Your Turn Will Come with Carol Burnett

What was one of the best things you learned from Lucille Ball? Well, she now she wouldn't say hi guys. She was more like the guy she was like she was ready to be a bitch. Now here's the story. This episode is brought to you by TheraFlood. Hey, how you doing? Hi, Craig. I am, I am Terry. I'm excited. I'm honored because we have one of my heroines here with us today. And we're just going to get right into it. Yeah, we're going to get into it. I want you to introduce our next guest. Yeah, we have Carol Bernat here and wow. I'm speechless already and we just got started. I'm the only one. I am speechless. And as I said before, I'm gobsmack. I'm so happy to be here and to meet you and to see you again. We are happy to have you. And and just so our audience can understand why Misha and I are so awestruck, excited, whatever words it's because you were such a big part of our growing up. So I want to tell you the story. When we were kids, school age, we could only watch one hour at TV a day. Wow. Yes, my parents were ahead of the curve. And we like you were cartoon fans. So we spent our hour on cartoons and my sister spent our hour on the Brady Bunch and things of that nature. But in the evenings when you were on my parents watched the Carol Bernat show. And I just want to want to tell you one of the things that I really was awestruck about your show. And I didn't understand it because again, I was just a, I was like 10 years old. I can't even remember how old I was. When you would come out at the beginning of the show and take questions from people. Yeah. My 10 year old brain was like, this woman is the smartest, funniest woman I've ever seen because she doesn't know what these people are going to ask. So that was one thing. But it always struck me that every now and then there was a kid who'd asked you a question. And you were the kindest person to children. And being a child and seeing that, I'm getting choked up just talking about it. Thank you. And it really meant a lot. And we were just talking, we wish our mom was here. She would have loved to have been here for the so. He was your biggest fan. You told me that the first time. Yeah. And I think I sent some videos and all. And I got the loveliest letter for me. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, the Q and A. I didn't want to do it. Really? No. Yeah. I bet. Yeah. The producer came to me and said, you know, Carol, before you get into the sketches with you black out your teeth and you have a right way going and a fancy and all that, people should really get to know you first. And so to go out. I said, but what if whatever they asked, what if they don't want to ask me anything or what if they do? And I can't, I don't have a snappy answer. And he said, well, so we'll put some plants in the audience. And then I thought, no, it's got to be real. It was real. If they stumped me with something and I have a gun on my face, at least they know we're being honest. Right. And so I said, let's try it for three weeks in a row. When we were just going to start and if it doesn't work, let's tank the idea. Well, the first show, I was a little nervous and some kind person said, who's the guest tonight? And I was, well, I could answer the question. And then the next week and pretty soon, I started to have fun with it. You were enjoying it. And it became one of the most fun things on my show that I love. I love doing it. We would have. We had one woman on a razor hand. I called on her. She looked like a B Arthur when B Arthur did mod. Oh, yes. You know, she said, I want to come up and sing. I said, okay. Yeah. And she fearless. She got up there. What's your name? And I remember to this Terry McCann. I said, okay, Terry. Now we had a band over on the 28 piece orchestra. Oh, wow. And I said, what do you want to do? And she looked at the band and she said, you made me love you and the key of G. Whoa. Well, of course the audience was going, she started singing. And she's pretty good. Yeah. She's going, you made me love. And I joined her. Because I knew the song. Now we're belting away. And we were pretty good. And the audience is clapping. And we were coming to the end. And I had a different thought in my mind about the way to end the song. From what she had. And we were doing it and it kind of started to peter out. And she looked at me and she said, you screwed it up. It was cool. It was great. It was endless. You can YouTube it. Oh, you can. I'm a lady who sings whatever you do. Well, let's let's start at the beginning. Because I want our listeners to listen to the song. I'm going to sing it. I'm going to sing it. I'm going to sing it. I'm going to sing it. I'm going to sing it. I'm going to sing it. I'm going to sing it. I'm going to sing it. I'm going to sing it. I'm going to sing it. I'm going to sing it. I'm going to sing it. I'm going to sing it. I'm going to sing it. I'm going to sing it. I was seven. Okay. You know, and we moved into one room in a building on Yucca and Wilcox. Right near the Hollywood sign. That's right. I used to climb the sign. Wow. Literally, the letters. Literally. How old were you when you were doing that? Eleven. Who took you up there? Did you just wander up there? No, the kids. Neighborhood kids would be roller skating or flying kites or something. I'm bored. Let's go climb the sign. The O's were my favorite. Yeah. For some reason, the scaffolding and it was rickety. Oh my god, we've got splinters. And it's a wonder if we didn't break our next break. I just love climbing. I would hang over the O and look all. Look at Hollywood. You know, it was just what was it like back then? What was the? It was no smoke. Yeah. Yeah. At all. It was clear every day. When I'd come out from the building, the first thing I saw was the Hollywood sign up there. And then I went to school here at Selma Avenue School and LeCocque, Jr. High and Hollywood High. Okay. Yeah. And I lived with my grandmother. We had one room. Mama had a room down the hall. And my grandmother. It was a Murphy pull down bed. Okay. So she was sleeping that and I slept on the couch. So you lived with your grandmother in San Antonio. Yes. And your mom moved out here before you. Right. She came out with my dad and then they got divorced. Okay. But was she moved out here for acting or did she move out here? She wanted to be a writer. Okay. Like Louis L. Parsons and Heddie Hedihopper. She wanted to interview movie stars for magazine. Oh, okay. Okay. She