Carol Burnett Explains How She “Bombed” On ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ Just Before Elvis Presley

 

Carol Burnett was a powerhouse in the entertainment industry. A triple threat – actor, singer, comedian – he worked his way up to legendary status, eventually hosting his own television show, "The Carol Burnett Show." However, he starred in other television shows including 'The Ed Sullivan Show'. In a recent interview, he recounted how he completely "bombed" one of his visits to the show when he had to perform in front of the King of Rock and Roll himself.

Burnett was assigned to perform before Presley.

Due to its popularity as a television variety show, 'The Ed Sullivan Show' ran for 24 seasons from 1948 to 1971. Given that it was so widely watched, many big names made guest appearances on the show. Burnett starred on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' seven times in her career, so she got to work on the same day as other important figures in entertainment. While appearing on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert', he explained how he starred on the show with Elvis Presley on the same day and how things didn't exactly go smoothly.

In the interview, he described how Presley's night went. “When Elvis was in the army, I was there when he was in the army. And he did a great job when he was in the army on stage,'' he said. “And they made me sit first. Nobody wanted to see me. It was elvis. 'Where's Elvis?' I bombed. Oh God, it was horrible. It was terrible."

Despite the failure of his part in the show, Burnett said it was enjoyable to talk to the King of Rock and Roll. "I met him, he was very sweet," she said, "and I got his autograph for my little sister."

He inspired her to write her own songs

It turns out that Burnett took some inspiration from Presley for his own songwriting, although his song came in the format of a parody. He said that his song, "I Made a Fool of Myself Over John Foster Dulles" was inspired by King and was written about the former US Secretary of State. Burnett described Dulles, who was in office from 1953 to 1959, as "dull" and someone who "never smiled."

She explained how Presley inspired her to write the song, saying, "I was doing a special material song that a friend of mine had written, called 'I Made a Fool of Myself Over John Foster Dulles.' ' Everybody was going crazy about Elvis so she wrote this song about this young girl going crazy about John Foster Dulles.'' He also appeared on another popular late-night television talk show, "The Jack Paar Tonight Show." and eventually repeated his performance for Dulles.

This song was much talked about in the city

Little did Burnett know that the song would become a hit with audiences. He also performed it on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and his apparent "love" for Dulles became a much-talked-about topic. It spread so much that Dulles was even contacted about it and asked what was really going on between them on "Meet the Press." Burnett watched his reaction on television, recalling his reaction, "I make it a policy never to discuss matters of the heart in public."

At 90, Burnett has plenty of stories to share about her time spent in entertainment, and we love reminiscing with her.

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