The Best of The Carol Burnett Show

Carol and crew ridicule the car, mouthwash and bra spots that clutter the airwaves. Vicki sings Ships in the Night, written by her husband Bobby Russell, the man behind her hit The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia. Carol counters with a clever song about geometric shapes. Carol's got the Hong Kong flu, and hypochondriac husband Harvey twists himself silly to avoid contact.

Ruth Buzzi takes a blathering movie star turn with Carol as a librarian in a send-up of the quiz show Password. In a tribute to cinematic naughty ladies, Buzzi is Mrs. Robinson to Richard Crenna's young Ben Braddock. They return to satirize a lousy movie, Born to Be Bad, with Raised to Be Rotten. Carol's portrayal of the cunning Christinabel elevates the arched eyebrow stare to a new height.

Inspiration for the voice of Stella Toddler, the ancient, doddering drama coach, came to Carol while in the CBS ladies room! Carol did some of her funniest and most impressive slapstick work as Stella-Harvey Korman once called the character "the most incredible use of a body for comedy." This episode features Steve Lawrence, a favorite guest Carol considered a semi-regular.

Zaniness thrived on the show whenever Carl Reiner dropped by. Few acts could match the physical comedy antics of the Reiner, Burnett and Korman trio. Reiner and his accident-prone wife (Carol) try to purchase a Small State Insurance policy from Harvey-no utensil or body part is safe. Then Reiner dons bull horns and Carol channels Charo in an ensemble version of Little Red Riding Hood.

In this episode's finale, Carol and Joel Grey perform as puppets in a Punch and Judy routine watched by villagers (the show's dancers) in Pippin-style regalia. Carol's grandmother wanted her to mark that momentous occasion by saying "Hello, Nanny" to her through the TV. Carol knew she couldn't actually speak the words, but she came up with an alternative signal

The very first appearance of "The Family" sketch is in this episode. Carol was originally meant to play Mama, but from the start she connected more powerfully with the fragile Eunice. Roddy McDowall appears as Eunice's brother. Carol's musical guests are the Jackson 5 (actually "6," as youngest brother Randy joins in), and Michael shows off some impressive pre-moonwalk dance moves.

Carol gets the waitress lingo down pretty fast and Harvey's a born kitchen magician when they take over a diner after a botched stickup. At the "Grand Ole Operetta House" in Nashville, Glenn Twitty (guest John Byner), who belongs to the mile-high pompadour club, performs his award-winning song about his sow named Susie, and Carol and Vicki do absurd parodies of Loretta Lynn and Donna Fargo.

Jim Nabors, one of Carol's best friends in the business, became an unofficial good luck charm, appearing in the show's 1967 debut and in the first episode of every season that followed through 1977. He assumes his Gomer Pyle personality in a sketch with Carol, Harvey and Vicki. Jim outdraws the Black Bart game cowboy, only to confront a real flesh-and-blood gunslinger eager to settle the score

Carol and the cast poke fun at potential sponsors during the "8th Annual Carol Burnett Show Awards for the Most Unforgettable Television Commercials of the Year." And Carol's portrayal of a housewife suffering a sinus headache is one of her finest bits of physical comedy. Guest starring Telly Savalas of Kojak and Tom Smothers from The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

Carol joins the Pointer Sisters on the bebop classic Salt Peanuts, and wisely stays out when the trio goes off on a supersonic scat-singing romp. Harvey and Carol lampoon the popular CBS cop drama Kojak, with shiny-headed Harvey pursuing a floozy murderer. In the tearjerker film One Way Ticket, a Hawaii-bound luxury liner becomes the romantic meeting place for doomed lovers Carol and James Coco.

Carl Reiner, a mainstay of Sid Caesar's troupe on Caesar's Hour and a comedy star in his own right, was a guest on Carol's show more than once. Special credit to Carol and her writers for this episode's Disaster '75, a large-scale parody of the "Airport" disaster films that effectively spoofed disaster flicks a full six years before the Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker classic Airplane!

Despite Eunice's "Merry Xmas" apron and Ed's mile-wide red tie, there's no joy in the house once Eunice's younger brother Larry (Alan Alda) and Mama arrive. On a happier note, Carol and Alan Alda find peace amid the commercial holiday hustle and bustle. He's a soon-to-be unemployed department store Santa, while she's all thumbs over in the gift-wrapping section.

Tim Conway as a busboy turned world-class chef "Ruby Kira" at the Beniha-ha restaurant is a recipe for disaster. A hairpiece and a contact lens hit the grill. No humans die in this bit, so Tim is at least part victorious. His boxing event with Carol, a variation on the Bobby Riggs vs. Billie Jean King "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match, is more an exchange of words than punches.

The long and the short of it: When Rock Hudson and Nancy Walker stood side by side, their 15-inch height differential brought instant laughs. She and Rock jump right in for the latest spoof of TV commercials, initiated by Harvey Korman's leering take on the infamous Joe Namath spot for Hanes pantyhose. With Nancy Walker, Carol and Vicki, this episode had three feisty redheads under one roof.

The episode's takeoff of The Heiress, Harvey Korman re-creates the role of the great Sir Ralph Richardson in a powerful, believable, ever-so-slightly twisted fashion. Carol often claimed that doing her show was like "putting on a new Broadway musical every week." For this episode's finale, they really do create an entirely original mini-musical! Guests Roddy McDowall and Bernadette Peters.