I Am One of the Luckiest Broads

If it’s any consolation, even Carol Burnett gets emotional when she says “So Glad We Had This Time”.

The song that Burnett will sing to the end of every night The Carol Burnett Showwas his signature. It’s what plays the intro music every time he appears on a talk show. It accompanies clip packs every time it’s hosted at a fancy Hollywood tribute. This is personal – to him and to us.

There are decades-old memories of that song playing on the piano keys and the seriousness in Burnett’s voice as he sings it: the kids watching. The Carol Burnett Show with their parents or grandparents; women who watched the series and were inspired to follow their star’s crazy spirit; all the love, loss and relationships embedded in an indelible song.

It’s not a spoiler to say this Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love ends with the performance of the song; of course it is.

The star-studded TV show, which aired Wednesday night on NBC and aired on Peacock the next day, is a retrospective on the illustrious career of a national icon. It’s a glimpse into the groundbreaking ways of his wild talent and changed the entire landscape of entertainment showcased by the people who owed their careers to him.

After names like Cher, Julie Andrews, Lily Tomlin, Steve Carell, Amy Poehler, Kristin Chenoweth, Bob Mackie, Kristen Wiig, Laura Dern and Allison Janney, people wonder if Hollywood sets are being forced into darkness. On the day the special was filmed – all giving their heartfelt, hilarious compliments, Katy Perry took the stage with her performance of “So Glad We’re Spending This Time Together”.

Near the end of the piece, Perry comes off the stage and sits next to Burnett, who sings the last four measures: “…the time comes when we have to say ‘goodbye’.”

“I choked a little,” Burnett tells The Daily Beast’s Obsessed. “I must say it was such an evening. It was two and a half hours of joy and tears at the same time. That was the way to end it, I know that.”

You should hear Carol Burnett praising her birthday party.

As we speak, the special had just been filmed (the Wednesday night airing coincides with Burnett’s actual 90th birthday). And from what I learned, he probably wouldn’t mind calling it a “birthday party.”

“When they talked about doing this, I said I didn’t want a birthday party,” she says. “I don’t want cake. I don’t want balloons and confetti. I just want it to be a funny show and lots of music.” The result: a 19-member live orchestra and a talent roster that the producers of the Academy Awards will be filled with envy.

He began listing the names of the people who had appeared, his voice sounding more and more proud and dazed with each of them. His description of each act is followed by an admirable expression of superiority: “It was so sweet.” “This was so much fun.” “There were a lot of things, Ah…” she says, taking a deep breath, “heart. Very heart.”.

Bernadette Peters, Billy Porter and Jane Lynch performed a medley. AnnieAt the end of the film, Annie herself, Aileen Quinn, who plays “Tomorrow,” is also joined. “There was no dry eye in the house,” says Burnett. “It was incredible.”

Tomlin talked about an interaction they had on a soundstage when Tomlin was just starting out. Laugh. “You gave me the most confidence in the world,” he told Burnett. “Carol… that’s Carol, isn’t it?” As the audience laughs, she continues, “The love we all share with you tonight is a small payback for all the love you’ve shown us over the years.”

Peters and Chenoweth paid tribute to the TV shows Burnett had staged with opera singer Beverly Sills and, of course, close friend Julie Andrews. Andrews – “dude” as Burnett calls it – sat next to Burnett all evening and came from New York for this event. “I can’t believe it’s been 62 or more years since we first met, dude,” Andrews tells him in the special, “We went from landlines to cellphones to texting and, uh, we laughed along the way?”

“It was beautiful,” Burnett says, still sounding overwhelmed. “I got a little teary eyed.”

CBS Photo Archive

Wearing a glittering gold dress and a fancy round headpiece, Cher told a story of how and when. The Sonny and Cher Show Starting off, Bob Mackie realized that he and Burnett were the same size, and borrowed clothes from Burnett’s wardrobe to dress Cher. Later, when Cher attacked on her own, Burnett was a close confidant. “She’s such a woman, such a star that if you meet her you’ll never be disappointed,” Cher says in the special episode.

One of the things that impressed Burnett the most was the attention paid to his entire career—his entire life, indeed. There were clips from her Broadway debut. Once Upon a Bedfrom her first star-making appearances Garry Moore Showand even one of ten on the 1956 variety show, omnibussinging a Leonard Bernstein song.

Of course a lot of time was spent The Carol Burnett Showincluding a poignant tribute from surviving cast member Vicki Lawrence. Marisa Tomei came on stage as Burnett’s inept office secretary character, Miss Wiggins, and then interviewed Mackie about all this. The Carol Burnett Show‘s most iconic costumes—concludes with the surprise appearance of Maya Rudolph in the legendary game. Gone With The Wind curtain rod dress.

The episode introduced by Cher, of the show’s history of iconic duets with great musicians and stars, particularly impressed Burnett.

“I remember going to the movies with my grandmother when I was little,” she says. “We saved our pennies.” Fast-forward ten or twenty years and the celebrities they loved and gossiped about together—Bing Crosby, Betty Grable, Rita Hayworth, Mickey Rooney—were guests on his show.

“My favorite actor of all time, Jimmy Stewart, surprised me on our last show,” he continues. “I wish my grandmother was alive to see all this because it was a dream come true. We’d go to the movies and I’d come home and play them with my best girlfriend in the neighborhood. We’d do Tarzan and Jane, we’d do Betty Grable and June Haver – all of that. And then putting on a show where I can be these people in costumes and do the music and the lighting… let me put it this way: I think I’m one of the luckiest chicks in the world. I just had so much fun.

Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television

It’s an overwhelming experience to hear how important some of the most famous people working today are to them – some strangers, some close friends. But the truth is, people have been saying this to Burnett for decades. However, does a night like this sound any different? Can Burnett see how his work in the industry has impacted the performance of these people gushing about him on stage?

“Maybe,” he says with a laugh. “What I always say – and I tell them too – ‘If I had never been born, they would be doing what they do. So yes, I’m glad if I helped a little. The effect isn’t all that necessary, however, because talent will prevail. They would do what they did, whether I was around or not.”

However, he doesn’t hesitate to answer one last question: In situations like these, when he sits down and looks at his entire career, is there one thing he’s most proud of?

“It must have been the 11-year-long variety show that CBS wasn’t interested in doing in the first place,” he says. “They had to do it because my contract was to do 30 shows, so they had to put me on the air. I didn’t think we’d be running this long.”

He recalls the first recording with original co-stars Harvey Korman, Lyle Wagoner and Lawrence. “We’re just like, ‘You know what? We have 30 shows to do and we don’t know what the future is going to be. So let’s go out and have fun.’ So we did, we ran for 270-odd shows instead of 30. Actually, they asked for a specification for the 12th year, but before we were asked to leave, I decided that we should leave.

This is always a good idea, I recommend. “Yeah, we have to get out of there before we start turning the lights on and off.” We say goodbye to this and naturally we are very happy to spend this time together.

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