was successful a little bit. Free-lancing. Okay. So she did get to interview Bob Hope. Read A Worth. That's big stuff. Yeah. So she's a whole a few, but unfortunately she got the disease. She became an alcohol. And my dad was already an alcoholic. Okay. Yeah. And my grandmother. She was a hypochondriacal Christian scientist. Wow. Okay. So was that like she would say I'm going to know the truth. Everything's fine. There is no sickness, no nothing or other. Oh my God. Give me a feed of orbital. So who was the funny one of the adults in your life for my mother had a great sense of who? Uh-huh. Great. And Nanny could be funny. My grandmother. But sometimes she didn't know she was. I'd say she wasn't trying. Yeah. What did you want to be? What a journalist. Okay. Even through high school. I was in my junior high school paper and editor of the Hollywood High where you were reporting on. What was one of your big stories? Well, I actually at Hollywood High and I went to Mr. Thorpe our teacher and he was an uptight old guy. And he was probably 30. Yeah. It was very pulled together. I said, Mr. Thorpe, I have an idea. Do you know the movie star Joel McCray who was a big movie star in the 30s and 40s and 50s? So I watched TCM. My sister does not. I know who Joel McCray is. Oh, he went to Hollywood High. So I said, let me interview Joel McCray. And he said, well, okay, do it on your own. I got a hold of where the studio where he had an office. And I called and I said, I'm editor of Hollywood High School in newspaper and I would love to interview. Yeah. A lot of go. But they thought it was a cute idea. So they, okay, he said, all right. And I took the bus and everything and got to the studio. They took me to his office. He was lean back and he had cowboy blue sun and his boots were up on the table. And a cowboy hat. And I was what? 15, 16. Wow. And I said, how did you get your star? Yeah. Really? Dumb quid. And he couldn't have been sweeter. Wow. And headlines in the Hollywood High School news. Of course. They're interviewing Joel McCray. What was your personality like? Were you always outgoing? Because I mean, just to even come up with the idea and have the gumption to get on the bus and go down to the studio. I mean, you must have been a big fire. And you know what? I think it was the movies because nanny and I, we saved our pennies and we would see maybe six movies a week. Wow. With second feature. So it was like, my ticket would be a dime. And hers would be a quarter. And we'd get in before 1 o'clock or whatever before the prices would change. But what? The movies were my escape. I was very quiet. And I was a good student. And so I, but I would see Mickey and Judy up there. And they wanted to put on a show and my golly. They did, you know, I would see Rosalind Russell. Who I pretended I was when I was going to interview Joe McCray. Because I saw her and his girlfriend. He is still Friday. So I could assume that, you know. And so I thought, gee, I'll be a journalist. That's, you know, what? Mama, you know, interviewing people. And so I wanted desperately to go to UCLA. Okay. And we didn't have the money. The rent was $30 a month, a dollar a day. And I remember when they raised it to that, Nanny had a fit. A dollar a day just to live in that real. So I knew I was going to get to go. You knew in your heart. And I saw myself on campus. It wasn't like I wished it. Or had I just said, it's going to happen. And Nanny said, we don't have, you go to a secretary school, do that, and then nab the boss. I said, I know, I know I'm going to get to go. Now what do they call that nowadays, young people, self actualization or self, what the young people call it, something manifestation. Well, I can't say that. I was doing that's a thing. Well, this was 80 years ago or more. Yeah, no, I was, you manifest it. 17 or 18. Now that was 1951, 52. Okay. Guess what the tuition was at UCLA. No, I usually just going to stab me in my stomach. I know. It was like, what a $500. $43. Oh, for the year. For a year? Wow. They didn't have it. It was like, S U S C was very, yes, but UCLA one, but I, we didn't have it. So our room faced the lobby of the building we lived in. And then right across, there was a desk for the manager. And then there were pigeonhole mailboxes for each room. Yeah, like slots. Yeah, so in the morning, because I was right there, I'd peek out and see if we had any mail. And this one morning, there was this letter in our slot right out of my, I haven't seen my robe. Okay, came back in to the room. The letter had my name type written address. There was this three cent stamp on it. Okay. Not canceled though. They hadn't mail it. They just somebody put it in there. I opened it up and there was a $50 bill. Wow. Into the state, I do not know where that came from. Wow. Who do you think it was? Was it Grana? No, she was said, are you kidding? I'm not going to say, right? And now a husband, she's like, not spending $50. I want to know who that was. So do I. Wow. I thought that covered your people in the neighborhood. We were all poor. Right. Yeah, we were on what they called in. It was like the WPA, but it was called relief. Yeah. Yeah. And so I showed this to Danny. So that's a rent money. We could pay. I said, I'm going to UCLA. So I got to UCLA. Okay. And I wanted to major in journalism. There was no major in journalism. I could take a course and join the Daily Brew and newspaper, but there was no major. Yeah. And I got a major. I looked at the catalog and there was theater arts, which had different sections, theater arts film, theater arts theater, theater arts writing, theater arts English. So I'll take theater arts English and take a play writing courses, join the Daily Brew and just, well, when you're a freshman, theater is no matter which one you pick to choose to major in, you had to take an acting course. You had to take scenery building. Okay. You had to take costume. Okay. And so now in this acting course, oh, God. And all these kids that were doing scenes, I was late in getting to the class because I hadn't known about this particular major. So I was about, they'd already been there maybe two weeks. So they were doing final scenes for the teacher and they were fabulous. I teamed up with a fellow student and he picked a scene from Old Cowards. Oh, I can't remember the name of it. Where we sang a little bit. Okay. And I pretended because I love the movies to be Betty Grable with a Cockney accent. Oh, I became her. And we got a