Laughter and Reflection with Carol Burnett

(as told by an avid fan who apparently will never get to meet her idol. )

 

Right off the bat let me say that the show was wonderful, just as it was 2 years ago when I traveled to Texas to see her. But this time it was certainly the highlight of what was almost a horrible day for me.

Let me start at the beginning. The week before the show I printed out and then reprinted and then printed again the cover sheet and home page of my website. Then I printed out and reprinted and printed again my guestbook. Finally on the Friday before the show, my wonderful boss helped me put the two copies (one for Ms. Burnett to sign for me and one for Ms. Burnett to keep) all together into nice little books. In my best NCIS voice (inside joke), thanks boss! So I'm all set and ready to go. Got my black t-shirt with my website link printed on the back and my black jeans and tennis shoes in what I now call my Carol Burnett outfit *grin*

Then I get a call from my sister asking me to help her with something very important on Monday (the day of the show) and of course I said yes. So Monday morning started off very stressful for me as I needed to be some place 60 miles away by 11am and then I couldn't leave on my Carol Burnett adventure, which is now a 6 1/2 hour trip, until 1:30pm. and the show started at 8pm. Every 5 minutes I would add up the time to make sure I could still make it to the show in time. Finally, after a very nerve racking 2 1/2 hours, we're on our way, my best friend Joyce and I.

Was that a cop?!! You know it's hard to go the speed limit when you're in a rush and driving a Mustang, ha! But I did keep pretty close to the limit and still made it to the show with a whole 10 minutes to spare. *whew* So we rush in and find our seats and Joyce reminds me what my question for Carol is and I practice it a couple of more times. Finally the lights go down and I take a deep breath, ready to do my best to ask my question.

The show started off with a series of clips that I never tire of seeing. Several times I remember wishing they'd put the older episodes on DVD, I'd be first in line to buy them. But Carol mentioned (later in the show) that there is a problem producing them because of the musician's union contract. It's a real shame because those early years are a treasure trove of some of the greatest celebrities ever to take the stage like the incomparable Lucille Ball or Rita Hayworth or Pearl Bailey, just to name a few.

Anyway, Carol came out looking energetic and confident in her red suit and had the audience on its feet in the first of many ovations. She began with a touching tribute to Harvey Korman, her beloved sidekick (and a great actor on his own) who passed away last year. Then right off the bat someone in the audience asks for the Tarzan yell and she told her favorite joke about being glad she hadn't shaved her chest today, then belted out a perfect Tarzan yell.

So I'm sitting there, raising my hand as high as I can and the usher sees me and says she'll wave her flashlight at Ms. Burnett to get her attention and then hand me the microphone. Oh man, I was so relieved to know the usher would help me. Takes some of the pressure off.

In the meantime someone in the audience asks if Carol would sign her very old book or script or something like that and Carol says sure, meet me backstage after the show. then another audience member asks if she could meet Carol and Carol says to come on down. It was an elderly lady and the whole scene was very sweet.

I'm still sitting there waving my hands like an idiot and by now I have a few other audience members trying to help me out by raising their hands.

But Carol picks another person who asks about her friendship with Julie Andrews and Carol tells (and acts out) the famous or is it infamous by now, kiss that Julie and Carol did (accidentally) in front of Lady Bird Johnson, wife of then President Lyndon Johnson. Carol is so good at speaking volumes with a mere inflection of her voice or a roll of her eyes. The audience loved it!

So I'm still waving my hand and the usher is saying something to me that I couldn't hear but nodded my head anyway in appreciation, but just then Carol stops the show in a different way than the norm. She asks the audience a question. Seems she had missed her favorite soap opera and asks if anyone had seen All My Children and could catch her up on it. Someone in the audience said that if she saw Friday's episode in California than today's episode in Texas would be a repeat because they are a day behind. (I didn't know that but I gave up on soaps years ago.) So Carol, in her best deadpan voice says, well then, let me tell you what happened.

All to soon the show was ending and after a standing ovation and my yelling encore a couple of times, it was over. I was greatly disappointed that I didn't get to ask my question, especially after months of practicing so I wouldn't choke like I did two years, but several people came up to me wanting to know what I was going to ask her, which was: Ms. Burnett, I have 400 messages for you from my website. Well they all suggested that I see if I can still go behind stage and give the book to her and long story (several rides on the elevator trying to find security) short, I ended up giving my little book to a very nice man named Don, the director of operations at Bass Hall. Thankfully, Don was a very nice, very professional man who didn't make fun of my obvious idol worship and assured me he would give the book to Ms. Burnett and even gave me his business card to contact him later. That was so awesome of him to do so! I just regret not being quick enough to think to give him my card for Ms. Burnett. Man talk about missed opportunities!

So to wrap it up, the picture on the right is the closest I guess I will ever get to meeting Ms. Burnett. I do hope she has a chance to read your messages and to visit my website. And this time I know I tried... though if they actually stuck the microphone in my hands I'm still not sure I could get the words out. Well we'll try again the next time Ms. Burnett comes to Texas!

Epilog: I have since gotten an email from Don who said that he saw my book being handed to Ms. Burnett as she got into her limo so at least I got that much accomplished thanks to Don!

Marcella
[I am not Carol Burnett and have no connections to her or her agents.]
Owner:
www.CarolBurnettFan.com
www.ItsTheCarolBurnettShow.com