“The Carol Burnett Show” is an iconic comedy show that featured Carol Burnett and eventually a cast of other actors who were equally as funny.
When it first aired in 1967, Burnett had to prove that she could be just as funny and creative as the men who were more commonly seen in the comedic role.
Michael Dann, who was the head of CBS at the time, was reluctant to offer Burnett her own variety and sketch show. He said that it was a “man’s genre”.
He offered a sitcom instead. But, a clause in her contract forced Dann to honor Burnett’s request, and you could say the rest is history.
While Burnett’s sketches were undeniably funny, there was plenty of fun off-camera as well.
It seems that the cast, eventually consisting of Burnett, Harvey Norman, Vicki Lawrence, and the deviously spirited Tim Conway were not shy about having a little unscripted fun.
With a team known for their jokes, it should come as no surprise that there are plenty of bloopers from the show.
Burnett herself was known to have a few bloopers of her own.
One time she just couldn’t get her lines out when talking about Australia. She found it so funny that she just cracked up right in the middle of the skit!
There was another time when something as simple as spelling a word got plenty of laughs.
Tim Conway tried to deliver his line but couldn’t quite spell the word “relief”. He delivers the line, “I spell relief, R-E-L-I-F-E” with confidence, but perhaps he should have slowed down…
Would the second time be the winner?
Conway tried to deliver his line again but doesn’t do much better. “I spell relief, R-E-L-I-F.”
Almost, but not quite there yet! Conway knows he can’t get the line right and cracks a joke about it saying,
“Would you hold it down, we’re trying to spell over here?”
Eventually, the crew had to write the word on the back of the clapper for Conway to see.
In another episode, Conway proves that sometimes you just have to swat a fly, even when you’re in the middle of a scene.
He’s pretending to be a dentist who first can’t seem to sit in his chair properly. That’s laugh number one. Then he starts hearing some buzzing. His patient hears it too but tries to ignore it. Conway may try, but can’t. So, he does what we would all do, he swats it!
Well, this makes his patient crack up as Conway flings it across the room. That’s not even the funniest part! He tries to finish the scene but the pair just can’t seem to do it as Conway injects himself in the face with the needle!
Even when you’re the one who’s supposed to be there to make other people laugh, sometimes you get a case of the giggles too. That happened to Burnett when Conway started talking about dwarfs and elephants!
She just cracks up and can’t control it.
Those are just a few of the many bloopers that Burnett and the cast had over the years. To this day people still love watching the show and the bloopers. It just goes to show that we can all use a good laugh!
Treat yourself to a belly full of laughter by watching their best bloopers below!
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