day. And then I got into a one act that the student one, and I played a hillbilly woman. So I went back to my great grandmother and Arkansas and her about her. And I remember I had a line where I came in and you had to be there. And I said, back like that. And the place exploded. They laughed. And I thought, this is what I wanted. Oh, this is an accident because they didn't have a school major journalism. Wow. Wow. Hey, folks. Now that the basketball season has started, I've been on the road a lot lately, spending time connecting with coaches as they start the season. It's been no secret that this past year I've been staying in Airbnb's whenever possible. These visits have been so satisfying that my time on the road feels less like travel and more like home. One thing that has been my absolute favorite is having access to a full kitchen. I have been doing more cooking on the road than at home, preparing breakfast, healthy snack options for the day, and even throwing together a quick dinner if I can't find good dinner options. And on my trip, it hit me. My own home is just sitting empty while I'm away. And someone else could be getting that same comfort in my space while I make a little extra cash on the side. That's the part I never really thought about. Everything isn't some big job. It's simply giving people the chance to enjoy a meaningful trip while your place works for you. And if you live somewhere people dream about visiting, there are travelers like me looking for a place that feels like home. And your home might be worth more than you think. Find out at airbnb.com slash host. This episode of IMO is brought to you by TheraFlu. TheraFlu, makers of fast acting cold and flu relief, believes everyone deserves the right to rest and recover when they're sick, no matter where they live or how much money they make. As part of our partnership with TheraFlu, we've been asking for listener stories about what it's like to balance caregiving and taking time off when you're sick. And it's been eye-opening to hear about the struggle that caregivers in particular have when it comes to choosing between taking time off when sick and putting food on the table. The Health Policy Organization, KFF, reported that about half of working parents lose pay when they miss work to care for sick kids. In 2021, TheraFlu launched the Rest and Recovery Fund and they've committed more than $1 million to provide micro grants to families and individuals helping offset the cost of taking a sick day for those who don't have coverage. Learn more or help someone apply for the fund at TheraFlu.com slash right to recover. 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Plus, ACORNs will boost your new account with a $20 bonus investment, offer only available at acorns.com slash IMO. That's acorns.com slash IMO to get your $20 bonus investment today. From acorns, mydeoaks do grow. Investing doesn't have to be complicated. Acorns makes it easy to invest for your future, plan for tomorrow, and spend smarter today. Paid non-client endorsement compensation provides incentive to positively promote acorns. Investing involves risk. Acorns advisors, LLC, and SEC registered investment advisor. View important disclosures at acorns.com slash IMO. So you have your epiphany of this laughter makes me feel really good. This is something I want to do. And you end up now going to New York to try and chase your dream of being... with some boyfriend. Not then. I'll get you later. Okay. But what happened was... What guy came up, he said, can you sing? Can you carry a tune? I said, yeah, we sang in the kitchen was my grandmother. Mother. And I said, well, we're doing a scene in the musical comedy workshop from South Pacific. And would you be in the chorus of one of the girls who sings, I'm going to watch that man right out of my hair. Okay. So, okay. Now, I've never done it before, but I started belting. Really? And I'd never belted. But I was with all these other girls, so I had courage. He said, you're too loud. But I'd like you to do a scene with one of our guys from Guys and Dolls, where you would sing Adelaide's lament, which is a very funny solo that this character has. And in it, in the song, she has a cold. So, she sneezing and sniffling, and I thought, I can do that, because I don't have to sound pretty. And I did it. And it was good. And I won a new award, as the most outstanding newcomer in the theater arts department. And I thought, I want to go to New York and be on Broadway in musical comedy. Had you been learning throughout this major about the stepping stones in that career? So, you knew that New York was the place to be? Yeah, because I didn't look like Marilyn Monroe. I didn't look like even Tony Curtis. So, you're like the movie star. Broadway. And again, I knew I was going to get to go. Manifestation, young people. And so, in the musical comedy department, our professor said there were nine of us. We're going to a party next Saturday night in San Diego. Okay. And as a black tie for a little fair, why don't you kids come down and do your scenes as the entertainment for the party. And I'll grade you. Okay. Okay. So, all of the cars have went down. With my boyfriend, I did a scene from Annie Get Your Gun. Everybody. So, afterwards, I met the hors d'oeuvres table. And I'm an applicant. And I'm stealing hors d'oeuvres and taking home to Annie to put in my way. And she can know that that should be dollars was worth something. I thought, oh, this is 10. Oh, my God. I'm, you know, turning around. There was this gentleman and his wife, black tie, beautiful counter, she had. We liked you. What do you want to do with your life? This is Sunday. I want to go to New York. And he said, why are you there now? I said, well, I'm hoping to get the chance to go someday. But I'm working. I'm working for a part-time job. And he said, I'll injured the money. Wow. It's a nice car. And I thought that it was a champagne talking. You know, I'm going to forget about this in the morning. He said, he said, he said, be in my office a week from Monday. What did he do? What happened was, darling, I went down. He was a very wealthy businessman. When it was office, he said, okay, I'm going to lend each one of you $1,000. And payable. No, if you can pay it back in five years. Stipulations. You must use the money to go to New York. Okay. You must never reveal my name. Okay. And if you are successful, you must help others out. Wow. And he wasn't in the show business. What