Carol Burnett has been the reigning queen of comedy for more than 50 years. This 84-year-old American treasure is being celebrated with The Carol Burnett Show 50th Anniversary Special that will air on Sunday, Dec. 3 on CBS.
This special features Jim Carrey, Stephen Colbert, Bill Heder, Jane Lynch, Maya Rudolph, Harry Connick, Jr, Martin Short, Kristin Chenoweth, Beth Behrs, Jay Leno and many others.
The Carol Burnett Show also starred Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, Tim Conway and featured amazing costumes from Bob Mackie. It ran on CBS from 1967 to 1978, for 279 episodes and briefly returned with nine episodes in the fall of 1991.
Burnett was born in San Antonio, Texas and moved to Hollywood to attend UCLA. Her love of vaudeville, variety shows and Hollywood films led her to find work as an entertainer. She started working in nightclubs and experienced a success in Once Upon a Mattress on Broadway, for which she received a Tony nomination. She won her first Emmy in 1962. Many more awards followed.
She also starred in films Pete 'n' Tillie (1972), The Front Page (1974), The Four Seasons (1981), Annie (1982), Noises Off (1992) and Horton Hears a Who! (2008).
She earned the Mark Twain Award for comedy in 2013.
Something remarkable about Carol Burnett is that people say that she is as kind and generous as she is funny. Last spring we spoke with her friend and co-star Vicki Lawrence and she gushed about how wonderful this person is.
So, let’s celebrate this comedic genius and wonderful human being by taking a look at twelve clips featuring Carol Burnett.
Click next to see what we've chosen.