Carol Burnett spent 11 years starring on The Carol Burnett Show from 1967 until 1978. To this day, the sketch comedy series is known for being one of the funniest shows of all time.
In a new interview, Burnett is revealing that during that entire year-run, she only received one warning about her show from CBS. What that network note was might come as a surprise to even Burnett’s most devoted fans!
Burnett’s One Warning From CBS
Burnett was interviewed on Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast on Tuesday. There, she opened up about her 11 years that she worked with CBS.
“CBS left us alone,” recalled Burnett, 92. “There was one note in 11 years.”
Burnett went on to say that this note was about a sketch in which she was set to play a nudist. Joining her in this sketch was the late great Harvey Korman.
“I’m behind the fence that says, ‘Keep out,’ and I’m hanging over the fence bare-shouldered, and then my legs are bare with high-top tennis shoes and Harvey’s voiceover,” she remembered. “He’s interviewing me, and it’s a bunch of jokes about the nudist colony. No big deal.”
Burnett added that as the sketch continued, her character ended up talking about having dances every Saturday night. The character made a point of saying that she did these dances “very carefully.”
According to Burnett, it was this specific line that CBS higher-ups took issue with.
“The network said, ‘That was too blue. You have to change that line,’” she said.
Poehler, who spent years doing sketch comedy herself on Saturday Night Live!, chimed in to say that sometimes the changes to a line are “even dirtier.” Burnett was quick to agree with this.
Burnett added that the new line her character ended up saying was that when she dances in the nudist colony, she dances “Cheek to cheek.”
“They left, and they were like, ‘That’s good,’” Burnett concluded of the network executives.
If that’s the only note that they got from CBS in eleven years, Burnett and her team were doing pretty good!
Burnett’s Previous Comments
Burnett has previously opened up about how The Carol Burnett Show came to be. According to her, CBS originally planned to give her a sitcom called Here’s Alice. However, Burnett had gotten her start as a cast member on the variety series The Garry Moore Show.
It was this experience that made Burnett want her own variety show, only an even bigger version. Indeed, she wanted a 28-piece orchestra and costume changes. Burnett also envisioned a repertory company and guest stars.
“I had this terrific and unheard-of contract that read if I wanted to push that button, the network would have to give me 30 one-hour comedy-variety shows,” Burnett recounted in 2017. “I said, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ And they said, ‘Oh, no, no, no. Carol … all comedy-variety shows are hosted by men — Sid Caesar, Jackie Gleason, Milton Berle, Dean Martin … It’s not really for you gals.’”
“Well, here we are, 50 years later,” she quipped.
The rest, as they say, really is history. Now nearly sixty years after it first premiered, The Carol Burnett Show is still entertaining audiences all over the world. No wonder, CBS only had one note for the show during its run, because it really was perfection.
God bless you, Carol Burnett!