happened was I found out later that he had helped somebody get started in a restaurant. Okay. He just identified talent. Somebody helped state him to a claim. I had one point and it was like pay it for it. Yeah. Yeah. I got you. Well, when I got home and showed nanny all this money, I thought you're going to have a heart attack. You can't go to New York. I have to. I wanted to. Now, here's how stupid I was. Well, I didn't know where I was going to stay. You just went. You literally got on a plane. That the, you were the typical yoke lock the bus. Ticket. I was a plane ticket off the plane ticket. Had you ever flown before? Nope. Wow. So now I'm not going to play. I was reading the New Yorker. And there was an ad for the Algonquin Hotel, which all the witty people would gather and exchange. And I thought, well, that's it. Interesting. So I. It was raining and I love rain. I was good, not torrential. And I walked with my cardboard suitcase to the Algonquin, checked in nine dollars a day. I thought for a week, nine dollars a day. Oh, yeah. Anyway, but you're loaded. Oh, yeah. Well, I had left maybe about $500 because of the plane. I got up to the room. And what am I going to do? I had one phone number. It was from a girl who had been in the South Pacific scene. She was a year ahead of me. And she wrote everybody said, I'm in New York. So if you're ever here, give me a call. So I called her that morning. And I said, it's a girl. But she's, hi, you're here. I said, where are you? I said, I'm going to go on. What? I'm going to get out of there and come over to where I am. Where is so I checked out and I had her address. Bing Bong. It was a townhouse. It was part of New York, but it was West 54 straight between 56. It was a place called the rehearsal club. It housed young women. Wanted to be a show business. Very proper. Had a house mother. They had rules. I was in the house. There was one cot available. And I was introduced to the house mother. And she said, OK, you come in here. You can be. And it's $18 a week room and board. It was a godsend. You've had so many angels. You know, I call, I call them Clarence. Uh-huh. You're so wonderful. There's Clarence. There is. Yeah. Were you ever afraid? I mean, in this process, I mean, I was too stupid. I was too stupid. But you, it was the movies. Yeah. Again, Mickey and Judy, I'm going to put on a show. I'm going to be a broad. Right. Right. And also when I was going to leave UCLA, the friends gave me a party. And they said, what are you going to do when you get to New York? I said, I'm going to be on Broadway. And it's going to be directed by George Abbott. And George Abbott was Mr. Broadway. He directed the Pajama game, Gamma, keys, and all up. And that happened. And this is another one of those you saw yourself already. I just said, I was bragging. I said, oh, okay, this wasn't one of your manifestations. That's a few jobs. But it was. Yeah. But I finally then got a call to audition for George Abbott. And it was once upon a mattress. Wow. But that was five years later. Yeah. And did you have to get an agent at the time? I mean, how do you get an agent? I know. Yes. Like, how do you break into? How do you come from nowhere with a cardboard suitcase? And even sort of begin? How do you? Well, how did you know what to do? Well, you try to get into an agent's office and you couldn't get past the reception. Right. They would throw your eight by ten glossy into the waist basket. And you knew to get head shots. You did all that because I learned that from the girls. Okay. So you were in like your own little Broadway school. So finally, I did get a meeting with an agent. And I've showed in my scrapbook from UCLA. Reviews. And he said, that's not well. Let me know when you're in something. I said, how do I get in something? If I don't have an agent. Right. And he said, go put on your own show. I went back to the club called a meeting with all the girls. I said, we're going to put on a show. Spanky. We're putting on a show. And some of the older girls went home for. And they were about 20 of us. And we wrote. And came up with the idea to what how to do it. And we showed the first act to the rich ladies who sponsored the club. They gave us $200 to rent the Carl Fisher concert hall. Okay. On a certain night. We sent out penny postcards to every agent director, producer in town saying, you're always saying, let us know when you're set. Well, we're in something. This is it. Now this is your ticket. And these are the two nights we're performing. So please come and see us. We were packed. How many seats in the theater? Carlsfish. Maybe 200 maybe. Wow. How long did it take you all to. From the time you landed in New York. To the time that you put on this show. Okay. That was 54. We put on the show in 55. So within a year. Yeah. You you figured out New York. The movies. Again, Mickey and Judy go put on a show. Right. Right. So what was the what was the plan? Yeah. Was it a comedy? Was it a musical? Everybody was going to get to do their own thing. Okay. Okay. Like one of my roommates, Tinker. And she was British. Really cute. And kind of bouncy and bubbly. Was for some unknown reason into Spanish dancing. Okay. Yeah. She had her cast on it. Yeah. I'm all fell. And another one was a ballerina. Another one was a soprano. So what we did was the first act. Was everybody sitting around in the parlors. Supposedly. I was singing. It's a lazy afternoon. Nobody can get an agent. It's just terrible. And they're singing. Did you write the music? No. Lazy afternoon was from a show. Okay. So we got it. So then I burst in. All bubbly. And saying, I love New York. And I'm singing. There's a major song like that. I said, come on guys. Let's get it. I know what? Let's put on a show. And then we all sang a little thing about that. And second act was the show. Wow. So Tinker got to do a Spanish dancing. Sally got to sing a song. Brilliant. Yeah. What did you do? There was a Broadway show called New Faces of 1952. And one of the songs in it was Eartha Kitt. And she was very sexy. Oh, yes. And she sang a song called Monotonous. And the purpose of that song was, I'm so gorgeous. I am so sexy. Everybody was. And it is so monotonous. And she did. She had these shades lodges. And she went from one shade to the other. Very cat-like. She would. Yeah, like a lion. And it's all enough. So what I thought I would do would be to be in curlers. And an apron and fuzzy slippers and three broken down kitchen chairs. Singing about