get to
Phoenix" (she tries to leave husband Harvey, but, as she sings,
everything from the car to a tricycle gives her trouble).
Volume
24
Guests
Cher,
Aired:
September 27, 1975
Carol
Burnett and her versatile co-star, Cher, sing and dance their way
through the "Variety" number, reminding the CBS Television City
audience that they are the only two women in prime time with
variety shows. That was precisely the case when this ninth-season
episode aired. Also seen on CBS, Cher was airing in the 7:30-8:30
p.m. Sunday time slot. Cher, later an Oscar winner for Moonstruck
(1987), also demonstrates her flair for comedy in "The Not So
Eternal Triangle," a sketch about a glamorous woman whose husband
(Harvey Korman) is throwing her over for a timid and homely lover
(Carol), and an installment of the soap satire "As the Stomach
Turns." She then joins the entire cast for the "Solid Silver
Platform shoes" finale, a spoof of '70s rock music (featuring Tim
Conway as the Elton John-like character he would play again that
season).
Dick
Van Dyke, Ken Berry
Aired:
October 29, 1977
Long
suffering Mr. Tudball (Tim) tries to paint the office in the
opening sketch. He's doomed to fail, of course, because his
clueless secretary, Mrs. Wiggins (Carol), is "helping" him.
Although Mr. Tudball's wonderful sarcasm and Mrs. Wiggins'
splendidly vacant remarks provide big laughs, the carefully built
slapstick of such routines remind you how frequently The Carol
Burnett Show would recall the glory days of silent comedy. Dick Van
Dyke, no slouch at slapstick himself, believes he didn't quite fit
into the show's chemistry when he replaced Harvey Korman as a
regular in 1977. "Dick is hilarious," Tim says, "but, all of
sudden, we were four funny people without a straight man". But dick
often did fit in brilliantly, as he does in the mini musical
"Stolen serenade," singing and dancing with Vicki Lawrence and
guest star Ken Berry.
Volume
25
Guests
Jack Klugman,
Aired:
March 6, 1976
Jack
Klugman was best known for his Emmy winning stint (1970-75) as
sloppy sportswriter Oscar Madison in ABC's The Odd Couple when he
guest starred on this episode of The Carol Burnett Show. But he
soon would be known as Quincy, M.E., the crusading medical examiner
of the Los Angeles county Coroner's Office. The long-running NBC
drama would premiere six months after this appearance with Carol
and company. He sings this way through two numbers: "Where Were
You," a battle-of-the-sexes duet with Carol, and "The Country's in
the Very Best of Hands," playing a southern politician on the
campaign trail. Carol, Tim and Harvey engage in some close-quarter
slapstick as three accountants sharing an incredibly small office.
Then Tim picks up the slapstick and runs with it as an inept thief
trying to steal the Pink Pussy Cat diamond.
Pointer
Sisters
Aired:
November 29, 1975
One
of the many engaging aspects of The Carol Burnett Show was Carol's
opening question-and-answer time. In this ninth-season episode,
regular audience member Mrs. Miller asks, "Who do you have to know
to get a front seat?" Carol arranges a quick seat swap for the
elderly fan, then invites a young boy from the audience to feel her
double-jointed hip in action. Only when he is on stage does Carol
learn that the delighted youngster is the son of guest star Ruth
Pointer (of the Pointer Sisters). comedy sketches include "The
Noisy Speech," with Harvey Korman trying to overcome the noise made
by his friend (Tim Conway), and "Miss Nobody," with Carol as a meek
woman having lunch with her friend (Vicki Lawrence). The Pointer
Sisters sing "Save the Bones for Henry Jones," returning for a rock
retelling of the Cinderella story.
Volume
26
Guests
Alan King,
Aired:
December 4, 1976
Cigar-toting
comedian Alan King was no stranger to CBS variety programs when he
guest starred on this tenth-season episode of The Carol Burnett
Show. Starting in the early 1950's he had made ninety-three
appearances on another of the network's long-running series, The Ed
Sullivan Show. This installment of Carol's show displays the ease
with which the cast bounced from outrageous physical comedy to sly
verbal humor. The opening sketch, "Sleep No More My Lady," casts
Tim Conway as a klutzy husband trying to keep the kitchen quiet for
his sleep-deprived wife (Carol)- two gifted slapstick artists at
their lunatic best. Then Carol returns for "The Session," a lively
verbal match-up with her guest star, who's playing a psychiatrist.
The episode's grand finale is a musical-comedy salute to Warner
Bros. and choreographer Busby Berkeley.
