Carol Burnett: A Thanksgiving Revisit 53:26

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Welcome everyone to Let's Talk Off Camera. Joining me today is performer extraordinaire, exercise influencer, fashion doyenne, jewelry connoisseur, international man of intrigue, Broadway star, sex bomb, Isaac Boots, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, Tina Darnay.

It's great to be here. It's so great to have you here. Now, I see that you're wearing one of your CBD torched patches. My torch energy patch, baby. And I've got to tell you, do you know, I gave them to Jake Shears, who is starring in Cabaret as the emcee in London, because he's...

He was, he's been so exhausted, you know, eight shows a week performing as the MC in London. It ain't easy. And he was so run down. And I said, do I have something for you? And he immediately was like, where did you get them? And I said, they're from Isaac boots. Those are his torch CBD energy patches. I'm so happy.

So just so you know, and as you know, I order your gummies. I love you. I know. I see your name on the order. Yes, I'm very. Yes. It says Miss Joan Crawford. Miss Joan Crawford. Love Tina to mommy from Tina.

And also with the holidays coming up, Thanksgiving is here, everyone. We are here celebrating our Thanksgiving episode. And I love Thanksgiving as do you. We love it. But we can all agree it drains the energy out of us because our family members are energy vampires. I haven't talked to mine in years. They are there to suck the life force out of you.

They slurp down the turkey and the last of your self-esteem. Exactly. Yes. So do you have a favorite Thanksgiving food or a least favorite Thanksgiving food? You know, I have to say, I mean, who doesn't love a candied yam? I have a thing. You're a Hawaiian. I'm a Hawaiian. In my heart, I'm like a 500-pound...

smiling Hawaiian grandma. That is me. You just want to have a candied yams. Just candied yams with too many marshmallows, too much sugar on it. My least favorite, I don't love turkey. Is that a thing? No, I don't. Listen, anybody that listens to this podcast or listens to my talk show knows that I don't love Thanksgiving food in general. In general, I find it all very...

I make my own cranberry sauce, which is the only cranberry sauce I eat. Well, that's the way to do it. Yes. It's very good. I don't add sugar. It's tart. It's zingy. I add a lot of like lemon and orange rind and peel and juice. That's the fancy stuff. It's nice. It's nice. I did not know that cranberries did not come shaped like a can for the first...

25 years of my life. I'm like, it doesn't taste like Haribo? The first time I saw cranberry sauce, I was like, what is this? But so what I typically do is, and everybody makes fun of me and my family, but I don't care because frankly, without me, there would be no Thanksgiving food for anyone. They forget that like where it comes from. And by where it comes from, I mean, I order it from a caterer. But

But I usually take mashed potatoes and I make a little nest and then I get buttered peas and put the buttered peas inside the mashed potatoes. And then I have my cranberry sauce. It's basically carbs and sugar. But that is my meal for Thanksgiving. I don't love turkey. I don't love ham.

not wild about candied yams if I'm being perfectly honest. Because you're not a fat girl like me, baby. No, no, no. I am. I just like, I love like, I love, I love like sweet potatoes, but I don't like, I don't like to cross my sweet and my salty. It's a specific thing. It's specific. It's like Barbra Streisand. You either love it or you hate it. Yeah. I mean, do people hate Barbra Streisand? Oh, absolutely. Most people who aren't

of the homosexual slant. That's all I've heard. - Is that true? I mean, I am not homosexual, but I would, maybe Barbara could turn me.

She turned me. I thought Madonna turned you. Madonna did something else. Yes, yes, yes. You know, it's so funny. I have my favorite T-shirt that I got. I had it for a brief spell. I think Albert Kyle brought it for me. It said, Madonna made me gay. I had the tank top, actually. Yeah, it's a tank top. And I took it to the gym.

And I put it in my locker and I, you know, I did my workout class. I came back and it was gone from my locker. It wasn't me. I promise. Is that crazy though? I was like, of course. And I walk, I was like, I know some young boy has that shirt. Yeah. Okay. So, okay. What time do you think that Thanksgiving dinner should begin?

- I like a 6:00 p.m. - Thank you. - I do. - Thank you. - I don't know. - Because it's Thanksgiving dinner. - Right, I just do. I want the sunset, I want the situation, I want to have a nice glass of wine. - Cocktails, cocktail hour. - A little sidecar. - A cheese plate. - I make a great sidecar. - Do you really? - I make a good Thanksgiving sidecar. Equal parts cognac, Cointreau, fresh lemon juice.

