Carol Burnett knows the impact her variety show had on viewers.
"I made people laugh, made ‘em feel good when they might’ve been down," she told People in a video published April 5. "That’s some of the things I get in my fan mail, which really touches me."
The 89-year-old actor, comedian, singer and writer said fans also write to her with stories of how “The Carol Burnett Show” brought their families together.
"A lot of times they say it was the only time the whole family would get together, to watch, to laugh, (to) be together as a family," she recalled. "Sometimes they were lonesome and they were cheered up by our show and they looked forward to it every week and it’s a good feeling."
"The Carol Burnett Show" premiered on CBS in 1967 and ran for 11 seasons. The variety show was known for its comedy sketches and musical performances and received 70 Emmy nominations, winning 25.
The show's legacy has endured since it ended in 1978. In 2007, it was included in Time magazine’s list of the best television shows of all time. Then in 2019, the Golden Globes' governing body honored Burnett as the inaugural recipient of its lifetime achievement award in television, which is also named after her.
Burnett told People that she became enamored with variety television after performing on “The Garry Moore Show.” She became a regular on the show while starring in “Once Upon A Mattress” on Broadway.
“I really enjoyed doing the television show as much, if not more so, than I enjoyed doing the Broadway show for the simple reason that with the television variety show, I could do different characters each week,” she said “I could do different songs, different musical numbers each week as opposed to being the same character eight times a week on the Broadway stage for a year.”
When she got the chance to have her own show, five years after working on “The Garry Moore Show,” she said she knew she wanted the same type of program. But she said they initially steered her away from the genre because a woman had never hosted a show like that.
“When I got my own show, they tried to talk me out of it to do a sitcom,” she explained. “I said, 'No. I want to do comedy variety.'”
Burnett also explained why she walked away from the show, despite its popularity.
"I decided to hang it up after 11 years because we'd done just about everything that I could think of," she said. "It was nice. The network wanted us back for a twelfth year, but I wanted to leave before they asked us to leave, before they started flicking the lights on and off. It's nice to leave while you're ahead."
Her comedy chops are beloved today. Before the premiere of Season 48 of "Saturday Night Live" last October, fans campaigned for Burnett to host.
"Who agrees, it's way past time for Carol Burnett to host SNL? Come on Carol, do it!” one person tweeted.
On April 26, NBC will air “Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love" in honor of her career.
