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Netflixsrapidly expanding rosterof reality shows is getting a little help from a living legend: Carol Burnett.
Was it any different?I liked it, because they stayed away.
Mr. Paley just said Go do it.
Thats what Im giving you the time to do, and if youre successful, well pick you up.
Nobody ever snooped around or bothered us.
You guys cant do what we do, and we dont do what you do.
Youre the business people.
Let the artists do their thing, and if we dont get ratings, okay, its our problem.
But there are just too many cooks now.
And we would tape all of that in a little over two hours.
Because everybody after every scene, there were all these writers and connection people saying Oh, no.
Thats no way to run a show, if youre gonna do it in front of an audience.
But Netflix, after the first couple of tapings?
They had some notes and suggestions when we were casting, and then afterwards, they left us alone.
Thats why we got to be where we are.
Im curious about the battles you had with sexism back in the 1960s and 70s.
Did that general sexism ever cross over into outright harassment?
Was there a #MeToo moment for you?No.
I got my big start on Broadway, and that wasOnce Upon a Mattress.
And everything was fine.
I look at [those sketches] now, and Im not proud of them.
Even on Garys show.
Being raised in that atmosphere, I just kinda thought, Well, thats the way it is.
But as I got older and more mature, I thought No, wait a minute.
Im married, and I have kids, and I shouldnt be doing this.
I still was a little zany, but as I matured, our show did, too.
That writing was incredible, because there wasnt one joke in it.
It was all character driven, and I loved doing that.
What convinced you to doA Little Help?Well, I love kids.
I like being with them.
When they have an opinion about something, it goes right out of their mouths what theyre thinking.
This also appealed to me because its unscripted, and these are real kids.
Theyre not professional actors.
It just seemed like a fun thing to do, and it certainly was easy.
We present grown-up dilemmas to these children.
They would present these kids with their dilemmas and ask for advice.
Then we all just reacted to what the kids said.
And I tell you out of the mouths of babes.
How can I make them like me, and not think Im some evil stepmother?
One of the kids raised his hand and he said, Well, bribery always works.
He seems to be wise beyond his years.Oh, he is, yeah.
Hes an only child, and hes very well educated.
His favorite subject in school is science.
I mean, hes amazing, and he also plays the piano.
He was the first one I met and got to know.
One of the sweetest things was when we finished the series, he gave me this thumb drive.
Im not sure what they call it.
I mean, it was so sweet, and he said, This is for you, kid.
And he played Im So Glad We Had This Time Together, and I just was blown away.
I asked him, Caleb, how did you learn all of it?
It took him a month.
April marked 40 years sinceThe Carol Burnett Showended on CBS.
The half-hour reruns featuring just the comedy sketches ran in syndication and are still on MeTV.
Youve worked with various companies, including Time Life, to put out select episodes on DVD.
You cant get it on DVD.
Its not on streaming.
Of course I would.
But its a business thing, and I dont get into that.
The cost is prohibitive.
Time Life has done a good job with what we were able to do.
We called them mini-musicals, and they were just wonderful and funny.
I loved doing all of that, cause music was one of my first loves.
But those of us who saw the show in syndication have never seen most of those.
Theyre just sitting there.
Whereas, if they could strike a deal, theyd get something out of it.
People today have no idea what some of the variety shows did.
They have no idea.
You were a huge part of the golden age of variety shows.
Youd appear onCher, and vice versa.
And yeah, we would trade off.
We did a lot of long-form sketches that would be maybe 10 minutes, 15 minutes long.
And some of our writers went over and wrote forLaugh-InorFlip.
Wow.Everybody was friendly, and it only made every show better.
It was very freewheeling.
You mentioned The Family, which of course turned into the spinoff TV showMamas Family.
Its so beloved by so many viewers, particularly in the South.
Is that a completely zany idea?You know, I dont think so.
Sometimes you shouldnt go back.
Leave it where it was.
Thats something youve always believed in, I guess.
You decided to endThe Carol Burnett Showeven though CBS had renewed you for another season.
I actually just recently watched the final act of your show, which I had somehow never seen before.
And I got choked up!
But it just kinda came out.
And I was tearing up.
I remember that very well.
After the show was over, you took some interesting artistic chances.
The first big TV thing you did was the movieFriendly Fire, which was a very serious drama.
Was that an intentional choice, to show Hollywood you could do Serious Acting?No.
They sent me the script, and I was kind of surprised about it.
I said, Are you sure you want me to do … ?
And they said, Yes.
I said, Okay.
Theres no reason that a comedian cant be serious.
You cant learn [comedy].
And of course, most critics hated it and it bombed in the ratings.
I loved doing it.
We just laughed the whole time.
I thought the writing was incredible one of the funniest scripts Ive ever read.
And then they put a laugh track in it, which we all objected to.
They just kinda ruined it.
And maybe it was a little too long.
Maybe an hour could have been cut out.
But oh my, did we laugh.
