Legendary Comedian Carol Burnett Says Her Show Could Never Happen Today, Misses Classic Comedy Sketch Entertainment

Legendary comedian Carol Burnett said her hit show could never happen today as she acknowledged that she misses the classic comedy sketch entertainment shows and would love to see them make a “come back.”

The 89-year-old actress reflected on her long career in Hollywood and doing “The Carol Burnett Show,” Fox News reported.

“I’d like to see variety come back,” Burnett told the outlet. “But [the networks] could never do what we did because I think the cost would be extravagant now.”

“We had a 28-piece orchestra, 12 dancers,” she added. “We had 60 to 75 costumes a week. Bob Mackie designed for our guest stars. All of that you couldn’t do today. It would be too much. We did kind of a Broadway mini-musical comedy review every week. And that couldn’t be done today.”

“But there could be a hybrid of some way to do a variety show because there are people who could certainly do variety,” Burnett continued. “But I don’t think a network would take a chance. I just wish they would.”

The Hollywood star reflected on her career and admitted that CBS executives initially discouraged her from doing the show how she wanted. She said a vice president at the network told her that variety was “a man’s game” reserved for the likes of then-stars like Jackie Gleason and Dean Martin.

“And [they] had a sitcom they wanted me to do, to which I said, ‘I don’t want to be the same person every week. I want variety, I want music, I want different characters to do,’” Burnett said. “They had to put us on the air because I had a 10-year contract … I just said, ‘This is what I know, and this is what I want to do.’ I wasn’t deterred at all. I just simply said, ‘I want to have fun.’ And I pushed for that. They had to put it on the air.”

Burnett went on to have monster success with her show on CBS from 1967 to 1978, followed by nine episodes in the fall of 1991.

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At one point in the interview, she also opened up about the upcoming two-hour special in her honor titled “Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love.”

“What I love about it was the fact that it wasn’t a roast, and it wasn’t a birthday party with a cake and balloons and stuff,” Burnett told the outlet. “It was a two-hour variety show. We had a 19-piece orchestra and I had so many friends who were there. And the live entertainment, my gosh… It was really exciting. It was just a party – everybody had a good time.”

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