how gorgeous I am. And it worked. Oh, man. So did you naturally lean into comedy? Did you think, you know, because, you know, Tinker is seriously doing Spanish dancing. And everybody's on point. Yeah. You decide I'm going to go. I'm going to go for the laugh. Yeah, because I remember the laughter you see a lot. Okay. And then I could sing. So I could do both. Yeah. So out of that, three of us got jobs. Wow. Just from that. So you were able to get an agent from that. Got an agent. I got summer stock. And then I worked with a special material writer. And then I got to play. I had an act written. I had a one woman act. Yeah. And I worked at the Blue Angel nightclub. And then the special material writer Ken Welch wrote a song called, I made a fool of myself over John Foster Delas. It was at the height of Elvis Presley. So it was very funny for this young girl to have a John Foster Delas. Because she was happily named. You know, you wore the hat. She was d'arr. You know, she's a secretary of state. And. I did it on the Jack pur show. I did it on the. It's Sullivan show. Uh huh. And. So. So you just took this. This act took you. You. It was. It was. and he was after I did it on Salad de No. The Blue Angel, Mr. Delas was on the press. And they were talking about, oh, what's going on in the world? And the very last thing, they said, what is this between you and that young girl? And I'm washing the show. Oh my god, it's life. And he said, I make it a policy never to discuss matters with the heart in public. Oh, so he had a sense of humor. Yeah. Wow. So you became you were in the zeitgeist news. You were, yeah, and it wasn't just the entertainment session. Yeah. They wrote about it in the editorial. Wow. I'm wondering if I was a Republican or a Democrat. What's she? Who is this? Did your mom and Nana and hear about this? Did that was that when they were like, okay. Maybe she's gone to something. Yeah. So now, when did you parlay that success into television Hollywood, your own show? Well, I got a chance. I was in mattress. It was a paramatrist. And then there was a wonderful man called name Gary Moore, who had a major variety show at the time. Okay. And he knew my work. And his show was a big hit. It was. And one of the guests that one week was Martha Ray, who was a very funny Marvelous comedian. And she got bronchitis. And Gary called me on a Sunday and his show was going on. And he said, Martha can't make it. Can you come and learn her stuff and be on Tuesday night? With that side. Oh, why was over there like red, red, red, red, red? I mean, can I? So I learned everything and did the show. And Gary before it went off the air, he told the audience what happened and brought me out on say, who was so kind. And so as a result of following September, they asked, he asked me if I'd be on every week. So now I'm doubling with what's the paramatrist and the Gary Moore show. So things are popping. You're really in, my God, I was making money. So yeah, I was gonna ask about that. Your lifestyle no longer in the women's boarding. Oh, no. And so then it was just, I did Gary show. And then CBS signed me to a 10 year contract where I would do a special year and two guest shots on some of their sitcoms. But the agent unbelievable, with the five years he had it in the contract, that if I wanted to do an hour long comedy variety show, all I have to do is push the button and they would have to give me 30 shows. What? Wow. I mean, that was under her, yeah. And they said, I didn't even think about it. I said, who wants to be on, that's not me. I want to be on Broadway. I want to, you know, so I totally forgot about it. And then I did another Broadway show and it was not a happy experience. I had a problem with it. I got married. I had my daughter Carrie. Okay. And I was as cold as yesterday's mashed potatoes. Professionally you were. Okay. So the heat is off now. Yeah. So we said, let's move to California, go back to California. And we put a down payment on a house that Beverly Hills. But wait, did you sign the 10 year contract yet? Oh, yeah. So you were in within that. Yeah, okay. You weren't thinking about it. Yeah, and now we got, oh, we got this house. Actually turned out to be a house Betty Grable lived in. It was kind of funny. Wow. We said, what are we going to? And then we said, that kind of, we had a week to go before that you needed to pay for the house. So it's like, okay, let's activate this. It was, yeah. And it was between Christmas and New Year's. And New Year's, it would have been over the five years. So picked up the phone and I called the vice president in New York. And I carried out a nice Christmas. Mike, I'm calling because I want to push that button. He didn't remember it. He said, what button? I said, you know, the one where I get 31 hour shows. I should get. Let me get back. Let me call my, let me get the lawyers on this. That was it. Yeah. And he called the next day. And they were like, nope, she's got you. They said, he called back. He said, yeah, I see that curl, but, you know, comedy varieties, the man's came. It's not for you, gals. So he said, it's his sister. It's no girl. Now it's Jean Martin. You know, we said, we've got this great sitcom. We love you to do called Here's Agnes. Get your picture. Yeah, really. I think you know, they're not making agnases anymore. I always wonder what would have happened. I said, I don't want to be ag. I don't want to be the same person every week. I want to do what I did on the Gary Moore show. Different people. Yeah. And also in doing Gary show, I realized I really didn't want to be on Broadway all the time because you do the same thing over night after night after night, where as with the comedy variety show, yeah, that the next week you got another challenge. You have different songs you can do. Yeah, sketches. Can I ask Carol just to kind of fill in the blanks of, of support that you had, you know, who your mentors were? I mean, and what, what was it like being a woman in the business at that time? And even before you got to Hollywood and before you push that button, I mean, what were the challenges of being a woman in the business at the time? Gary was very supportive. Gary Moore. So I never had a problem there. He was the kindest. And we had another second banana, which they call us on the show named Gerber Kirby. So he was the guy. Yeah. And I was the guy. And there would be times we would be reading the script with that week. And he'd have a joke and something. He said, you know what? Give this line to Carol or Gerber, they can say it funny or the night can't. That's who he was. You know, January always feels like that moment to hit me set to finally stop saying maybe one day and actually start becoming who you're meant to be. And that's why I love Shopify. If you've got a dream, whether it's a side hustle, you've been sitting on, or something bigger, Shopify makes that first step simple. 