Carol Burnett (Photo courtesy Elite Entertainment Inc.)
At 86, Carol Burnett is on the road with “An Evening of Laughter and Reflection,” which she’s bringing to the Altria Theater on Saturday, July 20. We spoke with her by phone from her tour stop in Durham, North Carolina. While sticking to her schedule, Burnett is working through her emotions following the May 14 death of longtime performing partner Tim Conway. The much-awarded and ceaselessly working Burnett is surely a trouper. The shows go on.
During the 2019 Golden Globes, Burnett was honored for Achievement in Television — a new award that is named for her. During her acceptance speech, Burnett addressed how it would be impossible today to recreate a full-on singing-dancing-sketch comedy Broadway revue every week like she did with her “Carol Burnett Show” (1967-78).
Our full interview with Burnett will appear in the July issue of Richmond magazine. Here's a sneak peek.
Richmond magazine: I appreciate you speaking with us at what must be a difficult time.
Carol Burnett: [Sighs] Thank you. … Well, it is difficult, but I opened the show last night and dedicated the evening to [Conway]. The audience understood. I talked about his relationship with all of us. And then I said, "Let’s bump up the lights and see what happens."
RM: How did you and Mr. Conway first meet?
Burnett: The first time I met him, I didn’t work with him, but he was a guest on "The Garry Moore Show" way, way back. That was even before “McHale’s Navy,” and I thought, "This is funny. This guy is really funny." When I got my show, we had him on as a guest, and he was wonderful. Then he was doing his own shows. He had a “Tim Conway Comedy Hour" and a couple of variety shows, and then he had a Western, “Rango." We would, in the meantime — when he wasn’t working on those other shows — we’d have him on as a guest, so many of the times he was on maybe twice a month. Many people think he was on for the whole 11 years. But it wasn’t until the ninth year that we could have him on every single week. And then he met Harvey [Korman]. And, of course, magic happened early on between him and Harvey. And they didn’t know each other! It just happened. And, oh my gosh, they bonded. And after our show was off the air, they would get together and tour the country, do what I’m doing, go out and do shows at various theaters around the nation, until Harvey passed away [in 2008].
RM: I delved best I could into the newspaper archives here, and I can’t determine if you’ve in your travels, ever been to Richmond. When we saw this come up on our calendars here we said, "How’d did we get so lucky?"
Burnett: [Laughs] Oh, thank you very much. Yes, this is my first time. You know, I’ve been doing this kind of show for 28 years, maybe even longer, and it’s a great way for me to connect with an audience. I just come out and I do what I did on my show, it’s all random, no planted questions, I don’t want that. Flying without a net. Tell you the truth, Harry, it keeps the old gray matter ticking.
RM: I read somewhere that you were told that it's better that you speak with the audience instead of a comedian because what if the comic is funnier than you?
Burnett: [Laughs] That actually came from Garry Moore. When I was doing his show [Burnett made 133 appearances on the program, according to IMDb], he’d warm up the audience, but they didn’t tape it. Well, usually you have comics come out. Garry’s reasoning was he didn’t want somebody funnier than him to open the show. Bob Banner, executive producer for [that] show who came over to my show, he suggested that I do the Q&A at the top of the show. Honestly, Harry, at first, I balked at the idea. What if the audience doesn’t have a question? And he told me, "It’s really important that you come out as yourself before you start the show because they’re going to see you in all these crazy costumes — fat suits, blacked-out teeth, wigs, a gown with a curtain rod in it. They should see you at first." "I tell you what," I said, "if I’m comfortable after the first two or three shows, we’ll keep it in." And that became one of the iconic parts of the program.
At the top for this [July's show], I show an eight-minute clip of my favorite Q&A things that happened from my show, so the theater audience that night knows what we’re going to do. We hope the audience comes full of questions.
Carol Burnett appears onstage for “An Evening of Laughter and Reflection,” Saturday, July 20, at 7:30 p.m. $67 to $252. Altria Theater, 6 N. Laurel St.