And with sugar on the rim. On the rim. That's correct. Yes. And they don't do it right in New York. Do you do a large cube or no cube? No, I like the sound of it. So I like lots of ice. Lots of cube. I like getting mad at someone and hearing it. Yes. Very Sharon Stone. You take an ice pick and you... Very good. Yes, excellent. We need the glamour. What are you thankful for this year?

God, I mean, I'm thankful for my husband. Me too. I'm thankful for your husband. I'm really thankful for him. He's a real gem. Jeff Frida. Jeff Frida. The great Jeff Frida. And he loves you so much. And-

And, you know, it's not easy traveling around so much, as you know, or just having to work in a different country and a different continent constantly. It's a privilege. Absolutely. We're completely blessed. But it's hard. It's hard. Mark and I did it for seven. We had a seven year run where Mark was living in a different country. Yeah. And.

And we saw each other very rarely. I will say it will keep you married forever. You never get tired of each other. Well, what's interesting is you and Mark are definitely a huge inspiration for us, obviously, as you married us. But a template, a template for...

how to make it work, how to respect each other, how to communicate. - Communication is key and people don't do it enough. They just sit and stew in their own resentment. And I say having resentment is like what? Drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die. - And it never happens. - It never happens, right. - That's true. - It's funny.

I'll tell you guys a little holiday prank that I pulled on Isaac and Jeff Rita. So when I married them, I became an ordained minister so I could marry Isaac and Jeffrey. And it was a great privilege of my life. And I'm so happy. And speaking of gratitude, I was so grateful that I got to do that. But you have to send a letter to, I guess, the county clerk.

So I sent a letter to the county clerk that is representative of how I know them and how I can attest to their characters as both men and as a couple and whatnot. So I sent that to the county clerk.

And then I sent Isaac and Jeffrey a fake letter that I sent to the county clerk. Absolutely. And it was disgusting and diabolical. It is the most amazing thing you've ever set your eyes on. I should read it. It's legendary. It is the funniest. Where is this? I can pull it up on my iPad. I thought it was real. Of course. She texted it to us saying this is what she wrote. And this is what she sent.

And it was in the midst of... Was your husband like, holy fuck, we're in trouble? He was completely silent. You know, he's a lot more reserved than I am. And then he just like, he was like dying on the floor. Absolutely. I can't wait to hear this. I found it. You did? Let's do a dramatic read. To whom it may concern, my name is Kelly Ripa. I was born at 4.43 a.m. on October 2nd, 1970. Don't you dare judge me.

I weighed a sleek seven pound four ounces and from what I've been told was very colicky. I have lived in New York City since 1989, moving my way from a 200 square foot studio in mid- Reminder, this is a letter testifying about Isaac and Jeffrey's character as a reminder of their background. To the Supreme Court! To the Supreme Court!

I've lived in New York City since 1989, moving my way from a 200-square-foot studio in Midtown to a 300-square-foot studio on the Upper West Side, then downtown to a loft in Soho for coolness and street cred.

and not for a modeling career, as you probably assume. Finally, and I do mean finally, I settled on the Tony and elegant Upper East Side, as one does once they've achieved vast amounts of money and power, not to mention a desired proximity to the best hospitals and nursing homes.

As a now jaded New Yorker, I have a perpetual no vacancy sign burning bright in my ice cold heart. I know what you're thinking to whom burning an ice cold in the same sentence. What is this word Smith going on about? Well, miracles happen every day to whom and one occurred back in November of 2020 in the form of my dear friend Jeffrey Obrecht.

What started as a simple weekend booty call, courtesy of Grindr, ended up resulting in one of the greatest love stories to ever emerge from the COVID pandemic, or any pandemic for that matter. No, not my booty call, for heaven's sake. I'm a happily married woman and practically old enough to be Jeffrey's older sister. I met Jeffrey through one of my closest friends, Broadway star and social media and fitness titan, Isaac Calpito.

So many titles. Isaac and I have known each other for close to 20 years. We met the way most young starlets do in New York City at the Illuminati initiation ceremony. At well, at well. Otherwise known as the Kabbalah Center. You know where. It was love and envy at first sight, and we've been together ever since. So imagine my surprise and relief when he introduced me to Jeffrey.

I took one look at his broad shoulders, trim waist, long legs, perfect arches, and I just knew that Isaac had planned to replace me with this younger, hotter, gayer version of me. The fucking nerve. Can you imagine? Not since Joan Crawford was asked to leave MGM has there been a crueler form of human suffering. Certainly not in our lifetime, but alas.

I had to face reality, no matter how dark sided. Isaac had found his forever person, the love of his life.

