Last night, "American Masters" aired "Carol Burnett: A Woman of Character." I confess I only saw the first half before dragging myself to bed, thanks to time-change-induced exhaustion. The part that SLAYED me was the old clip of her standup routine, when she talked about singers who employ the "gear shift" method.
My all-time favorite Carol Burnett sketch – besides Mrs. Wiggins – was more sweet than comical. As I recall, it was a quirky, romantic duet with Alan Alda, when the two of them played department store gift wrappers during the holidays. Does that ring a bell? They sang a song about which one of them was superior at screwing things up. It was like "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better" in reverse. I could be making this up, but I think I remember one of them trying to wrap a stuffed giraffe. When it wouldn't fit in the box, he or she cut a hole in the top so its neck could stick out. Oh, I love that. I just did a Google search for it but found nothing.
Did you watch last night? What did you think? And while we're at it, what is your favorite Carol Burnett sketch of all time?
If you missed the program last night,
here's a clip.
-Allison, Rocky Mountain PBS
