Carol Burnetthas been making audiences laugh for decades, picking up sixEmmys, sixGolden Globes, one Grammy and aKennedy Center Honoralong the way. On April 26, she’ll reach another milestone — turning 90.
“I can’t wrap my head around it,” Burnett tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “I still feel like I’m about 11, but I’m amazed. It sure went fast. But I’m glad because I’ve got all my parts — got my hips, I got my knees and I’ve got my brain, so I’m happy about that.”
Ari + Louise
NBC will commemorate the occasion with a two-hour special on Burnett’s birthday featuring guest stars includingAmy Poehler,Cher,Ellen DeGeneres,Julie AndrewsandSteve Carell.Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Lovewill also include performances fromBernadette Peters,Billy Porter,Jane Lynch,Katy PerryandKristin Chenoweth.
As a kid growing up in Los Angeles, “I used to pretend to be on a radio show,” Burnett recalls. “I would yell out the window, ‘Now ladies and gentlemen, we have a young girl who is going to sing here without any musical accompaniment. One time, a man next door said, ‘Will you turn that goddamn thing off?’ And I thought, ‘I’m a hit. They think it’s real.'”
Courtesy Carol Burnett
TheCarol Burnett Showstar admits she didn’t discover her knack for comedy until she was in college.
“I was pretty much of a quiet student all through grammar school, junior high and Hollywood High,” Burnett says. “I would kid around with my friends, the neighborhood kids, stuff like that. But I never really thought about it until I got to UCLA and I was in an acting class. A lot of the kids at the class were doing heavy, dramatic stuff and I thought,I can’t do that.So I picked something light and they laughed. That’s when the bug bit.”
Burnett says that that makes her a “late bloomer” since “so many performers who started when they were 3 and 4 and 5 years old.”
Everett
She eventually found international fame, but not without facing a few obstacles. “It was some local television show in New York and I got up and I belted out a song and the emcee that I was auditioning for said, ‘You’re too loud for television,'” Burnett recalls. “I disagreed.”
CBS/Getty
For more on Carol Burnett, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribehere.
Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Loveairs April 26 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and streams on Peacock the next day.
Watch the full episode of People Cover Story: Carol Burnett below
source: people.com
