Carol Burnett

Carol Burnett shaped American comedy as an actor, singer, writer, and star of a weekly variety program that became a television landmark. In Such Good Company is her behind-the-scenes account of the eleven seasons of The Carol Burnett Show. To prepare it, Burnett revisited all 276 episodes and selected images that helped her reconstruct the ensemble’s timing, improvisations, production routines, and favorite sketches. She gives particular attention to colleagues Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway, while recalling guests ranging from Lucille Ball to Betty White. Crown published the memoir in 2016. Burnett also narrated the audio edition, which won the 2017 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album. Rather than presenting the program as one star’s achievement, the book celebrates writers, designers, performers, and crew members whose collaboration sustained its inventive pace. Its anecdotes preserve both the planned craft and the unrepeatable accidents that made a live-audience variety show feel spontaneous to viewers at home.