Dick
Van Dyke
Aired:
November 11, 1977
This
eleventh-season episode is what Carol called "a family show." That
means the entire musical-comedy load is carried by the regulars -
no guest stars. As usual, the show gets rolling with Carol's
question-and-answer session. Two of the most frequent requests
during these endearing chats with the studio audience were for
Carol's famous Tarzan yell and for a demonstration of her
double-joined hip. It took eleven seasons, but here's a Carol
Burnett Show first: an audience member asks Carol to do the Tarzan
yell and to dislocate her double-jointed hip at the same time. She
does it, later playing a mirror image clown to regular Dick Van
Dyke in the musical number "It All Depends on You." Carol and Dick
then play homely lovers in "Enchanted Hovel," a spoof of The
Enchanted Cottage, a 1945 film starring Dorothy McGuire
Young.
Volume
27
Guests
Maggie Smith,
Aired:
November 23, 1974
Maggie
Smith and Tim Conway are the guest stars for this eighth-season
episode. That's right. Although Tim, like Steve Lawrence, was a
frequent visitor to The Carol Burnett Show, he didn't become a
regular until the fall of 1975. "Tim was on the show all the time,"
Carol says, "but we didn't make him a genuine regular until the 9th
year. How stupid were we? Finally, it was like, 'Duh! Why don't we
have him on every week. What's our problem?" During the question
and answer period with the studio audience, Carol is asked to name
her favorite "rock star." She answers with the name of another
familiar guest star on her show: Rock Hudson (he is a rock, and he
is a star). Maggie Smith, then on tour with Noel Coward's Private
Lives, enjoyed the experience so much, she returned the following
season for another turn as guest star.
Rita
Moreno
Aired:
January 3, 1976
Sitting
in the studio audience for this ninth season episode is opera
singer Beverly Sills. Carol asks her to take a bow when the lights
are bumped up for the opening question and answer chat. And Carol
tells the studio audience that she and Sills are working on a
network special titled Sills and Burnett at the Met. It aired the
following season. Another great singer, Rita Moreno, is the guest
star for this installment of The Carol Burnett Show. She sings
"Some Cats Know," plays an accident causing nurse to formerly
accident-prone Carol, and teams with Carol and Vicki Lawrence as
waitresses in the song-and-dance finale "There's Gotta Be Something
Better Than This." Tim returns as the Hollow Hero, a palace guard
with no insides since swallowing a live grenade. This time, the
Princess (Vicki) wants to marry him.
Volume
28
Guests
Petula Clark, Tim Conway
Aired:
November 10, 1973
This
seventh-season episode of The Carol Burnett Show features two
frequently revisited premises for skits. First, Carol and Harvey
KIorman play their low-rent ham actors, Funt and Mundane, who are
appearing in a play before a full house. Unfortunately, Carol has
stepped on her contact lenses and sat on her glasses, leaving her
almost blind on stage. Then, later in the show, we return to Canoga
Falls for another installment of the soap-opera spoof "As the
Stomach Turns." Guest stars Petula Clark and Tim Conway are in on
the soapy fun,, Tim breaking up Carol as his Old Man character
making obscene phone calls. Tim then aims his improvisational
skills at Harvey, breaking him up in a bit about airline security.
Clark sings "Silver Spoon" and takes part in the musical finale, a
salute to the 1950's and '60's.
Dick
Van Dyke, Steve Lawrence
Aired:
October 1, 1977
This
eleventh-season episode features one of Carol's all-time favorite
guest stars, singer Steve Lawrence. During the eleven-year run of
The Carol Burnett Show, Steve made twenty seven appearances, always
proving he was as comfortable in a movie spoof or comedy bit as he
was in song. His wife, Eydie Gorme, was a guest star thirteen times
on Carol's program, but never with Steve. Film parodies were a
Steve specialty, and he proves this once again with "Fran
Sancisco," a lampoon of the 1936 classic, San Francisco. He plays a
Frisco snob named Robert Snob, who talks one way with his glasses
on and another way with them off. Dick Van Dyke takes Clark Gable
role; Carol plays the Jeanette McDonald character; Tim is the
Spencer Tracy part, a chanting priest; and Vicki Lawrence is Robert
Snob's glasses-wearing mother.
Volume
29
Guests
Richard Crenna, Ruth Buzzi
Aired:
December 15, 1973
Two
of television's most enduring and endearing performers are the
guest stars for this seventh-season episode of The Carol Burnett
Show. Richard Crenna had three series under his belt when he showed
up for this appearance: Our Miss Brooks (1952-55), The Real McCoy's
(1957-63) and Slattery's People (1964-65). The other guest star,
Ruth Buzzi, had just completed her 1968-73 stint on Rowan &
Martin's Laugh-In, where she frequently socked it to people as
handbag wielding Gladys Ornsby. Dan Rowan, Dick Martin and
announcer Gary Owens were the only other regulars to stay with that
celebrated comedy variety series for its entire NBC run. Ruth plays
Carol's clueless celebrity partner in a game show parody called
"Celebrities and Peasants." Richard plays police officer Carol's
partner (and husband) in a skit titled "Adam and Eve 12."
