(As an aside – watching Lyle nowadays, I’m struck by what a hunk he was back in the day. But I digress.)

I think what makes everyone like Carol Burnett is that like Lucille Ball, she never put herself up on a pedestal like a Liz Taylor or Bette Davis. She was “one of us.”

Also, as another comedian pointed out, Carol (like Lucy) had no vanity about her looks. She got the laughs by being herself, even if it meant getting hit by a pie or knocked over by a brick. In fact, I get the feeling nowadays that most young comedic actresses really can’t embrace that concept because they are so hung up on their looks.

For those of you who want to see what vintage comedy REALLY looks like, here’s the infamous “Siamese Elephant” monologue from the Mama’s Family sketch. Pricless:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qqE_WmagjY

Regards,
Peter H.

Didn’t watch the show (once Rosie became political she also became unwatchable — not that I was a huge fan before that), but from the promos I don’t remember ONE celebrity I would care to see in a variety show format.

Someone mentioned Kathy Griffin was on the show — Her, I’d watch. Give HER a variety show dammit!

These days, celebrity popularity is often measured in Google/search engine matches and hits. I would imagine that shopping a show idea could be potentially justified with the number of mentions, articles, blog entries re. a particular celebrity found on any given day. The best way to relegate a particularly obnoxious celebrity to obscurity is not to mention him/her at all. To these folks, buzz of any kind is their bread-and-butter and bad publicity is far better than no publicity.

Most of them worked for years in the industry taking any acting/singing/dancing jobs they could find before they finally made the big-time.

It seems to me that “starving artists” were actually better when they were really starving. Would anybody even piss on Vaudville, gigs in the Catskills or the Ramada Room today?

the Carol Burnett Shows are already on DVD, I think through TIME LIFE or some outfit like that — my friend has all of them.

They need to put the old Carol Burnett Shows on DVD. If they can clear music for SNL and The Muppet Show this shouldn’t be hard. They even released the abysmal shows that killed variety shows the first time around like Pink Lady and Jeff, yet the other, watchable stuff is MIA because music publishers want more for the multitudes of songs used than they are worth.

One is that many of the “stars” back then were multi-talented. Most of them worked for years in the industry taking any acting/singing/dancing jobs they could find before they finally made the big-time. Surviving that long, and getting noticed by the studio decision makers, took a depth of talent missing from most of today’s “stars”. Heck, thanks to digital sound processing, modern singers don’t even need to now how to sing, just look good and make lewd dance moves.

Another difference I think is that there were fewer outlets for fans to see their favorite stars back then. Tthere was no Entertainment Tonight or other show-business news shows back then, no blogs, no “official fan web sites”, etc. I know my mother would tune into certain variety shows just see her favorite actors and singers “guest star” that week – she’d watch something else otherwise.

Miss Burnett’s secret: She always let the others shine. Something little ms. ego could and would never do.

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/152371/

She was the rudest, most foul-mouthed, obnoxious jack*ss that I have ever seen in NYC.

While I can imagine that being mobbed by fans can be annoying – she seems to think that she doesn’t owe them anything. Compare her attitude and behaviour to others such as Charles Barkley who was not exactly an angel on the court; but who always made time for his fans.

American Elephant – yes, I too would love to see Carol Burnett, Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, and Vicki Lawrence again – and I seem to remember Carol Burnett treating her fans with such grace and charm. One time in particular, I remember a fan on her show wanted to give her a street sign that was from “Burnett” Street. She accepted the sign with such grace and made a big joke out of the fact that her fan “stole” the street sign and Carol was now an “accomplice.”

Americans may be fascinated with celebrities, but I dont think we actually like and admire them enough anymore to tune in to a format that centers on personalities.

Yep.

If you want to see how it can still be done, try “Later With Jools Holland”. He is the former keyboard player from Squeeze (one of my all time favorite groups), and his show provides a musical format for established musicians, and showcases up and comers, without the stupid judges from American Idol. Leave it to the Brit’s to show how it’s done.