Watching the profound effect Jeffrey has had on Isaac, both personally and professionally, has been inspiring. Maybe my heart isn't ice cold. Jeffrey's transition into becoming a New Yorker, albeit the kindest one ever, has been nothing short of thrilling. However, the truest test of Jeffrey's familial intentions came in the form of my family, a trial by fire, if you will.

I don't mind telling you to whom that nothing and nobody is as challenging as my family, as Isaac can attest. Frankly, we weren't sure if someone as lovely as Jeffrey would have the stones to survive. And by stones, I mean balls. This is when I suspected it may not be a real life. I hope this info has been helpful and illuminating. Godspeed, Kelly Ripa. Oh my God. Come on.

- Legendary. - So, Isaac, before we bring back my very special Thanksgiving episode, which is one of the favorite hours of a phone conversation I've ever had in my life, and I think we can all agree it was spellbinding, it was mesmerizing, I have to ask,

Do you have any memories of Carol Burnett? Did you know her? Well, I grew up loving Carol Burnett as we all have. Her Mildred Pierce. Oh my gosh. I love Joan Crawford. I love old Hollywood. But her Mildred Pierce is so brilliant. And for anyone who hasn't seen it,

It is amazing. Yeah, Google it. Because she's so interesting because I always felt that she wasn't teasing or mocking anyone. She was really like embodying it and finding the absurdity in it. Yeah. In a way that sort of respected them.

And I had the privilege of meeting her when I was on Broadway. I was a dancer in Mama Mia. And she was at a Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS benefit. And she was so kind and took her time with everyone and every ensemble dancer and anyone who came up to her to ask for a photo or an autograph. And I thought, you know, that's a real star. She has a real...

compound, I wonder if that's the right word. She has a real knowing of what she means to people and she gives them her time.

She is never in a rush for anyone. She has, she gets, and I know she's in a rush. That to me is a testament to a real star and a real class act. Yep, 100%. And it was beautiful to see and she should really have a masterclass for other celebrities. Yes, I agree, yes. How to Not Be an Asshole by Carol Burnett. Yes, exactly. That's a great book. We should convince her to write it, yeah. All right, well, without further ado, let's bring on an encore performance of our Carol Burnett podcast.

Happy Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Jan? Happy Thanksgiving. Gobble, gobble, gobble. Gobble, gobble. Okay, let's welcome the one and only Carol Burnett. Woo!

Hi, sweetheart. How are you, Kelly? Carol, it's so great to talk to you. I feel so lucky that we're talking to you right now. It's right around your birthday's coming up, right? Yes, on the 26th. Is it a milestone birthday? Oh, it certainly is. It's the big nine zero. Is that true? Of course. Would I lie about that? I don't know. I just think of you as eternally beautiful.

from the Carol Burnett Show. Oh, well, that's lovely. I was telling Jan and Albert, my two producers that are sitting here with me, before you signed on, that my daughter, Lola...

has only come to live where I work to meet two celebrities in her life. Over the 23 years I've hosted that show, she's come to meet Justin Bieber and she's come to meet you. Oh my gosh. I didn't know that. I remember meeting her. She is adorable. She is so lovely. Well, she has turned me on to this. I don't really understand TikToks, but there's these numerous TikTok accounts that

that are fan pages devoted to you interacting with your audience during the Carol Burnett Show.

Oh, I love that. Well, that was actually, you know, we called it Q&A questions and answers. And before we were going to start the show, the executive producer said to me, you know, most shows, when they're taping in front of an audience, they have a comic come out before you're going to shoot just to warm up the audience and get them in the mood and all of that.

And he said, Carol, I don't think we should have a comic come out and warm up the audience. I think you should do it. And I said, oh my, are you kidding me? No way. I can't tell a joke. And I still can't to save my life. He said, no, no. It's important for the audience to get to know you as you before we get into all those crazy costumes and the wigs

and the blackout tees and all of those characters. And so just do questions and answers. And I said, I'd be nervous if I didn't have a good answer. I'd be scared somebody wouldn't raise their hand and ask anything. And he said, well, we'll put some plants in the audience, you know, and have people ask you questions that you'll know about. And I said, you know what? No.

if I'm going to do it, I've got to do it honestly. And, you know, if I can't answer a question, then that shows that we're being honest. If I have egg on my face, so be it. So I remember the first time I went out to do it and I was really scared. It went okay. And then we aired it. And then we aired the next two or three weeks. And by then the

The studio audiences that came in, maybe they had seen the show. So they were ready to ask questions and everything. And after a while, I just started to love doing it. You know, I never knew what was going to happen and what the question would be. It was all random. And some of the things we have are just absolutely priceless. It really is gold. There are so many people that come back from your past.

that you went to high school with or little girls that say, your ex-boyfriend is my neighbor. And just to see it wash over you, the memory of these people coming back is kind of amazing. And I was showing Albert and Jan this one clip that especially made us laugh is a woman named Mrs. Miller who once... Yes, you know Mrs. Miller, right, of course.

