On 31 DVD's
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.
Kay 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
