Today is Carol Burnett’s 90th birthday. NBC is throwing her a party tonight at 8p, and they are calling it Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter and Love. And they invited her friends and people that rightfully worship the ground she walks on.
They are Steve Carrell, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, Kristin Chenoweth, Bernadette Peters, Julie Andrews, Amy Poehler, Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama, Vicki Lawrence, Steve Martin Short. Charlize Theron, Jane Lynch, Billy Porter, Aileen Quinn, Jimmy Fallon, Sofia Vergara, Susan Lucci, Bill Hader, Marissa Tomei, Bob Mackie (who looks absolutely fantastic), Maya Randolph, President Joe Biden and Jill Biden. Lisa Kudrow, Melissa Rauch, Stephen Colbert, Cher, Sutton Foster, Darren Criss, Tina Fey. Bob Oderdick, Laura Dern, Kristen Wiig, Allison Janney, Ellen DeGeneres, and Katy Perry.
It was nice to see all of these comedic greats honor the legend. However, the song and dance numbers were awful. Bernadette Peters deserves better than to be paired with Kristin Chenoweth on two numbers, including a crappy take of Easy Street from Annie. Billy Porter substituted for Tim Curry on that song, and he is no Tim Curry. Of course, it wasn’t all bad because it was nice to see Aileen Quinn sing Tomorrow. And Katy Perry was so the wrong choice to close the show with The Carol Burnett Show theme song. If this was American Idol, the judges would’ve been as mean to her as she has been to the contestants this season.
Also, most of the bits didn’t work either. Amy Poehler took questions from the audience and failed. Marissa Tomei almost did something worse than winning the Oscar for My Cousin Vinny. Same with Burnett’s newest co-stars from Palm Royale, Laura Dern, Kristen Wiig, and Allison Janney.
Even though the event had some uneasy moments, I would tell anyone who is a fan of Burnett’s to watch. There are plenty of great tributes like the one from Melissa Rauch, Cher, and Bob Mackie, insights into her life, lots of funny montages of her work, and Carol Burnett.
So watch and just fast forward past things I told you about.