And Mrs. Miller wants a seat closer to the front row. And it's the ease with which you interact with your audience. Well, there was another one where a woman who was dressed, she looked a lot like Bea Arthur when Bea did Maud. Yes, of course. And she stood up and she said, I want to sing.

I want to come see. I thought, okay. She comes up on stage and she's fearless, totally fearless. I asked her what her name was and I'll never forget it was McCann, Terry McCann. And I said, what do you want to sing? And she, without missing a beat, she turned and looked at the orchestra and said, you made me love you in the key of G. Laughter

I mean, she started to sing and wail away, you know, you made me love you. And then I decided I would join her because I knew the song. So now we're doing a duet and we're belting, you know, it's really going where the band is, you know, they knew the song and we get to where we're going to end the song and in

in my mind, I had a different way that I would end it from the way she wanted to end it. So after all this belting and everything, it kind of like started to peter out and there was this moment of silence and she looked at me and she said, you screwed it up. laughter

Well, I mean, again, that was gold. So we showed that, and years ago, maybe three or four years ago, I got a word that she had passed away at age 100, and that they showed that clip at her service. Oh, my gosh. Yeah.

I mean... Yeah, it was such fun. But it's the enduring quality and the connection that you have. I remember, you know, Regis taught me this, like connect with your audience. But I think that you taught us both that, to connect...

You know, like we didn't have interactions where we got to interact with our audience that much live on the air because our show is very much about interacting with each other. But during the commercial breaks, we also didn't have an audience warmer. So we would be the audience warmers and we would interact with the audience.

Right. You know, people will come up to me on the street and pull up their phone and say, I was in your audience 20 years ago and look, you were pregnant. And I have to think that after all of your, what is it, seven decades that you've been in show business? Yep. So it's got to be that times a hundred for you. You know, people just walking up and reminding you of where you met them. Yeah.

That's true. That's true, yeah. And I love it. How did the show get started? Because it can't have been easy in that day and age. I just, I don't imagine it was an easy road. Well, actually, Kelly, it was. I had a contract with CBS, an amazing contract that I signed in 1960-something for 10 years. And then there was a clause that

I said that within the last five years of that 10 years, if I wanted to do an hour-long variety show, all I had to do was push the button and CBS would have to put it on for 30 shows. Wow. And

Yeah, I mean, I had quite an agent. But those contracts, that's like the first and only of its kind, I'm assuming. I don't think there was one before, and there certainly hasn't been one since. And my reaction at first was, oh, I don't think I could ever host a variety show. But then comes the last five years of the contract, and it was the last week of the 10th year. My husband and I looked at each other, and we said, you know,

maybe we should push that button because we were settling down in Beverly Hills. We made a down payment on a house. Yeah, of course. At least we'd get 30 shows, you know? And I remember I made the call. It was the last week of that year.

And I got a hold of one of the vice presidents at CBS. And he said, oh, Merry Christmas. How are you doing? And I said, I'm calling to push that button. And he said, what button? And I said, he didn't remember. And I said, you know where...

I get to do 31-hour variety shows. He said, oh, well, let me get back to you. Sure, he got tons of lawyers at a Christmas party. He called the next day and he said, yes, I see that, Carol. But you know what?

Comedy variety is a man's game. And he said, you know, it's Sid Caesar, it's Milton Berle, it's Dean Martin now, and Jackie Gleason. It's not for you gals. He said, well, we've got this great sitcom we could have you do called Here's Agnes. Can you picture it? Anyway.

And I said, I don't want to be Agnes every week. I want to be different people. I want to have music. I want to have guest stars. I want to have a rep company like Sid Caesar had on your show of shows and on and on and on. And they had to put us on the air. Incredible. They had to. And that was how it happened. If I hadn't had that contract, I wouldn't be talking to you today about this, you know? You have that rare...

the beauty and the comedy chops and the talent, but

You also had a business acumen. You have a lot of chutzpah, you know. That I did. But that was about it because my husband at the time produced the show. He actually produced the Gary Moore show when I was first on that 100 years ago. And so he took over. It was like he was my Desi. Yeah. Like Lucy had Desi. Yeah. Joe was Desi.

It's such a good match, too, when you have somebody that really understands the fundamentals of how that works. Yeah.

Exactly. And we had great writers. We had great comedy writers. We had great special material music. I mean, music was a big part of our show because my first love was musical comedy. So we had to have a lot of music. We had a 28-piece orchestra, which is unheard of today. Incredible. I wonder what that show, do you ever think what that show would cost to produce today? I have no idea, but they wouldn't do it.

