grell851 | 37 points | Dec 04 2017 00:59:54

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Carol Burnett was born ready for prime time, but the last major step before The Carol Burnett Show began its incredible run in 1967 occurred a year earlier. CBS promised Burnett her own special, provided she could deliver a major star for the show. She phoned Lucille Ball and the rest is history.

CAROL + 2 aired in 1966, uniting two zany redheads with the always unpredictable Broadway dynamo Zero Mostel for an hour of comedy and song. From Carol’s familiar earlobe-tug gesture to comic sketches and musical numbers and a rousing finale, you’ll get a clear snapshot of things to come for Burnett. Carol’s wedding anniversary sketch with Mostel points to future marital angst moments with Harvey Korman. She offers a variation of her beloved Charwoman character when she and Lucy clean up at the William Morris Agency as imaginary “charwomen of the board” of showbiz central, finishing with a duet on the spirited Chutzpah. (This was the second televised appearance of the Charwoman, who became a staple of the series and icon of its animated opening. The first, included here in a bonus sketch, was on Carol’s 1963 special, Carol & Company.)

Also on this jam-packed DVD is the 1972 CBS television movie version of Once Upon a Mattress, in which Carol reprises her 1959 Tony-nominated Broadway debut role as Princess Winnifred the Woebegone. Joining her are Ken Berry, Bernadette Peters and Jack Gilford, all of whom (in addition to Lucille Ball) would guest star on The Carol Burnett Show multiple times over its eleven seasons. The Burnett legacy represents a vital part of broadcast history, and these special performances illustrate why she remains an entertainment phenomenon for all time.

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