Chapter 1: What life lessons did Carol Burnett learn from Lucille Ball?
What was one of the best things you learned from Lucille Ball?
Well, now she wouldn't say, hi, guys. She was more like the guys.
She was like she was ready to be a bitch. Oh, now here's the story. This episode is brought to you by Therafluid.
Hey, how you doing?
Hi, Craig. I am, I am teary. I'm excited. I'm honored because we have one of my heroines here with us today and we're just going to get right into it. I want you to introduce our next guest.
Yeah, we have Carol Burnett here and I'm speechless already and we just got started.
You're not the only one. I am speechless. And as I said before, I'm gobsmacked. I'm so happy to be here and to meet you and to see you again.
We are happy to have you. And just so our audience can understand why Misha and I are so... Awestruck, excited, whatever words. It's because you were such a big part of our growing up. So I want to tell you the story. When we were kids, school age, we could only watch one hour of TV a day.
Wow.
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Chapter 2: How did Carol Burnett's childhood shape her career in Hollywood?
It always struck me that every now and then there was a kid who'd ask you a question and you were the kindest person to children. And being a child and seeing that, I'm getting choked up just talking about it.
Thank you.
It really meant a lot. And we were just talking. We wish our mom was here. She would have loved to have been here for this.
She was your biggest fan.
You told me that the first time. Yeah. And I think I sent some videos. And I got the loveliest letter from you.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, you know, the Q&A. I didn't want to do it. Really? No. Yeah, I bet. When we were going to do our show. That feels risky. Yeah. The producer came to me. He said, you know, Carol, before you... Get into the sketches with you black out your teeth and you have a fright wig on and a fat suit and all that. People should really get to know you first.
And so I said, but what if they don't want to ask me anything? Or what if they do and I don't have a snappy answer? And he said, well, so we'll put some plants in the audience. And then I thought. No, it's got to be real. It was real. If they stump me with something and I have egg on my face, at least they know we're being honest.
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Chapter 3: What challenges did Carol face as a woman in the entertainment industry?
And so I said, let's try it for three weeks in a row when we were just going to start. And if it doesn't work, let's tank the idea.
Uh-huh.
Well, the first show, I was a little nervous, and some kind person said, who's the guest tonight? And I went, well, I can answer that. And then the next week, and pretty soon, I started to have fun with it. You were enjoying it. And it became one of the most fun things on my show that I love. Yeah. I love doing. We had one woman, I raised her hand. I called on her.
She looked like Bea Arthur when Bea Arthur did Maud. Oh, yes. You know, she said, I want to come up and sing. Oh, my goodness. All right. And she, fearless, she got up there. What's your name? And I remember to this Terry McCann. I said, okay, Terry. Now, we had a band over on the 28-piece orchestra.
Oh, wow.
And I said, what do you want to do? And she looked at the band and she said... You made me love you in the key of G. Whoa. Well, of course, the audience was going crazy. She started singing, and she's pretty good. She's going, you made me love. And I joined her because I knew the song. Now, we're belting away, and we were pretty good. And the audience is clapping, and we're coming to the end.
And I had a different thought in my mind about the way to end the song. from what she had. And we were doing, and then it kind of started to peter out. And she looked at me and she said, you screwed it up. It was gold. That's great. You can YouTube it. Oh, you can?
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Chapter 4: How did Carol Burnett manifest her dreams into reality?
Oh, I'm going to look that way.
I'm the lady who sings whatever you do. Well, let's start at the beginning because I want our listeners to know your journey. Where'd you grow up? We're in our studios in LA, and I understand that you grew up not too far from here.
Well, I was born in Texas, and we moved out here to be with my mother, who had come out before. It was my grandmother. Right. And I was seven. Okay. And we moved into one room in a building on Yucca and Wilcox. Right near the Hollywood sign. That's right. I used to climb the sign.
Literally, the letters. How old were you when you were doing that? Eleven. Who took you up there?
Did you just wander up there? Neighborhood kids. Yeah, yeah. We'd be roller skating or flying kites or something. I'm bored. Let's go climb the sign. The O's were my favorite. Yeah. For some reason. The scaffolding, and it was rickety. And oh my God, we got splinters. And it's a wonder we didn't break our necks. But I just loved climbing. And then I would hang over the, oh, and look at Hollywood.