The
Pointer Sisters
Aired:
October 25, 1975
Several
times a season, Carol was asked to do her legendary Tarzan yell.
She's asked again during the opening question-and-answer period of
this ninth-season episode, but she has some trouble getting it to
come out right. It takes three tries to get off a good one.
Everything else, though, goes wonderfully right, including a
"Family" sketch with Eunice pushing Mama (Vicki Lawrence), Ed
(Harvey Korman) and Mickey (Tim Conway) into a game of charades.
Carol and Tim return to play a hungry couple in a black-and-white
sketch done as a silent comedy. The bit reminds us that Carol and
Harvey both have said that Tim would have been one of the silent
era's great comedians. The Pointer Sisters, making one of five
guest-appearances, sing "How Long," later joining Carol and Vicki
for a rendition of "Get Me to the Church on Time."
Volume
30
Guests
Phil Silvers, Jean Stapleton
Aired:
March 29, 1975
Two
Emmy-winning television legends guest star in this eighth-season
episode of The Carol Burnett Show. Jean Stapleton claimed three
Emmys for playing lovable dingbat Edith Bunker on another
long-running CBS series, All in the Family. Former vaudeville and
burlesque comic Phil Silvers struck Emmy gold in 1956 for his
high-energy portrayal of Sgt. Ernie Bilko, the Army's
fastest-talking con man, on The Phil Silvers Show: You'll Never Get
Rich. The episode begins with Carol's parody of Cher, who would be
her guest star later that year. it ends with a musical number that
features Silvers reprising his Bilko character. Between these
segments, Stapleton shows the audience a very un-Edith side with a
rendition of Stephen Sondheim's "Losing My Mind." She also plays a
militant women's-libber in a sketch with Harvey Korman making one
misstep after another.
Dick
Van Dyke
Aired:
December 18, 1976
Dick
Van Dyke, a regular at the start of the eleventh season, is a guest
star for this tenth-season episode. It begins with Tim Conway as a
"tough" police detective interrogating a couple of suspects (Harvey
and Vicki Lawrence). Carol, dressed completely in white, then sings
"My Coloring Book," with Dick sloshing paint on her as she mentions
an emotion and its appropriate color. The highlight of the show,
though, is "Little Miss Show Biz," a song-and-dance parody of 20th
Century Fox musicals with Shirley Temple, Carol's hilarious Shirley
impersonation shines on such songs as "Don't Be a Grumpy Wumpy" and
" Yummy Yum Yum." Carol convulsed Broadway audiences in the 1964
comedy Fade Out- Fade In, sending up Shirley in the hilarious
number "You Mustn't Be Discouraged" ("there's always one step
further down you can go").
Volume
31
Guests
John Byner, Francine Beers
Aired:
March 23, 1974
Starting
in February 1973, comedian-impressionist John Byner made six
appearances in less than two years on The Carol Burnett Show. In
this seventh-season episode, he performs a stand-up routine,, then
plays Harvey Korman's partner-in-science (each of them developing a
woman robot, inevitably arguing about which creation is better).
The episode also is a marvelous showcase for Vicki Lawrence, who
appears in a "Carol and Sis" sketch about Carol and Harvey trying
to celebrate their anniversary,, then sings "Mama's Gonna Make It
All Better," then plays Harvey's robot in the "Humanoids" skit,
then plays Donna Cargoin the musical finale, a parody of country
music awards (John is Glenn Twitty, Carol is Laura Tendril, Lyle
Waggoner is Big John Black and Harvey is Johnny Money). And Vicki
hadn't even started playing Mama in the "Family" sketches.
William
Conrad, Jackson 5
Aired:
January 25, 1975
William
Conrad, nearing the end of his five-year CBS run as portly
detective Frank Cannon, is the guest star for his eighth-season
episode that also features The Jackson Five
making
the second of three appearances on The Carol Burnett Show). The
brothers perform "The Life of the Party," returning for the musical
finale, a rousing salute to such musical groups as The Mills
Brothers, The Andrews Sisters, The Coasters, And The Supreme's. The
Cannon star shows his versatility by singing a "Movies Were Movies"
tribute to silent-comedy stars, then slipping into a mime routine
as Oliver Hardy. He next shows his flair for comedy in a sketch
with Harvey (they're doctors and golfing buddies). But the
highlight is his portrayal of Willy, the widowed Mama's wealthy
suitor in the "Family" sketch titled "The Gentleman Caller"
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