‘The Carol Burnett Show’ Turns 59. Watch Carol Burnett, Tim Conway’s 1995 TODAY Interview

Welcome to the “TODAY Archives,” where we revisit memories from our show when celebrities and newsmakers started discourse, made us laugh or shaped our culture. This latest installment highlights “The Carol Burnett Show” and a visit to TODAY from the show’s star and Tim Conway, who reminisced about their classic comedy series on March 3, 1995 .

Nearly six decades after it premiered, “The Carol Burnett Show” still has fans laughing.

The CBS series premiered Sept. 11, 1967, and ran for 11 seasons before concluding its run in 1978. Along with co-stars Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence and Lyle Waggoner, Carol Burnett kept fans in stitches with uproarious skits and parodies.

The show won 25 Emmy Awards and was nominated for 45 more, cementing its place in TV lore.

On March 3, 1995, Burnett and Conway, who died in 2019 at the age of 85, visited TODAY to reminisce about the series with Katie Couric, which gave Burnett the chance to open up about Conway’s flair for making his castmates laugh.

“When Conway was on, he was relentless. He would do things that we never expected, and nobody knew what was going to happen,” she said.

The Cast Had Tons of Fun

Conway felt the cast truly enjoyed themselves making the show, while also praising Burnett.

“I would say that we probably had the best time of a lot of people on television,” he said.

“This lady, not only is she the nicest lady probably you’ll ever meet — it’s so annoying because she never says anything about anybody — and just surrounded herself with those kinds of people,” Conway said. “And it was just a place you wanted to be.”

Who Was Carol Burnett’s Favorite Character?

Burnett played a lot of characters on the show, but when asked who her favorite is, she had no doubt.

“I think it was Eunice,” she said.

Her portrayal of the melodramatic Eunice holds a special place in her heart.

“She started out as such a witch. She was just horrible,” she said. “And then as it developed, you could understand where her rage was coming from. It was this mother feeling trapped, and her dreams of being a movie star, of course, were ridiculous. But she always wanted to be better than what she was.”

What About That Classic ‘Went with the Wind!’ Sketch?

This Season 10 spoof of “Gone with the Wind” featured Burnett as Starlett O’Hara, who wears a dress made out of her window curtain, with the rod going across her back. It’s a classic sketch and one that Burnett said scored more laughs than it may have originally.

“(Costume designer) Bob Mackie said, ‘I have an idea.’ I said, ‘What?’ And he came out with the curtain rod and the dress on it, and I fell on the floor,” she recalled. “I said, ‘This is absolute genius.’”