“Life goes on, and you have to be grateful that it all existed. That you were able to make your dreams real. I’ll always be fortunate.”
-Carol Burnett, episode 187 of Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso
Today, on her 90th birthday, a celebration of Carol Burnett! After seven decades in the industry, Burnett sat down with Sam to discuss her upbringing in the Hollywood Arms Apartments (4:25), a mysterious envelope of money that allowed her to study at UCLA (8:00), a generous loan that catapulted her to New York City (13:06), and her “big break” in 1957 (23:30).
Then, we walk through how Julie & Carol at Carnegie Hall came to be (31:40), finding her place in “a man’s game” on network television (40:15), and her fond memories of The Carol Burnett Show and everyone who made it possible (43:56). Finally, before we leave, a conversation on divine intervention (52:00) and what she’s grateful for today (56:37).
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Show-notes:
- See Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love on NBC at 8 ET and Peacock starting 4/27.
- Stream The Carol Burnett Show.
- Watch Carol sing I Made a Fool of Myself Over John Foster Dulles.
- Watch a clip of Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett performing at Carnegie Hall.
- Watch a clip from the final episode of The Carol Burnett Show in 1978.
- Follow Carol Burnett on Instagram and Twitter.
- For more conversations, hear our talks with Ted Danson, Norman Lear, Quinta Brunson, Natasha Lyonne, TItuss Burgess, Alan Alda, and Bill Hader.
- Order your Talk Easy mug in cream and navy or our vinyl record with Fran Lebowitz.
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Original illustration by Krishna Shenoi.
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