They would not do it. I remember, I forget who had a variety, tried a variety show a few years ago, and I think they might have had a seven-piece band with synthesizers. You know, there's no excitement there at all. And no, our show today would be astronomical. Carol, I recently petitioned to get two-ply toilet tissue at the studio where I work, and it's not going well. That's all I can tell you.

That's how bad it's gotten. You know, you had such a great ensemble cast that you put together. Oh, we did. Did you have a favorite partner in crime? Did you have a favorite sketch?

Oh, gosh. That's hard, Kelly. I mean, even though it said it's the Carol Burnett show, I wanted it to be a rep company. In other words, I wanted Harvey to shine. I wanted Vicki to shine. I wanted Tim and Lyle to score. Because, I mean, I found myself supporting Harvey or Tim in a sketch. And then Vicki and they would support me in that. So it was a true...

rep company. And I think that's what made our show as good as it was, was that we had fun and we shared the laughs, you know. And I loved, there were so many sketches. Of course, the iconic Gone with the Wind was brilliantly written by two of our writers. And it was 25 minutes long. That's unbelievable. Yeah.

Well, we did a lot of sketches, like when we did the movie takeoff, Mildred Pierce, African Queen, Double Indemnity. Those would run maybe 15, 20 minutes, because I was raised by my grandmother, and when we could save up our pennies, we would go to the movies. So the movies really kind of spoke to me as a young kid. So I remembered...

Coming home and acting out the movies with my best girlfriend, you know, and to be able then to do it with costumes and lighting and music and all was a thrill. And I remember, too, you know, growing up and going to the movies and watching Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth. Of course.

Bing Crosby. And then, oh my gosh, they were guests on my show. I was just going to ask you, because I know you certainly did not grow up rich or middle class or anything like that. It was like Depression era, right? We were poor. I was trying to put it delicately. You were poor. We were poor. And so, you know, I'm picturing you and I'm getting emotional about

Thinking about you, Carol Burnett, going to the movies, saving your pennies, being raised by your grandma, and you're in the movie theater. And then flash forward, you work your butt off, you pay your dues.

You get this show made. You've got your orchestra, your ensemble cast, Bob Mackie's making your costumes. And suddenly movie stars are guests on your show. Is there a moment...

Or was it every time that you flashed back, that you pinched yourself, that you thought of your grandma and thought, oh my gosh, can you imagine this is happening? Yes. Every time, you know, when they would show up for the first reading, I was kind of tongue-tied. I reverted back to being 8, 9, 10 years old, you know, looking at Betty Grable and looking at

Bing Crosby, my gosh, you know, be able to not only be in a sketch with him, but to sing, sing with Bing. You know, what a thrill, you know. I used to say if my grandmother was alive, it would have killed her. Yeah. Yeah.

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In reading sort of your back story, there were two times that strangers gave you money or provided for your education. Can you tell me about that? Well, after I was at Hollywood High and I was going to graduate and I wanted...

desperately I wanted to go to UCLA College. And my grandmother said, well, we can't afford that. You should go to a Woodbury Secretarial School or something so you can become a secretary. And I said, I don't want to be a secretary. I want to go to UCLA. And I wanted to actually major in journalism.

I was the editor of my high school paper, and my mother wrote a lot, and she said, you know, going to journalism would be a writer and so forth, and I figured I could go to UCLA. Well, guess, just guess right now. Tell me, what do you think the tuition was in 1951?

I can only guess by today's standards, Carol. So I'll say, I don't know, for out... You were in state. Out of state, it's like $75,000. So back then... Okay, Jan just said $2,000. $43. What? No. No.

Yeah. Yeah. It was that, and I don't know how they did it because USC was expensive, but UCLA was not, but we didn't have that kind of money. Our rent was $30 a month. And I remember my grandmother used to say, can you believe it's a dollar a day to live in this room? She lived in the pull down Murphy bed and I slept on the couch. And, but there was something in me.

I knew I was going to get to go. I didn't know how, but I could see myself on campus. And so our room in the apartment building where we lived faced the lobby and it faced the desk where the manager was. And it had a little pigeonhole mailboxes. And every morning I would look out and I could see if we had a letter in our slot. And this one morning,

There was, and I had my robe on, and I went across the lobby, and I came back into the room, and it was an envelope that had my name typed, and that was it, and I opened it up.

And out came a $50 bill. No. Now to this day. Who was it from? I don't know. You don't know? Nope. Never found out. Have no idea. Because anybody in our neighborhood didn't have that kind of money. Nobody in my family had that kind of money. I don't know where it was, but there it was. And you never found out? Never, never. There was no note.