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So what I would do would be if a sketch wasn't working and we're in the rehearsal home, call the writer and I said, oh, guys, I'm having a little difficulty. Can you come down and help me out? Yeah, just like, oh, I'm so, I need, I'm just so helpless. I can't tie my shoes. Sure. They've come down and everything would be for Hunky Dory. You know, so, but now it's so much better. I mean, it's, it's not all great. Now you got Gina Faye. You got Amy Polar. You got Kristen Williams. You got all these people who have their own production company. Who are you doing? The other one you asked about a mentor was Lucy. Yeah. Yeah. She was my pal. When did you meet her at what time in your life? Did you mean when I was doing once upon a mattress? And you were still on Broadway. I was on Broadway. And she came to see this the second night. I was more nervous than I was opening night with all the critics. Yeah. I peeked through the curtain and I saw the orange hair and I said, oh, oh, Lucy. And so after the show, I had, we were in this off Broadway theater and it was pretty funky. And my dressing room. It had a coil current from the couch. So she knocks on the door and I open the door. Hi, you kid. She was 22 years older. So I'm kid. Yeah. She starts to buy. I said, look at she says, I see it. And she sat down. It was 20 minutes. And got up and said, kid, if you ever need me for anything, you call me. So like three years later, I had a special I was doing for NBC. And they said, okay, we'll give you that, but you've got to have a major guest star. So the producer said, call Lucy. I said, I don't want to buy you. Yeah. And you hadn't been in contact with her. Right. And he said, give her a call. She can do the same. I'd love to, but I'm busy. Yeah. So I got her on the phone. She said, kid, you're doing great. What's happening? And I'm, I'm doing this. I did. And she had a rough to me. She said, when do you want me? Wow. So we did it. And zero must sell was the other guess it was just those two. And we had the best time. What was one of the best things you learned from Lucille Ball? Well, she now she wouldn't say hi guys. She was more like the guys. She was like, she was ready to be a bitch. Here's the story. Okay. She was a guest on my phone and we were had a break dinner break. So we went across the street to a restaurant from CBF. She's knocking back a whiskey sour. She says, you know, kid, you're doing really great. And it's great that Joe, my husband, Joe was producing the show. He was also a producer of the Gary Moore show. So he ran the show. And she said, that's great. You got Joe to be running. You don't have, because when I was married to the Cuban, she said, Jesse did everything. Yeah. And then at the three camera system, he said, put them on wheels so they can move around. It was Jesse. He took care of the costumes. He took care of the script so that she said, all I had to do on a Monday is come in and be silly Lucy. Now we got a divorce. And it's up to me. And she says, so I'm sitting there. And remember she had another one called the Lucy show. Yeah. Different incarnation. The script was terrible. She said, oh my god, and Jesse's not here to fix it. She called lunch and she said, I went back to my office and I thought, I got to be strong. I got to be like Jesse. I know she went back and she told them. She said, I told him in no uncertain terms. This is what you got to fix this and you got to say that. And I mean, it's no words. And she said, and kid, that's when they put the S on the end of my last name. I lose the bowl. So she was great. She always sent me flowers on my birthday. Wow. And I got up one morning and she died on my birthday. And I got flowers that afternoon. Happy birthday, kid. Oh, man. Wow. Now this business is so full of rejection. And I read somewhere where you never took rejection personally. Can you talk about how you handled adversity in that business? Well, because kids today, I can't remember what I was auditioning for. I might have been a commercial or something. This was before I got on Gary's show and all of that. Okay. So I was just starting out and it was kind of narrowed down to between me and another girl. I thought I had it. But I didn't she got it. I don't know where this came from. But I thought it's her turn. It's just yeah. It's not my turn. My turn will come. It's her turn. So when I get letters or calls from people say, how do you handle it? Just say, okay, what in my turn it? Right. And I was never. Okay. It was for her. And it didn't come from your upbringing or anything. You just no, no, no. My grandmother would have had her killed. Oh my gosh. Now how did you handle being a mom during all of this fame on a school schedule? In other words, we were so we a lot of the crew from the Gary Moore Show came out. So we were a well oiled machine. I like a Monday's. I would take this kids school. Okay. And then I'd go to work. Okay. And we would be finished in time out of my day for me to come and pick the kids up. The perfect job. So what was Carol Burnett the mom like? What was it? What was it like when Carol Burnett showed up in the pickup line? Were you were you Carol Burnett in their lives or were you? I was mom. Yeah. I was mom. How did you manage that? I mean, you it was difficult. Yeah. Yeah, it was difficult. And then Carrie, my darling Carrie got into drugs as a teenager. And it took a lot. But we was three rehabs. And family sessions. Yeah. And the last rehab we sent her to, she was so angry with me. I mean, and I said, I have to love her enough to let her hate me. Yeah. And we did. And she also was into singing and music and all of that. And the last rehab we sent her to, she had this wonderful doctor. He was young. And she was running. She told me this later. She said I was running and braving. And I said, I want to be Janice Joplin. And he said, well, she's dead. That's not funny, but that's funny. I said, it's and she said mom. That really hit me. So she sobered up when she was 17. She became