If you’re going to get married at home plate, who better to be a groomsman than Johnny himself?Yeah, that Johnny – the one with the goofy grin who wears an oversized pot on his head.The interns laughed. And laughed some more.
I wondered how a 1960s and ’70s TV variety show might hold up in the YouTube era. So I popped in a DVD and watched the Scripps Foundation interns watch vintage comedy sketches from a time before they were born. So does comedy without its cultural context endure?
Oh, yeah. It does.
That’s good news for actor/comedian Carol Burnett and Time Life, which just released DVDs of “The Carol Burnett Show.”
Gathering 25 Emmy Awards and Golden Globes along its merry way, the show aired on CBS from 1967 to 1978. Regulars Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, announcer Lyle Waggoner and Tim Conway joined Burnett in sketches that captured dysfunctional family life, made fun of workplace shenanigans and parodied pop culture. Guest stars ranged from Lucille Ball to Carl Reiner to Betty White to Steve Martin. And Burnett performed numbers with musical greats from Ella Fitzgerald to Bing Crosby to the pre-moonwalk Jackson 5.
The DVDs come in four configurations of the classic comedy show, ranging from a single DVD to a 22-DVD set boxed inside a cardboard replica of the show’s curtain. Bonus features abound, including cast and star interviews, featurettes and rarely seen sketches.
Burnett reflected on her work in a phone interview recently. Her voice hasn’t aged – she’s 79 now – and she says she still gets stopped at the grocery store by fellow shoppers hoping she’ll do her famous Tarzan yell. But ever since that morning in the lingerie department at Bergdorf-Goodman’s, where her rafter-reaching bellow beckoned a security guard with his gun drawn, she only yells in “controlled circumstances.” Fans can cue it up repeatedly on the DVD, of course.
Excerpts from the interview:
Q. In your career, what are you most proud of?
A. First and foremost, our show, the 11 years on the show. Then I would say “The Garry Moore Show,” which gave me a great big break. And my first Broadway show, “Once Upon a Mattress.” Those three.
Q. What about in your personal life?
A. I love my kids. I lost my daughter Carrie 11 years ago to cancer. She was the oldest. I just finished writing my third book, actually, about Carrie and me and our relationship. It’s called “Carrie and Me: A Mother-Daughter Love Story.” Simon & Schuster’s going to publish it for next Mother’s Day. I’m happy about that.
Q. After you did a show, did you lie awake nights, agonizing about what you might have done better or what could have been funnier?
A. I’m not that kind of person. No.
Q. If you were starting today, how would your comedy be different?
A. I don’t think it would be. I’m a clown. That’s really what I am. A couple of times we got into some political stuff, but I just like getting belly laughs.
Q. You received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2003. How big a deal was that for you?
A. I loved it. It’s one time you’re honored when you don’t have to do anything. You don’t even have to give a speech. You go there for the weekend. You eat, you wave, you cry and that’s it. You could have laryngitis and not be worried.