What was it like back then? There was no smog at all. It was clear every day. And when I'd come out from the building, the first thing I saw was the Hollywood sign up there. And then I went to school. Here at Selma Avenue School and LeConte Junior High and Hollywood High.
Okay.
Yeah.
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Chapter 5: What advice does Carol have for overcoming imposter syndrome?
And I lived with my grandmother. We had one room. Mama had a room down the hall. And my grandmother, it was a Murphy pull-down bed, so she would sleep in that. And I slept on the couch.
And so you lived with your grandmother in San Antonio. Yes. And your mom moved out here before you. Right.
She came out with my dad and then they got divorced.
Okay. But did she move out here for acting or did she move out here?
She wanted to be a writer.
Okay.
Like Luella Parsons and Hedda Hopper. She wanted to interview movie stars for magazines.
Okay. Okay.
She was successful a little bit. Freelancing. Okay. So she did get to interview Bob Hope, Rita Hayworth. That's big stuff. Yeah. So she sold a few, but unfortunately, she got the disease. She became an alcoholic. And my dad was already an alcoholic.
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Chapter 6: How did Carol balance motherhood with her career?
My mother had a great sense of humor.
And Nanny could be funny, my grandmother. But sometimes she didn't know she was.
I'd say she wasn't trying. Yeah, right, right. What did you want to be? A journalist. Okay. Even through high school?
I was editor of my junior high school paper and editor of the Hollywood High. What were you reporting on? What was one of your big stories? Well, actually at Hollywood High, I went to Mr. Thorpe, our teacher, and he was an uptight old guy. He was probably 30. Okay. It was very pulled together. And I said, Mr. Thorpe, I have an idea.
Do you know the movie star Joel McRae, who was a big movie star in the 30s and 40s and 50s?
So I watched TCM. My sister does not. I know who Joel McRae is. I know who Joel McRae is.
He went to Hollywood High. So I said, let me interview Joel McRae. And he said, well, okay, do it on your own.
So
I got a hold of the studio where he had an office. And I called and I said, I'm the editor of the Hollywood High School newspaper and I would love to interview you. Yeah. But they thought it was a cute idea. So they, okay. Wow. He said, all right. And I took the bus and everything and got to the studio. They took me to his office.
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Chapter 7: What is Carol Burnett's perspective on rejection in show business?
Yeah. And he couldn't have been sweeter. Wow. And headlines in the Hollywood high school news. Of course. Interviewing Joel McCartney.
What was your personality like? Were you always outgoing? Because, I mean, just to even come up with the idea and have the gumption to get on the bus and go down to the studio. I mean, you must have been a spitfire.
You know what? I think it was the movies because Nanny and I, we saved our pennies and we would see maybe six movies a week. Wow. With second feature. So it was like my ticket would be a dime and hers would be a quarter. And we'd get in before one o'clock or whatever before the prices would change. But the movies were my escape. Okay. I was very quiet, and I was a good student. Uh-huh.
And so, but I would see Mickey and Judy up there, and they wanted to put on a show, and by golly, they did. Yeah. I would see Rosalind Russell. Mm-hmm. That's who I pretended I was when I was going to interview Joel McRae. Because I saw her in His Girl Friday. So I could assume that, you know. And so I thought, gee, I'll be a journalist. Mama, you know, interviewing people.
And so I wanted desperately to go to UCLA.
Okay.
And we didn't have the money. Our rent was $30 a month, a dollar a day. And I remember when they raised it to that, nanny had a fit. A dollar a day just to live in that room. So I knew I was going to get to go. You knew in your heart. And I saw myself on campus. It wasn't like I wished it. Yeah.
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Chapter 8: How does Carol Burnett stay relevant in today's entertainment landscape?
I just said, it's going to happen. And then he said, go to a secretarial school, do that, and then nab the boss. I said, I know I'm going to get to go.
Mm-hmm.
Now, what do they call that nowadays, young people? Self-actualization or self... The young people call it something. I don't know. Manifestation.
Do you know that's a thing now?
That's a thing.
Well, this was 80 years ago or more. Yeah, yeah. No, I was... You manifested it. I was 17 or 18. Now, that was 1951, 52. Okay.
Okay.
Guess what the tuition was at UCLA? Don, you're just going to stab me in my stomach.
I know.
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