There was nothing to tell me who that might have been. And there are people that I knew in the neighborhood, if they had done it, they would have said, we're going to lend you the money, we're going to give you the money, kid. But no, I have no idea. So I got to go to UCLA. So you went to UCLA, you got your tuition covered. Uh-huh, and I wanted to major in journalism, but I looked through the catalog and there was no...

journalism major. I could join the Daily Bruin newspaper and take a course, a class in journalism, but there was no major. So I was leafing through the catalog and they had a thing called Theater Arts English, which

which would provide writing courses like playwriting. And I thought, well, that could be interesting. So I thought, well, okay, I'll major in theater arts English, not knowing at the time that if you were a theater arts major, whether it was film, design, theater arts English,

As a freshman, you had to take an acting course. An acting course, a sewing, costume, scenery. So I had to do this acting course, and I picked something that was kind of light, you know, because some of the other kids were doing really heavy, dramatic stuff. And I picked something kind of light just to, you know, make it easier for me. And they laughed. I laughed.

I thought, I like this feeling. So boom, the bug bit. And that was it. I decided I wanted to be an actress. It's really interesting that you say that. We've had a lot of comedic actors on our show, on the talk show throughout the years. And they all say the same thing. It all goes back to school.

And it all goes back to the first time they got a laugh, whether it's telling a joke in class or being on stage. And sometimes they were in dramatic plays, but they did something that the audience found funny.

and they got that laugh, and it was almost like an addiction. It is. Yeah. It is. And then, because I was kind of a nerd in high school, I was quiet. I was a good student, but there was nothing. Even I didn't know I could do what I did. I had no idea. It just kind of happened when I was 18. Yeah.

Did your grandma know? Like, did she think, well, you've always been funny? Or, like, did you make... No. No. Huh. Nope. Nope. And then I was on campus, and after I did this scene, some kids older than me, I was a freshman, some seniors came up and asked me to be in some one acts that they had written, and I did that. And then...

Another one said, can you carry a tune? And I said, yeah, because my mother and grandmother and I used to sing in the kitchen and mama would play the ukulele. But I never belted or anything. So I got into the musical comedy workshop and

realized that, yeah, I kind of liked to sing. So that happened as an accident. Guess what? Thank God UCLA didn't have a journalism major program. I know. I wouldn't be talking to you today. I mean, we're all so grateful. What's the second time a stranger gave you money? I was doing the musical comedy workshop, and there were nine of us in the class. And the professor, we were going to do our finals together.

We would do scenes for musical comedies. And he and his wife were going to be at a party in San Diego one Saturday night. And he said, I tell you what, you kids come down and you'll be the entertainment at the party.

And I'll grade you then instead of just doing the scenes for him in school. Wow. You know, so we all went down. It was a black tie affair. Very nice. And I did a scene from Annie Get Your Gun. And then I went over to that when I was finished. I went to the hors d'oeuvre table and I'm like,

I have a napkin out and I'm putting hors d'oeuvres in my napkin to put in my purse to take home to my grandmother. And there's a tap on my shoulder. And I turned around, I thought, oh, my God, I'm busted, you know. Right. And this man and his wife were there and he said, I liked what you did. What do you want to do with your life? And I said, well, someday I would love to go to New York and be in musical comedy.

And he said, well, why aren't you there now? And I said, well, I'm hoping to save up, you know, that someday I can go. And he said, I'll lend you the money. And I thought, uh-oh, the champagne's talking, you know. Right. And his wife said, no, he means it. He means it. And he said, here's my card. Be down in my office a week from Monday.

And I, wow. Okay. So a week from that Monday, I went down there to his office. He had this huge office. He was a businessman. And it was like nine o'clock in the morning. And I went into his office and he said,

Okay, I'm going to lend you $1,000. Now, when I say we couldn't afford $43 for the tuition, it would be like getting $100,000 today. I mean, that's how he said the stipulations are you must never reveal my name.

You pay it back in five years, no interest if you're successful. You must use the money to go to New York. And if you are successful, you must help other people out that you believe in. And that was it. And so that was my ticket to New York. And I remember I went home and showed my grandmother all this money. And she almost fainted. Oh, look what we can do with all of this. And I said, Nanny, I have...

I have to use it to go to New York. And she was not thrilled with that. Right. But that's how I got to New York. And were you able to pay him back? I was. That was 1954, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. By 1959, I was already in Once Upon a Mattress and I was doing the Gary Moore show. Wow. So I waited.

