The comedy legend Carol Burnett is turning 90 in April, and to mark the occasion, NBC is giving her a two-hour special that will include Julie Andrews and other A-list stars.
Burnett’s Birthday Celebration
Daily Mail reported that NBC has confirmed that the birthday special will be titled “Carol Burnett: 90 Years Of Laughter + Love.” Bernadette Peters and Katy Perry will both be performing, and appearances will be made by Andrews and other celebrities like Amy Poehler, Cher, Ellen DeGeneres, Kristen Wiig, and more.
“I’m so excited NBC decided to throw me a birthday party and invited all of my closest friends,” Burnett told Deadline. “I can’t wait to look back at so many wonderful moments throughout my career, I feel so lucky to share this night with everyone.”
“This special is going to be the best party ever,” added executive producer Mark Bracco. “It will be an evening of music, comedy, and dozens of big stars paying tribute to the one, the only, Carol Burnett. We cannot wait for everyone at home to celebrate right along with us.”
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The special is set to be shot at the Avalon Hollywood club in Los Angeles, and it will be honoring some of the most iconic performances that Burnett is known for. One of the main features will be Old Friends as a tribute to the decades-long friendship between Burnett and Andrews, 87.
The special will air on NBC on April 26, which is Burnett’s birthday, and it will be available on Peacock for streaming afterwards.
While Burnett has been working in Hollywood for decades, she is best known for her variety program “The Carol Burnett Show,” which ran on CBS from 1967 until 1978. She went on to be given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush in 2005.
Related: Carol Burnett, 89, Reveals She Fought Hard To Get ‘The Carol Burnett Show’ On TV
Andrews And Burnett’s Friendship
While Burnett will surely enjoy the entire special, one of the highlights will undoubtedly be getting to spend time with Andrews, who she has been friends with for decades.
“Oh my gosh, yes she is such a great chum!” Andrews once said of Burnett, according to People Magazine. “And you know, I’m the bad girl when we get together. She brings out the mischief in me, and she’s the quiet one. It’s very funny.”
In one of their most hilarious antics, Andrews and Burnett were caught kissing each other as a joke at a benefit back in the 1960s while they waited for their director friend Mike Nichols.
“It was Lyndon Johnson’s inaugural, so the hotel was pretty packed, but at that hour it was quite quiet,” Andrews recalled. “We decided to sit on a sofa in front of the elevators and wait for Mike. I swear I don’t remember which one of us decided that we would do something silly when Mike got out of the elevator. So one of us said, ‘Well, let’s be kissing or something.’”
The two friends shared a “big embrace” in front of the elevator, but when it opened, they saw that it was “simply packed with Secret Service men.” The elevator went on to open multiple times, but Nichols still did not appear.
Related: Julie Andrews Stuns Fans By Revealing She Was Caught In Compromising Position With Carol Burnett
‘It Was A Great Moment’
“Eventually, a lady got out — Carol swears it was Lady Bird Johnson — the lady went down the hall and realized it might be us, and she came back,” Andrews said. “By this time Carol was laughing so hard that she went around the back of the sofa we were sitting on because we both had tears running down our faces at being so silly.”
“The lady came and looked over the back of the sofa and said, ‘Excuse me, are you Carol Burnett?’ Immediately Carol said, ‘Yes, and this is my friend Mary Poppins.’ It was a great moment,” she continued.
Find out more about this in the video below.
Burnett is a true living legend, so if anyone deserves this birthday special, it’s her. We can’t wait to celebrate Burnett’s 90th birthday with her later this year!