an actress on fame. She was on fame. On fame. She had a regular role on fame. I did three things with her. I was a guest on fame twice. And then we did a movie. Telled, we're gonna move it together. How is that working? And she started writing. And she was in a movie called Tokyo Pop, which is now like a little cult film. And she was like 24, 25 and got sensational reviews. Okay. And Marlon Brando called her. Wow. He saw her in the movie. He said, I'd like to talk to you about a project. She turned him down. Why? I became Momma Rose. I was like, are you crazy? I'm a brando. And she's a mom. I did a movie. Now I want to write. Okay. I want to concentrate on my music. What she wasn't after being famous. Right. Or anything. And we rode a Broadway show together and it went to Broadway. How Prince directed it. And we were doing great. She was doing great. And she got sick. But boy, we went through it. But you got her. Got her on the straight narrow. Yeah. You know, it's like, I love that. It's like you need, you didn't need her to be happy with you. Right. You needed her to be well. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Well, it's true. You have to love them enough to let them hate you. That's hard. That is. That's the hardest part of parenting. And I think it's a thing that people don't understand. It's like when you say you want to be a mother. It's like, well, you better not want a friend. Well, I had no examples. I had no good examples. Yeah. But now so many women have you as the example. Well, you've been paying it forward a lot. I mean, you've had a lot of angels on your shoulder. But you have been an angel for a lot of people. 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A.G.1 has over 50,000 verified five star reviews and comes with a 90-day money-back guarantee. Go to drinkag1.com slash IMO to get their best offer. For a limited time only, get a free A.G.1 Duffle Bag and a free A.G.1 welcome kit with your first subscription order. Only while supplies last. That's drinkag1.com slash IMO. So you're still at it. I'm very happy. I had a great time recently doing better calls all. Just love Bob on Kirk. How do you feel about working every day now? How I don't want to work every day. Yeah, what's the schedule like? I mean because of palm royal, fell in love with the first season. I've saved it up season two for our next travel. It's off the wall. Yeah, yeah. Well, but I'm not on every day. I know, but I haven't actually where I work three days a week. Okay. And I'm more than three in a row. Yeah, really. I mean, five hours. You know, that's where I want to. That's where I'm trying to be now. Just say that's what I want. Yeah. Let's manifest it. Exactly. How does it feel being on the show? All of a sudden now, you know, I'm 92 years old. I have new girlfriends. Yeah. When they called me a couple of years ago to do palm royal, I said, who's in it? And Abe Sylvia, who's a creator, said, Christopher Wigg, Alison Janney, Lorde and Rick, I said, stop. I meant it. I don't care what you want me to do. I said, well, the first few episodes here in a coma, I said, that's even better. Right. But so when I just started watching palm royal, I thought you do so much in a coma though. But this is why I wanted to do. Or because whenever they show you on there in a coma, I'd like start giggling. And I'm wondering, are you doing that to me or is it just me doing it? It was a good gig. I have to say. I get up at five in the morning. Uh-huh. Get back now. Get back. Get undressed. Get into pajamas and go back to bed. And you're asleep. But you weren't asleep. You weren't asleep. You weren't a lot of lines. And have a lot of lines. No, I didn't sleep. Yeah. But sometimes there were a couple of scenes when Christopher was doing stuff. An Alison. It was hard for me. Not to laugh. Yeah. But now, like, we're buddies. Yeah. Really good. Alison, we were all. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so do we. Yeah, every day. I do every day. I have to brag. Please do. Okay. Yes. Mostly it too. You can do all of them to I get them. Not all of them. I get them done. I can solve all of them. But what are your shelter? She's getting them into. We do know it's good. We do different every day. Okay. So you pick the word. She's like I solve all of them. No, Brian. I'll I Brian pick the word. Okay. And he'll say whatever. And then the letters come up. And we don't do the same word every day. Mm-hmm. Yeah. We have, I think, the record of getting it in one. It's only an accident. Right. Of course. Yes. But we have gotten it seven times in one. Well, then that's not an accident. It's more that manifestation stuff going on. No, it was it was audio. Oh, yeah. Audio bacon. Clown. Crown. You remember I stash. Stash. Tall and talent. Oh, yeah. So this is my question. Yeah. How do you stay so sharp at 92? Because you, I'm just sitting here. I can't remember what I did yesterday. I can't either. But I remember when I was free. Well, maybe this is the time to do our listener question. Hi, Michelle and Craig. As a young woman starting her professional career in a traditionally male dominated field, I have found it most intimidating to network and reach out to more established professionals. I sometimes get nervous that I am wasting someone's time not making a good enough impression or that I don't deserve to be in that space. I'm sure that you both have been in rooms where you were told you didn't belong. When advice do you have to overcoming that imposter syndrome feeling? Have you ever felt imposter syndrome? I wouldn't think so. Dan, I was too stupid. I never, again, I held, I would look at the movies and I would see strong women. And like when I said I'm going to interview Joe McCray, I got that from watching Rosalind Russell. So you don't want to say get over it. But in a way, don't think so much of yourself. I'm not good at giving advice. No, I think you're making yourself happen in that way. I think of somebody you admire who is a woman and pretend you're that woman maybe. Lots of times what I would do the show and I would do the Tarzaniel. Or I would do a chariot. Good. You could do it. You could do it. My body, my, I knew what I was doing, but the body reacts in a different way. It doesn't know you're acting in a funny way. You know, who calmed as the charge of it? But somehow your body reacts differently. And I don't know. Maybe as I say, pretend you're somebody else. And it's much better today. It's not all better, but