Because I could have paid him back a little bit earlier, but I wanted to make it exactly five years to the day. You know what? I like the way you wait till the last day of the contract. I think it's a really strong plan. I really do. You're making me rethink my entire life. Oops.

Oh, that's funny. And you've never revealed his name still? No, no. I did write him a couple of times when I was going to be on the Ed Sullivan show or another show or something. Never heard from him. Nothing. But it's interesting. When I was doing my variety show, it was about the third year, I got a call in the office from his wife. Wow.

And she said, we were so happy for your success. Would you and your husband like to come down to San Diego to the marina there and have lunch with us one day? Yes, of course. So we drove down.

We had lunch. She was very sweet and quiet, kind of. She was kind of a chatty Cathy and lovely. And on the way back to our cars, I was walking with her and she said, you know, for some reason, if ever your name might have come up in a conversation or if somebody had seen something that you'd done on television and talked about it to us, he never, ever said a word.

Wow. About what he had done for me. Well, first of all, they don't make them like you two anymore because I would have spilled. I would have been like, you know, and do you know who gave me that money? Right. Well, he evidently what she said that he got somebody staked him to a claim when he was young and gave him a break. And I wasn't the only one. She said that she helped some young man start a restaurant. Well,

So he was a silent do-gooder. He didn't need to. He didn't need the PR. It's rare. It's really rare. It's rare.

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Chum. She's my chum. She's your chum. How did you two become friends? Well, she was a guest on the Gary Moore Show, but first there was an agent and a manager that I knew who knew Julie, and he also knew the executive producer of the Gary Moore Show. And they said, you know, you two girls have to meet. And, you know, that's the first sign of, oh, gosh, no, I'm going.

But she was doing Camelot, and I was doubling. I was doing Once Upon a Mattress Off-Broadway, which was an Off-Broadway musical, and I was doing a weekly Gary Moore show. So she came with me.

her manager to see me on a matinee of Once Upon a Mattress. And we went to a Chinese restaurant afterwards. And those poor men didn't stand a chance. Julie and I never stopped talking. Yeah. We just, it was like, we've known each other forever. And that, so that's 1961. Yeah.

We've known each other. That's an enduring friendship. Yeah. Tell me. And then there's a, she was a guest on the Gary Moore show and we did a number together where the audience in the studio, television audience stood up and gave us a standing ovation. Wow. I've never seen that for a taping, you know, then. And, uh, so the idea was born that we should do a special together. And we did in 1962, we did, uh,

Julie Carroll at Carnegie Hall. And 10 years later, we did one at Liggett Center. And 10 years after that, we did one in Hollywood at the Pantages Theater. And of course, we did this recent taping just last week for my 90th. And Julie came out and we were together and she sat with me. And so the 90th show, it's

going to be on my birthday, actually, April 26th. Yeah. By the way, let's tell the listeners it's going to be on Wednesday, April 26th at 8 p.m. on NBC, and it's also going to stream on Peacock. We just want to get that out there, make sure the listeners know. It was a thrill, but it's not a birthday party, and it's not a roast. It's a variety show. It's entertainment.

We have a lot of clips, of course, but it's not just the Burnett show. It's early days, very early days when I was on Ed Sullivan and the Gary Moore show. Also,

the movies that I've made, the television specials, and of course the variety show. And then the latest things that I did was Better Call Saul and another one called Palm Royale with Kristen Wiig and Mara Dern and Allison Janney. And we have live entertainment. We,

We have Katy Perry coming out. We have Bernadette Peters, Kristen Chenoweth, Billy Porter, James Lynch, Cher. It's amazing. What a lineup. Carol, do you know offhand, because I'm sure you'll win an Emmy for this special, but do you know? You never know. No, I mean, it's a done deal. Come on. Do you know roughly how many Emmy Awards you've won over the years?

Well, actually, yes.

If I say no, it sounds like I don't care. No, no, no. I'm just, no, I'm just, I'm actually just asking you out of curiosity. Six, six. But our show won 25. 25, wow. Wow, that's, and do you keep them like in a special place in your office or? Well, I have an office. Yeah, I have an office. And so they're on a shelf now. And I dust them every day and give them a kiss. Wow.

Yes, good. It's good to talk to your Emmys. But you've won the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, the Golden Globe. I mean, you've won everything. Why am I telling you this? You already know. I'm just reiterating, but it's like, to me...

There needs to be more. There should be many more. Like there needs to be some Grammys, some Tonys, some Academy Awards. Every award that could be given. Well, I did get a Grammy. I did get a Grammy. It was actually for the spoken word because I read one of my books. Oh. And so, yeah, I got a Grammy. So I was thrilled about that. We should have had Carol read my book. You could have won a Grammy. Yeah.

