Carol Burnett Is Getting A 90th Birthday Bash On NBC
Carol Burnett is 89 years young, and for her 90th birthday this spring, NBC is going all-out with a two-hour primetime special featuring a cavalcade of stars. "Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love," will include musical and comedy tributes, Vulture reports, airing the night of Burnett's real birthday in April and also streaming on Peacock. Among other big names, the guest list includes more than one "Saturday Night Live" alum, which is only appropriate given how much of a sketch-comedy pioneer Burnett was on "The Carol Burnett Show."
Cher, Steve Carell, Bill Hader, Jane Lynch, Katy Perry, Amy Poehler, and Kristen Wiig are just some of the names who will be on hand to perform for "Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love." Julie Andrews, Ellen Degeneres, Laura Dern, Susan Lucci, Marisa Tomei, Lily Tomlin, and Sofia Vergara are also among those slated to appear as guests. Burnett's old "Carol Burnett Show" costar, Vicki Lawrence, who parlayed the success of her sketch character, Mama, into her own NBC sitcom, "Mama's Family," will be there, too.
From 1967 to 1978, "The Carol Burnett Show" ran for 11 seasons and almost 300 episodes on CBS, enjoying further success in syndication as "Carol Burnett and Friends." Burnett later distinguished herself as a guest actress on shows like "Mad About You" and "Better Call Saul" (where she played the pivotal role of the woman who calls the police on Saul Goodman and finally gets him caught). Though a goofy rule prevented her from earning a nomination for her 2022 appearance in the final season of the latter show, she's won multiple Emmy Awards throughout her long career, along with a Tony, a Grammy, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, no less.
Better Call Carol
You can now watch full episodes of "The Carol Burnett Show," like the series finale, on the show's official YouTube channel. Mark Bracco, an executive producer of "Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love," noted that the guest list for the birthday special will form something of a collective EGOT winner. Addressing the process of scheduling celebrity appearances for the special, he told Vulture:
"We approached them and said that this birthday would be a great reason to throw a big party and invite all of [Burnett's] friends and all of her admirers. And luckily they liked the idea, and NBC wanted to partner with us to do it. [...] What's been so great about working on this special is that everybody wants to say yes. Everybody wants to come out and celebrate Carol. We were laughing just the other day about how pretty much every single person coming is either an Oscar, Tony, Grammy, or Emmy Winner."
Sadly, two mainstays of "The Carol Burnett Show," Harvey Korman and Tim Conway, have both since passed away. However, "Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love" will feature clips from Burnett's career, and it's not hard to imagine that Korman, Conway, and their perpetual struggles to keep a straight face and not crack up while performing alongside her will have some sort of presence on the special.
"Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love" will film in March before its NBC air date on Burnett's birthday on Wednesday, April 26, 2023.