In Such Good Company by Carol Burnet

In Such Good Company
by Carol Burnett [791.457 CarYb] 

Carol Burnett has had a couple of prior autobiographies released — One More Time (1986) and This Time Together (2010) and Carrie and Me: A Mother-Daughter Love Story (2013) — in which she discussed some elements of her legendary sketch comedy show, The Carol Burnett Show (1967-1978), but each of those earlier volumes covered her entire career, not just the time on that series. In Such Good Company is dedicated entirely to sharing remembrances about her TV show, and her relationships with her zany fellow co-stars — Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence (who started on the show as a teenager!), and Lyle Waggoner, not to mention the many recurring guest stars, like Jim Nabors, Dick Van Dyke, Ken Berry, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Nanette Fabray, Bernadette Peters, Roddy McDowell and so many others. In preparing to write this volume, Burnett re-watched all the old episodes, and captured stills from many of the episodes, which are reprinted in the book. In addition to telling the tales of such classic sketches as Went With the Wind (featuring one of the longest studio laughs in TV history, as Carol wears a drapery in a parody of Gone With the Wind), to Tim Conway forcing the rest of the cast to break character in a Mama’s Family skit as he tells a hilarious tale about siamese elephants, you can’t help but smile every few pages. I particularly enjoyed the scattered chapters where Carol remembers answering audience questions at the start of each week’s show — it’s hard to believe she original didn’t want to do the Q&A at the start of each taping, considering how personable she was. Since there is no “complete series box set” release of The Carol Burnett Show — although Time Life has a Lost Shows collection available for a hefty price — reading this book is the closest you can come to reliving the hilarity of watching this comedy classic itself. If you grew up on The Carol Burnett Show, like me, this is a must-read!

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try One More Time or This Time Together or Carrie and Me, all also by Carol Burnett; also any of the DVD compilations of clips from The Carol Burnett Show)
( publisher’s official In Such Good Company web page ) | ( Wikipedia page on Carol Burnett )

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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