{"id":24957,"date":"2023-05-01T11:20:39","date_gmt":"2023-05-01T15:20:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=24957"},"modified":"2023-05-01T11:20:39","modified_gmt":"2023-05-01T15:20:39","slug":"carol-burnett-shares-what-she-misses-about-comedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2023\/05\/carol-burnett-shares-what-she-misses-about-comedy.html","title":{"rendered":"Carol Burnett Shares What She Misses About Comedy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kathy Hutchins\/Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Carol Burnett is happy we have this time together. The iconic comedienne, who turned 90 in late April, offered more tunes and time with the help of her celebrity friends. Her birthday was honored with a two-hour special called \u201cCarol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love<\/a>\u201d and featured performances from Kristin Chenoweth, Katy Perry, and Bernadette Peters.<\/p>\n

Guest stars also included Ellen DeGeneres, Steve Carell, Cher, and Amy Poehler. Burnett told Fox News Digital, \u201cWhat I love about it was the fact that it wasn\u2019t a roast, and it wasn\u2019t a birthday party with a cake and balloons and stuff. 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cIt was just a party; everybody had a good time.\u201d Burnett got her first breakout role in 1959 when she was 26, singing in the musical spoof, \u201cOnce Upon a Mattress.\u201d During her career spanning decades, she earned six Golden Globes, six Emmys, and one Grammy, only a few of her many awards. Her variety show, which aired from 1967 to 1978, earned 25 Emmys.<\/p>\n

However, Burnett shared that something is missing from modern sketch shows. She admitted she missed the classics noting, \u201cI\u2019d like to see variety come back\u201d when reflecting on today\u2019s comedy. She explained, \u201cBut [the networks] could never do what we did because I think the cost would be extravagant now. We had a 28-piece orchestra with 12 dancers. We had 60 to 75 costumes a week. Bob Mackie designed for our guest stars. All of that you couldn\u2019t do today. It would be too much. We did kind of a Broadway mini-musical comedy review every week. And that couldn\u2019t 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. But I don\u2019t think a network would take a chance. I wish they would.\u201d<\/p>\n