The Hollywood legend Carol Burnett, 91, is speaking out to reveal why she decided to end her sketch comedy show The Carol Burnett Show decades ago.
The show is legendary, and still beloved to this day.
Burnett Reveals Why She Ended Her Show
The Carol Burnett Show ran for 11 seasons on CBS from 1967 to 1978. It then aired nine more episodes in 1991. The show was a massive hit, and won 25 Emmys and drew 30 million viewers per week, so many were shocked when Burnett decided to end it.
Burnett, the consummate showman, knows all about stagecraft. The real reason? Go out on a high note!
“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,” Burnett told Variety.
“I said, ‘I want to leave before the network starts flicking the lights on and off and saying, “Goodbye. Don’t do this anymore,”‘ she continued. “I wanted to say goodbye.”
Though she ended her show 45 years ago, Burnett is still performing to this day. When asked if her recent Apple TV+ show Palm Royale would be her final job on camera, however, Burnett replied, “Probably. Unless there’s a cameo or something fun!”
‘Related: Carol Burnett, 91, Has One Specific A-List Actress She Wants To Guest Star On ‘Palm Royale’
How Burnett Got Her Start
In this same interview, Burnett opened up about how she got her start. Back in the 1950s, she was paying $18 a week to live at the Rehearsal Club in New York, which was housing accommodations for women who were looking for careers in show business. When she would meet with agents, they’d ask her to notify them “when you’re in something.” However, it was nearly impossible to land a role without an agent.
A classic catch-22.
“So I called a meeting,” she recalled.
“There were 25 girls, and I said, ‘Let’s put on a show,'” Burnett continued. “We wrote it, and everybody wanted to do their own thing … We sent penny postcards to every agent, director and writer in town saying, ‘You’re always saying, “Let us know when you’re in something.” We’re in something. This postcard is your ticket. Please come.’ And we put on a show.”
The rest, as they say, was history, and Burnett quickly found success.
Related: Comic Legend Carol Burnett Jabs Raunchy Modern Day Comedy – ‘Boring, Not Funny’
Burnett’s Fight For Equal Pay
Over her decades in entertainment, Burnett has been in a lot of meetings about equal pay.
“At one point, I was calling fellow celebrities. I won’t say who, but I got this one man, a very big star, rattling on about it,” Burnett remembered. “He said, ‘I don’t want to do that, because that means all the women are going to be smoking cigars.’ ‘OK? They could smoke cigars now! We’re not stopping them, if they want to light up.’ Is that the stupidest thing you’ve ever heard? What about equal pay for equal work?”
As for how she handled losing roles to other women in her early days, Burnett stated, “what kept me from being disappointed or dejected was a wonderful thought: It wasn’t my turn; it was her turn. That saved me from being sad.”
Unlike many celebrities, Burnett has made a point of staying out of politics throughout her time in Hollywood.
“It sounds corny, but I want people to be happy again, to love and be joyful, and that’s what I’m seeing as a possibility,” she explained.
Burnett has been making millions of fans laugh for decades. While we will always miss The Carol Burnett Show, we can certainly understand why she wanted to go out on top!
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