The WORST episodes of The Carol Burnett Show
Every episode of The Carol Burnett Show ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of The Carol Burnett Show!
A variety / sketch comedy show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. It originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967 to March 29, 1978 for 278 episodes, and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33 (known today as the Bob Barker Studio). The series won 25 prime time Emmy Awards, and in 2007 was listed as one of Time magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All Time."
#1 - with Tim Conway and Dick Patterson
Season 8 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/22/1975
Mama is recovering from a broken leg after a fall in "The Family", and guest Tim Conway appears in a sketch as the "Old Man"; Carol and Vicki duet on "If Mama Was Married", with Harvey appearing as "Mother Marcus"; and a musical finale about Cleopatra with Carol in the title role, and featuring such songs as "Up a Lazy River" and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat".
#2 - with Jim Nabors
Season 6 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/15/1972
The sixth season begins with Jim Nabors, as in past seasons, being Carol's first guest. Carol and Harvey introduce two new characters, Fred and Marge -- "just plain folks" -- who sit in the audience and talk about contemporary life. Nabors sings "The Way of Love"; Carol and Nabors duet "The Maggie Blues"; Carol solos "If I Could Write a Song"; the finale is "Star Spangled Jive", a take-off on World War II movie musicals.
#3 - with Rock Hudson and Nancy Walker
Season 8 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/15/1975
Another look at the most memorable TV commercials of the year; a spoof of the 1948 musical "When My Baby Smiles at Me"; Korman plays a ventriloquist who wants to break up with his dummy; Rock and Nancy duet on "Mine".
#4 - with Martha Raye, Ross Martin
Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/16/1970
Martin, as Carl Sandburg, recites the poet's "Love"; guests and cast regulars spoof a popular musical series.
#5 - with Lucille Ball, Mel Tormé
Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/19/1970
Ball and Burnett portray stage mothers pushing their precocious offspring in an audition, and star in a spoof of "Some Like It Hot"; Torme solos "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?".
#6 - with Imogene Coca, Robert Goulet
Season 2 - Episode 25 - Aired 4/7/1969
Imogene Coca and Miss Burnett play American school teachers in Rome, rhapsodizing to "If Love were All". The main sketch is a fairy tale spoof with Carol Burnett as Cinderumplewhite. Imogene Coca is the wicked witch and Robert Goulet is the handsome prince. Harvey Korman and Lyle Waggoner play the two-headed dragon that Goulet battles. Goulet solos "Didn't We" and Miss Cora sings "If Love Were All".
#7 - with Art Carney, Pat Carroll
Season 4 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/4/1971
The show starts with a holiday salute, but the holiday is the Fourth of July. Carol plays a Fireside Girl, using blackmail to sell cookies to Harvey Korman and Pat Carroll. In another sketch, Carney is an exterminator who lost his nerve and needs reassurance from his wife. In another chapter of "As The Stomach Turns", Carol is a Women's Libber and Carney is a pro football scout who has his eye on Pat Carroll.
#8 - with Steve Lawrence, Julie Budd, and Durward Kirby
Season 4 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/14/1970
A Christmas edition of the show. The entire cast joins in a musical salute to the movie "Scrooge"; Lawrence solos "One Day" and Miss Budd sings "Where Is Love".
#9 - with Ken Berry, Dionne Warwick
Season 5 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/15/1971
In a western spoof, Carol and Ken play entertainers who alternately hit the heights and depths in Hollywood. Dionne sings "Always Something There to Remind Me" and "One Less Bell to Answer". Ken sings "I Want to Be Happy" and Carol performs "The Doll Song". Dionne and Carol set Thomas Jefferson's words from the Declaration of Independence to music in "When in the Course of Human Events".
#10 - with Nanette Fabray, Mel Tormé
Season 5 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/17/1971
In a spoof of the Busby Berkeley movie "42nd Street", Carol plays an unknown chorus girl who gets her big chance on Broadway. Nanette and Carol play very expectant mothers at a laundry. Torme sings "We've Only Just Begun".
#11 - with Paul Lynde, Peggy Lee
Season 5 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/5/1972
In a movie spoof of "The Seventh Veil", Harvey Korman plays a cruel man who drives his piano protege (Carol) to success. A snobbish husband and wife argue. Peggy sings "I Can Sing a Rainbow", and duets with Carol on "Happy New Year"/"Something's Coming"/"Great Day". For the finale, a medley of such circus numbers as "Here Come the Clowns", "Clown Alley", and "Be a Clown".
#12 - Family Show
Season 5 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/29/1972
In the movie musical spoof of "The Doily Sisters" Carol and Vicki play singing waitresses who make it to the big time on Broadway; Carol sings "Happiness Belongs to My Friends" and "I've Seen That Face"; Harvey performs "Hey, Mr. Moon"; Carol and Vicki duet on "Budapest" and "When You Get Home" and perform "Two Natural Beauties" with the dancers.
#13 - Family Show, Tim Conway
Season 8 - Episode 24 - Aired 4/5/1975
Eunice and Mama visit Ed at the hardware store in "The Family". As a mother of three, Carol gives advice to expectant Vicki Lawrence in a skit, and the two dust off a medley of old-fashioned lullabies. Conway plays the world's oldest living clock maker. "When Your Lover Has Gone" is Carol's main vocal number, and she closes the season with "The Charwoman".
