A legacy of laughter.
Carol Burnett has revealed the one project she wants to be remembered for once her iconic 70-plus-year TV career comes to an end: “The Carol Burnett Show.”
“Our show made people happy when they needed it. When they needed a laugh,” the comedy legend, 92, exclusively told The Post while discussing Sarah Jessica Parker receiving the honorary Carol Burnett Award at this year’s Golden Globes.
“I get that a lot in my fan mail,” she continued. “Some people say, you know, sometimes we were having a rough time at home, and we watched your show, and for an hour we could forget our troubles and laugh.”
Burnett’s TV debut came in 1955 with a minor role on “The Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Show.”
She went on to star in the short-lived sitcom “Stanley,” followed by guest appearances on “The Tonight Show” and “The Ed Sullivan Show,” where she performed her hit satirical song, “I Made a Fool of Myself Over John Foster Dulles.”
However, it wasn’t until after she starred as Princess Winnifred in the popular Broadway musical “Once Upon a Mattress” and became a regular performer on the CBS variety series “The Garry Moore Show” that Burnett launched “The Carol Burnett Show.”
Premiering in 1967 and running for 11 seasons on CBS, the beloved variety program included comedy sketches, musical numbers and dance performances featuring Burnett and her co-stars Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner and Tim Conway.
But while the show was named after her, the entertainment icon made it clear that the success of “The Carol Burnett Show” and its lasting popularity were a result of everyone who worked on the project.
“It’s not just me. It was our show, with Harvey and Vicki and Tim and Lyle,” she told The Post. “We were a repertory company.”
“Yeah, it had my name on the title, but there were sketches where Harvey would be supporting me, I’d be supporting Tim, Vicki would be supporting Lyle,” Burnett added. “So it was an absolute joy because we got into the sandbox and played.”
Nearly 50 years after the original show came to an end in 1978, Burnett still looks back at her time on “The Carol Burnett Show” fondly.
“All of it,” she said regarding the most meaningful moment from the show’s more than 10-season run. “All 11 years, because it was like playing.”
“We just had fun, and I’m grateful for that,” Burnett, who returned for a nine-episode revival in 1991, added. “It was a family.”
Burnett previously revealed why she decided to end “The Carol Burnett Show,” which drew in an average of 30 million viewers a week and won 25 Emmys, during a chat with Variety in 2024.
“I called it quits because I thought we had done just about everything we could do, and we had started to repeat ourselves in sketches,” she explained. “I wanted to say goodbye.”
Meanwhile, Burnett’s career only ramped up after she closed the curtain on “The Carol Burnett Show” in 1978.
She went on to reprise her role as Eunice in “The Family” sketch spin-offs “Eunice” and “Mama’s Family,” and starred as Miss Agatha Hannigan in the 1982 film adaptation of “Annie.”
Burnett has also made dozens of guest appearances on shows like “Mad About You,” “Better Call Saul” and “Hacks.”
Most recently, Burnett has starred in Seasons 1 and 2 of the hit Apple TV series “Palm Royale” as Norma Dellacorte, the aunt-in-law of Kristen Wiig’s Maxine.
“I remember when they asked me to do it about two years ago,” Burnett told The Post regarding her decision to join the Abe Sylvia-created series. “He called me and said we’d love you to be one of the characters.”
“I said, ‘Who’s in it?’ And they said, Kristen Wiig, Laura Dern, Allison Janney,” she recalled. “I said, ‘Don’t go any further. I’ll be on. I don’t care what you want me to do. I want to work with those people.’”
Burnett went on to address the future of “Palm Royale” ahead of the show’s Season 2 finale on Jan. 14 – and whether she’d be interested in returning as Norma once again for a potential third season.
“It seems like a lot of the stories were wrapped up in this final season,” she shared. “They’d have to, I think, create new characters, because a lot of the people who are in it are doing other things now. Laura Dern is doing 40 things at once. So is Allison.”
“It would depend, because I have other projects that I’m interested in behind the scenes,” Burnett added. “So it kind of depends. But I do love Abe Sylvia, who created it. He’s a delight to work with.”
Now, with more than 100 acting credits, awards and honors to her name, Burnett has made it clear that she doesn’t regret one moment from her legendary 70-plus-year career making audiences laugh.
“I’m very happy with where I am, and the things that have happened to me before have gotten me to where I am now,” she concluded. “So why change it?”