We were not thinking. She'd win the Grammy. Yes, she'd win the Grammy. But still, I would be Grammy adjacent. When you think back, is there something that you haven't done yet that you want to do? George Clooney. George Clooney.

Get in line, sis. That's an excellent answer. I've been asked that, and I give that answer, and it always gets a nice laugh. Yeah, well, because guess what? It makes a lot of sense. The pause.

No, I feel very fortunate. We just, as I said, did this recent Apple TV series called Palm Royale. Yeah. And it's about Palm Beach Society in the 70s. And I have a very good role in it. And it looks like they may go... There were 10 episodes. And it looks like they may pick up a second season. So...

If they have, I'll be working again. Yeah. That reminds me. Let me just tell you a quick story. You probably, I don't know if you'll remember this. It was my first year at the Daytime Emmys. And the Daytime Emmys at the time were still on during the day, during the daytime. Okay. It hadn't become like a primetime event. And Susan Lucci was nominated for like her maybe 9th or 10th

Yeah. And, you know, it went on like another decade after that, waiting for Susan to win the Emmy. Do you remember the speech you gave? It was basically what you said was you went on and on about every year how, you know, Erica was up against Vicky, but you knew this was...

Erica Kane's year because Vicky in Eterna, that was a stupid storyline. You basically went through all of the other characters' storylines, right? And then you would end with how, and lo and behold, this person won or that person won or this person won. And then you said, and then it dawned on me, Susan, maybe you're not very good. And it was... I remember. I remember.

I remember. It was the funniest. Oh, I remember that. Yeah. She's on the 90th. Oh, yeah. Yes. I can't wait. I really can't wait. I'm really, really looking forward to it. In closing, I just, you know, I can't thank you enough on behalf of

All of our families, on behalf of young me, you've had so much more influence on me in my life than you could possibly ever know. And to watch you have an influence on my daughter, who's 21, who listens really to no one, but she watches those videos of you interacting with people. And I believe it has had a profound impact

impact on her. Learning how to treat people when you are at your busiest, at your most glamorous, at your work day. I just can't thank you enough for everything you've given us. And we celebrate your 90th birthday with you. And don't forget to tune into Carol Burnett, 90 Years of Laughter and Love. It's a two-hour special, which airs, of course, on your birthday Wednesday night, April 26th at 8 p.m. And we'll stream the next day on Peacock.com.

And we really, really appreciate you giving us the time, Carol. Thank you, sweetheart. And I send you, give Mark my best. And of course, give Lola a big hug. I sure will. All my love. Carol Burnett, ladies and gentlemen. Bye, sweetheart. Bye-bye. Thank you so much. Love you. Bye-bye. I love you. Thanks. Thank you.

I don't think that I will ever recover from talking to Carol Burnett, whom I've met many times, by the way. And it doesn't ever get old. And I feel like I blather onto her about how much she means to me. But then I watch everybody else blather onto her about how much she means to them. And I've got to tell you, it's got to be exhausting. Yeah.

To manage all of everybody's hopes and dreams all the time. But didn't you picture her like, you know, that chaise lounge that you have that laid on the chaise with the corded phone? I do, yes. Talking to you like in heaven with one of her best friends. Yeah, like maybe she's got a pencil in her hand, but she's just like written out a to-do list. Or like maybe she's written me into prom royale. Oh my God.

Call Brian Lord at CAA and get Kelly on Palm Royale for season two. I think you need to call your agents and get the kind of contracts she had going on. I mean, like I said, when I get two-ply toilet tissue, then we can talk about my power. I don't think it gets any better than that. It doesn't get any better. Sorry for all the people who are coming on next. So that's our final episode of Let's Talk Off Camera. It has dropped.

Don't forget, we're a new show in a sea of podcasts, but we're the one that has Carol Burnett as a guest. Okay? Let's Talk Off Camera is available every week on all major podcasts, listening platforms. Can't wait to talk off camera with y'all next week. Bye-bye. Let's Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa is a co-production of Melojo Productions and PRX Productions with help from Goat Rodeo. Our theme song is Follow Me from APM Music.

From Melojo, our team is Kelly Ripa, Mark Consuelos, Albert Bianchini, Jan Chalet, Devin Schneider, Michael Halpern, Jacob Small, Roz Therrien, Seth Gronquist, and Nick Ribola. From PRX Productions, our team is Cara Schillen, Genevieve Sponsler, Megan Nadolski, Edwin Ochoa, Rebecca Seidel. Additional sound design by Terrence Bernardo. The

The executive producer of PRX Productions is Jocelyn Gonzalez. This show is powered by Stitcher.

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