Carol Burnett is a living legend. There are few people whose careers have been as long and consistent and near universally appreciated as Burnett’s. Exactly how wide reaching her influence is could be seen just by looking at the line outside The Castro, waiting for doors to open for the Monday night tribute to this comedy hero. The line, which stretched multiple blocks, featured people of every age, race, and gender imaginable, from young kids to people that have been following Burnett throughout her entire career. There were people dressed in character, too, including one person who wore the infamous curtain dress, complete with rod from The Carol Burnett Show!
After everyone was situated, the adoring crowd cheered every time her face came across the screen in a cycling slideshow of past and present Sketchfest shows. Festival co-organizer Janet Varney came out to introduce not Burnett, but another comedy icon and groundbreaker (that is deserving of a tribute like this on her own), Wendie Malick. Malick has a long and storied career on stage and screen, and may be most famous for leading role on Just Shoot Me. She also plays Burnett’s daughter on Hot In Cleveland. After a quick bio of Burnett, followed by a short clip of the best audience interview segments from The Carol Burnett Show, Burnett came out to the adoring crowd for Q+A.
Malick is a fantastic interviewer. By fantastic, I mean she knew how to get Burnett started. Malick may have asked 8 or 9 questions all night, but that didn’t mean we were lacking in information. We started very early on in Burnett’s life: She grew up very poor, sharing a one room apartment with her Grandma in Hollywood. She told tales of saving money to go see double features at the movie theater as a child, only to find her Grandma was stealing toilet paper from the theater.
The vast majority of the night’s discussion focused on her life story. So many great little anecdotes! She once worked as an usher in a movie theater and got fired for not seating someone at the end of a Hitchcock film; she later put her Hollywood star right in front of that theater. When she moved to NYC after college in 1954, she found herself living at a place called “The Rehearsal Club,” a boarding house where women working in theater lived and paid $18 a week for room and board.
Throughout the entire night, she also made note of the luck she’s had in her life. She had a friend of the family help pay for college, and an acquaintance she barely knew set her up with housing in NYC when she arrived with just a suitcase in the pouring rain. Later, she snuck backstage at a Broadway show and found herself talking to an agent, who asked her what shows she’s been in, so she got her roommates together to put one on. She managed to get an inexpensive rehearsal space and venue for the show for almost nothing. (Three of the five women in the show landing an agent from the show)
All this may feel like dumb luck, but it really seemed like Burnett’s attitude is her secret. She is incredibly confident and balanced. Her thought whenever somebody beat her at an audition? “It’s their turn, not yours. Your turn is still coming up.” Whenever success has gone to her head, she remembers the time she was overly confident at a show, and bombed. Always stay humble. Always recognize and appreciate it when people are helpful and supportive. Always appreciate and raise up the people around you.
It was an honor to get to hear such a well accomplished, groundbreaking performer speak. Sixty-five years of working in the entertainment business has only made her wiser. I walked out of the theater with the feeling that Burnett shared just a little of the optimism and security with me. Yes, seeing Carol Burnett speak made me a better person.
