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Carol Burnett was worried she'd overwhelm an audience before she starred in her own variety series
"The last thing I want is to shove myself down people's throats three times a week."
It can be hard to imagine a world without The Carol Burnett Show. However, when presented with an opportunity to star in her own variety series, Carol Burnett admitted that she was a bit reluctant to take on the opportunity. Burnett was already a talented comedian, however, the show's weekly airing concerned her. Would audiences grow tired of seeing Carol Burnett so frequently?
"The last thing I want is to shove myself down people's throats three times a week," Burnett once said, according to an article with The Toronto Star.
Luckily, Burnett took the plunge. Even luckier, she was able to bring on talented actors like Harvey Korman and Vicki Lawrence, both of whom joined the cast of The Carol Burnett Show. The series originally aired from 1967 to 1978 and remains a comedy institution to this day.
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But while Burnett was a bit more reluctant to join television, she liked to stay on her toes in the industry. Frequently, the actor joined film and theatre productions in order to continue practicing her craft.
"I think it's good to get away from familiar surroundings," said Burnett during an interview with The Paducah Sun. "In my regular situation, I become overprotected by those around me, I could become insulated. So I try to do a couple of specials a year and try something else different."
While she spent her early career nervous that an audience may grow bored of her, Burnett began to see any acting opportunity as a learning experience, a potential situation to grow.
"I may bomb, but I have to make the try, to keep stretching," said Burnett.
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6 Comments
Watch her very first show, the first time she did this the audience seemed confused and didn't know what to make of it, probably because it's never been done before. It's kind of funny.
To me, it's interesting that her movie parodies have proved so enduring (especially now that it's fifty+ years later and most people today probably aren't familiar with "Sunset Boulevard", "The Heiress", "Mildred Pierce", etc.). What makes the parodies work is that they show a true love for the originals; the humor isn't from mockery.