#14 - with Ken Berry, Totie Fields
Season 4 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/15/1971
Totie Fields, as the author of "The Desirable Woman" confides in a TV talk show hostess played by Carol. Guest Ken Berry plays a golfing priest and Harvey Korman is his rabbi partner. Totie plays a woman who thinks she's a werewolf. Ken demonstrates his terpsichorean talents in "Let's Have a Party"; the entire cast offers "Put On Your Sunday Best"; Miss Burnett solos "Make a Rainbow".
#15 - with Garry Moore, Durward Kirby
Season 3 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/15/1969
The accent is on the holiday season when Carol Burnett's old friends Garry Moore and Durward Kirby drop in for their annual visit. Carol and Harvey play the old folks as they reminisce about their marriage. Moore and Kirby play opposing attorneys in the courtroom trial of Mrs. Peter Piper, whose husband picked a peck of pickled peppers. Miss Burnett recites an original Christmas poem and solos "Make Your Own Kind of Music" and later joins the Bob Mitchell Boys Choir in singing "Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?" Garry Moore assists Durward Kirby in delivering some "commercials" merchandising gifts for kids. In the "Carol and Sis" sketch, Carol throws a tantrum when husband Korman hosts his poker club.
#16 - with Jim Nabors
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/22/1969
Jim Nabors, a Burnett good luck charm, helps Carol kick off the new season. Jim plays a bachelor dating neighbor Carol whose apartment is fortified with burglar alarms. Nabors also sings "Turn Around, Look at Me" and joins Carol and associates in "The First Day at School". Carol revives her Fireside girl, Alice Portnoy, and her Charwoman, and appears in a house-moving skit with Harvey Korman and Vicki Lawrence.
#17 - Family Show
Season 10 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/25/1976
Mr. Tudball treats Mrs. Wiggins to a lunch in honor of National Secretary Week; Harvey tries to pick up a chick in a swinging singles bar, and Carol is looking for a man in the same bar; miniseries parody "Rich Lady, Broke Lady"; the musical highlight is a special lyrics version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas".
#18 - with Garry Moore, Durward Kirby
Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/25/1968
Miss Burnett welcomes two old friends, Garry Moore and Durward Kirby, for a nostalgic (and funny) repetition of some of the comedy sketches that made them all famous. In one sequence Moore interviews Carol who's playing a dignified princess rehearsing a television toast to a noted humanitarian.
#19 - with Yolanda Merido, Sergio Bustamante
Season 2 - Episode 26 - Aired 4/28/1969
Exerpts from the Carol Burnett show dubbed for Spanish speaking audiences are shown with Mexican actors Yolanda Merido and Sergio Bustamante demonstrating how they do the voices of Miss Burnett and Korman. Harvey Korman masquerades as a mayor running for reelection in a sketch satirizing a "spontaneous, unrehearsed" political broadcast. Korman does a serious production number to "They Call The Wind Maria". Waggoner sings "I'm Just A Country Boy" and Vicki sings "When I Die". Carol closes the show and the season with her Charwoman playing to an empty theater.
#20 - with Nancy Wilson, Bernadette Peters, and The Burgundy Street Singers
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/29/1969
"They Don't Make Them Like That Anymore" spoofs 1930s films; musical performances by guests Nancy Wilson ("Can't Take My Eyes Off You"), Bernadette Peters ("Poor Butterfly") and the Burgundy Street Singers ("Marrakesh Express"); and Carol, Harvey, Vicki and Lyle in a satirical TV show from the California White House.
#21 - with Tim Conway, Jane Connell
Season 3 - Episode 21 - Aired 3/2/1970
Cast salute to Universal Studios; Miss Connell appears in a "Thoroughly Modern Millie" number and sings "Pollution"; Vicki Lawrence offers "Leaving on a Jet Plane"; Conway and Harvey Korman portray tipsy pals trying to sober up, and Burnett and Korman appear as the Old Folks chatting on the back porch. Carol and Lyle Waggoner mimic Doris Day and Rock Hudson.
#22 - with Cass Elliott, Pat Paulsen
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/21/1970
Mama Cass sings "Glory of Love" and joins Carol for a "smile" medley; Paulsen tells how to become a sensuous female; Harvey Korman and Vicki Lawrence team with Miss Burnett for a fireside chat at "San Clemente by the Sea"; Carol, Vicki, guests and dancers perform the finale, "Mr. Tambourine Man".
#23 - with Eydie Gorme, Joan Rivers
Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/5/1970
Carol is joined by guests Eydie Gorme and Joan Rivers in a skit about a popular girls singing trio; Joan gives her opinion on women's lib; an interview with Mrs. King Kong; Gorme sings "You Can Have Him"; Gorme and the cast perform a medley about men and love.
#24 - with Juliet Prowse
Season 4 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/9/1970
Highlights of this episode, which was taped earlier in the year in London, include a flamboyant star (Harvey Korman) battling the respiratory ailments of his co-star (Carol) during a stage production; the "Old Folks" on a honeymoon voyage to England; and Carol's charwoman pantomiming a striptease.
#25 - with Rita Hayworth, Jim Bailey
Season 4 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/1/1971
Guest Rita Hayworth is pestered by two celebrity seekers (Carol, Vicki); Jim Bailey impersonates the likes of Phyllis Diller, Barbra Streisand and Judy Garland, and performs "Don't Rain on My Parade" and "Happy Days Are Here Again" with Carol; Vicki performs "When You've Got Good Friends" with the dancers; a "Tearjerker Theater" presentation of "Lovely Story" with Carol in the Ali MacGraw role and Harvey as the character played by Ryan O'Neal; Carol and Rita sing "Mutual Admiration Society", with clips from some of Rita's old films being shown; and Rita appears as another charwoman.