it's much better today. And I think she, she just got to, I can't, I can't say don't worry so much because that's not good advice. I don't know what good advice would be. But no, I think that, you know, and it's interesting that because the, the things that run through my head that allow me not to focus so hard on this feeling of, how am I good enough? How am I showing up sort of giving my power to somebody else? Right. There is a generational component because I hear what, what you're saying would be the same thing that my mother would say. I mean, it's the same, which is interesting that women of an older generation who have faced much more, you know, discrimination, have had to overcome hurdles. The society was set up in a totally different way, but that there is a practicality. It's almost like no one's going to fix your problems for you, but you. And so all of the work of feeling good enough never, ever really comes from the outside in. You know, and if that's what you're waiting for, somebody to give you permission to feel good about yourself, it doesn't confidence, acceptance, it doesn't work that way. You know, it's not somebody else's responsibility to make you feel good. And nobody's really thinking about you like that, you know? So it's not coming from them. Yeah, it's not coming from them. The work starts from inside like an improv, like acting, your brain is in charge. And if you wake up in the morning and say, I decide to have a good day, like I decide to feel good about yourself, that's the beginning, that's the manifestation. It starts from within and your body will follow and life will tend to follow. So my advice, yes, you could feel in posture syndrome, but I know that I was raised to believe that I was in charge of how I felt about myself. Yeah. In fact, we would get in trouble in our household. Right. If we showed up worried about what somebody else was thinking and trouble was, is that outside of the house? Outside of the house. Yeah, I agree. Our mom's saying was, you know, you don't go outside of your home to be liked. You know, come home, we like you here. You know, this is where love is. You know, no one owes you that out in the world. No one owes you acceptance. I think we had the luxury of having that at home. And I think when you have that at home, you're starting with a foundation of, yeah. That person called me a name. They called me a jerk, but I know how the table that matters, how they feel about me. And I choose to believe what I hear from my mother and the people who love me. Couldn't I have been your family? You could have been. Yeah, you could have loved it. But you were. But you were. You were there everywhere. You were there. So, you know, but I mean, really, you could have really, you could have really been there. But we would have been watching you. Right. Let me just add a bit on what Misha was saying because the validation part, I've never felt like I needed validation outside of our home. Because mom used to say this, she's like, if you prepare for, prepare for whatever you want, then you've done your best. That's all you can ask of yourself. Like you said, it wasn't my your turn. And I just wrote that down to your point, not your turn. Then if you did your best and didn't get it, not your turn. Don't mope about it. Go to the next one. And, and it seems simplistic, but it's carried me through a lot of tough times when people have not viewed me as where I think I should be viewed. And I was like, well, that's tough. You're missing out. And it's and and and it's really helped, it's helped me in sports, but it's helped me in life more. I mean, we came up in that kind of of of of of parenting. And I think the kind of over correction from the generation that felt the, well, that wasn't quite enough. I think we've gone to the other extreme. Well, and I first had the kids and they were old enough to understand what I was doing, what her father was doing. I don't know if you remember the actress, Loretta Young. Yeah. Very beautiful and perfect. Yes. I wanted to be perfect. They never saw me angry. They never saw me cry. I wouldn't I didn't because I was raised with my grandmother. The brother would go at it like that. Great. Over money and make their office. And I was sitting in the corner and draw and go and zone out because they were angry a lot and yelling a lot. So I went too far the other way so that I was trying to be perfect for them. So when they got angry or they got well, then we're not perfect. So that was not a good thing for me to do. I wasn't those first years. I don't think I was human to them. I was. Yeah. Wow. You know, I've got a show. I'm doing this. I'm doing it. Even though I take them to work school, good all of that. I had that Loretta Young syndrome. And I call it and it's wrong. It was wrong. I got out of it eventually. But I had to learn my way because I never had that example. We're always trying to fix the thing that we think was broken in our childhood. Yeah. And it's up to us. Yeah. Yeah. But I love what you said. It was just perfect. Perfect. And as far as we're concerned, you're in our family. Oh. I feel it. Carol, you really, I mean, they are just sitting here and talking about that path. I mean, I don't think that, well, I know you must hear this all the time. But yeah, we have, we had a happy, beautiful family, right? But your talent, your gifts, the structure of your show, how you showed up in it. Craig said, you know, your humanity before the show, your honesty throughout your career. I mean, that kind of stuff has been as impactful to my development as my parents, right? Because that's the role modeling. You know, you see a smart woman, because of what is clear through this is that you've always been that woman, smart, courageous, bold, and you just brought that to your show. And that came into our living rooms as part of an important experience of seeing what you could be. You're going to make me cry. Oh, thank you. I'm so touched and moved. You mean the world to us. And thank you. You know, you know what I want to do. I want to sing. It's so nice. At this time, together, I love it. Just to have a laugh or sing a song. I think we just get started. And before you know it comes the time we have to say so long. All these youngsters have no idea what we're doing. Oh, thank you. Thank you. I've got chills. This is been absolutely wonderful. We love you. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for being in my life. I can't.