This book review was originally posted on April 15, 2014. I am reposting it here as/is.

Having grown up in the 70s and 80s, I remember The Carol Burnett Showwith great fondness.  For months, I’ve had her book, This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection, on my iPad.  I just finished reading it last night and, I’ve got to say, it’s a delightful book.  Carol Burnett shares heartwarming and funny anecdotes about her family and long career in show business.  She comes off as a genuinely wonderful woman who has stayed true to herself as she’s rubbed elbows with some true Hollywood legends.

I’m not sure what prompted me to download this book.  I’ve seen Carol Burnett in films and of course I’ve seen her show on TV.  I remember her daughter, Carrie Hamilton, from Fame.  I used to love that show in the 80s.  Sadly, Carrie died at age 38 in January 2002.  She had lung cancer.

Carol Burnett used to do a question and answer session on her show and this book is sort of like that, filled with cute stories about meeting everyone from Cary Grant to Joan Collins (who apparently was such a fan of Carol Burnett’s that she got on her knees when they ran into each other at a restaurant) to Barbara Stanwyck, who supposedly had an imaginary leprechaun friend who told her that Burnett would win a court case against a tabloid magazine.

She writes of what it was like working with Vicki Lawrence, who was sort of a Burnett protege after she wrote a fan letter to Burnett and included a photo that showed off how much Lawrence resembled her.  She writes of the hilarious Harvey Korman and Tim Conway and, of course, Lyle Waggoner (though I knew him better from his time with Lynda Carter on Wonder Woman). 

Above all, Carol Burnett comes across as someone with a huge heart.  She writes one story about a little girl named Kathy who had cancer and loved Carol Burnett’s show.  Kathy wrote to Carol, who responded in a very touching way.  I get the sense that though Carol Burnett is a celebrity, she’s someone who is still very grounded, and funny too!  I recommend her book.  I just started another one by her about her relationship with her daughter, Carrie.

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