humordaily

Tonight, I got a chance to see one of my childhood heroes in person.   At the Frued Playhouse at UCLA tonight I was at an event called “Carol Burnett In Conversation”.  Vicki Lewis (from News Radio) was a special musical guest.  Carol was interviewed about her humble beginings, her introduction to performing at UCLA and her amazing career on stage, on camera and as a playwright.  The stories she told were wonderfully colorful and rich, and though I’d heard some of them before on various biography shows, her timing and her incredible gift for storytelling made them all new and completely hilarious to me.  After the first half of the evening, which consisted of the interview, clips from her career and a few of her signature songs performed by the incredibly talented Vicki Lewis, came my favorite part of any Carol Burnett show - the audience Q&A.  Unfortunately my two friends and I didn’t get to ask any questions, but we still had such a great time.

When I read her bio in the program handed to me by the usher, I discovered that she has a scholarship that she created for Emerson College.  Um, I went there.  I wonder who in my class had that scholarship!!!

One story she told struck a cord with me.  The short version is that she met a Broadway star who was a friend of a friend from back home in California shortly after arriving in the big apple and told him she wanted to be in the business, but didn’t know how to get started.  When he asked her what she does, she said “I sing.  I sing LOUD”.   After he told her he could get her an audition for the chorus, she admitted to him that she doesn’t dance, and she has no formal training, and cannot  read music.  She then told him “I’m not good enough to be in the chorus, so i’ll just have to get a featured part!”.  I love that.

Also, when Carol Burnett went to college, it cost $42 to go to UCLA.

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