In Such Good Company

Eleven Years of Laughter, Mayhem, and Fun in the Sandbox

By: Carol Burnett

Narrated by: Carol Burnett

Length: 8 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

Winner of the 2017 Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album

Comedy legend Carol Burnett tells the hilarious behind-the-scenes story of her iconic weekly variety series, The Carol Burnett Show.

Who but Carol Burnett herself has the timing, talent, and wit to pull back the curtain on the Emmy Award-winning show that made television history for 11 glorious seasons? In Such Good Company delves into little-known stories of the guests, sketches, and antics that made the show legendary as well as some favorite tales too good not to relive again. Carol lays it all out for us, from the show's original conception to its evolution into one of the most beloved primetime programs of its generation.

Written with all the charm and humor fans expect from a masterful entertainer like Carol Burnett, In Such Good Company skillfully highlights the elements that made the show so successful in a competitive period when TV variety shows ruled the airwaves. Putting the spotlight on everyone from her talented costars to her amazing guest stars - the most celebrated and popular entertainers of their day - Carol crafts a lively portrait of the talent and creativity that went into every episode.

Here are all the topics listeners want to know more about, including:

• How the show almost didn't air due to the misgivings of certain CBS vice presidents
• How she discovered and hired Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway
• Anecdotes about guest stars and her close friendships with many of them, including Lucille Ball, Roddy Mcdowell, Jim Nabors, Bernadette Peters, Betty Grable, Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gorme, Gloria Swanson, Rita Hayworth, and Betty White
• The people behind the scenes, from Bob Mackie, her costume designer and partner in crime, to the wickedly funny cameraman who became a fixture during the show's opening Q&A
• Carol's takes on her favorite sketches and the unpredictable moments that took both the cast and viewers by surprise

This audiobook is Carol's love letter to a golden era in television history through the lens of her brilliant show, which won no less than 25 Emmy Awards! Get the best seat in the house as she reminisces about the outrageous tales that made working on the show as much fun as watching it.

Includes cast interviews, a conversation with Dick Cavett, and much more!

©2016 Carol Burnett (P)2016 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“In this light, behind-the-scenes memoir, [Burnett] pays tribute to the many talented individuals responsible for the show's enduring success, [sharing] some of the hilarious impromptu moments on the set and sheds light on the many memorable sketches, including the movie parodies that have become classic TV.” —Kirkus Reviews

"The great comedian [Carol Burnett] filled America’s living rooms with pratfalls and Tarzan yells.... Carol Burnett’s new memoir, In Such Good Company, captures this zaniness with relish. Written in Burnett’s laughing voice, the book chronicles how she prepared her weekly dose of mayhem.... Resonating with Burnett’s lively enthusiasm, In Such Good Company captures the excitement of being there once again, and it’s a joyous addition to her earlier memoirs." —The Washington Post

I Love Her But.....

I love Carol Burnett. She is truly an American treasure. Her other books were amazing and I listened to them multiple times. This one.... not so much. It basically hashed out several of the episodes of her wonderful television series. I don't mean that it talked a little about them. It took an episode and told the plot, details, actors etc. It was tedious.

So, as much as I would love to tell you this is a great listen, I really can't. I didn't even finish it. It wasn't what I expected at all.

Awesome Memories of a Great Show!

I loved listening to this book and to reminisce with Carol about her memories of her show. When she talked about the various skits and guests, I could remember some of them clearly. This brought me back to a time in my life when from 10-11 p.m. on Saturday nights, I spent time with Carol and friends! She reads her own book, and like the other books, the Tarzan yell appears. Her personality really comes through in the book; although I knew from her other books that she seemed to be a really nice person, her concern for the way her colleagues and guests were treated were of utmost importance to her. I was laughing out loud picturing the scene when she fired Harvey Korman, and then the aftermath! I won't spoil it by telling you, but i was quite amused.

I had read her earlier books, so I was wondering if there would be a lot of redundancy. Happily, there wasn't. This one had an entirely different focus than her prior books and I enjoyed listening to it. I'm not sure it would have had the same impact if I had read it in print, but having her narrate it really brought the memories of the show flooding back, especially when you could tell that certain stories made her sad or happy.

I wanted to love it

What disappointed you about In Such Good Company?

Listening to scripts being read is very dry. There were some good moments but I just couldn't make it through the book.

Good, but bogged down by skit synopses

What did you like best about In Such Good Company? What did you like least?

The occasional bon mot I hadn't heard in her autobiography.

What could Carol Burnett have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

God, edit out all the incredibly lengthy show skit synopses. Really brought everything to a halt and almost made me stop listening.

Have you listened to any of Carol Burnett’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Not as good as the others.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

It was a TV show and have already seen it.

Any additional comments?

Edit, edit, edit! The skits on TV were funny, describing them verbatim is not.

Not much new

Is there anything you would change about this book?

While entertaining, anyone who has seen interviews of Carol Burnett through the years has probably heard most of the stories.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

A little slow but not too bad.

Was In Such Good Company worth the listening time?

Not really. A condensed version would have been fine.

Any additional comments?

It was stilted.

My first Carol Burnett book

So glad I got this as an audible experience. Between her voice and the inserted recordings of interviews with other cast and crew members I really got a glimpse into the life of her show(s).

Such a joy to listen to. If only…

I think you’d have to go a long way to find anyone who doesn’t find listening to/watching Carol Burnett a delight. This example is no exception. Hearing her wax eloquent about the relationship between her and her regulars, guest stars, and close friends is completely “worth the price of admission“. It was even more wondrous to hear her actually chuckle again about happenstances in her life from 40 years ago. The only shortcoming of this book, as so many have pointed out on the same forum, is the retelling of skits. At first, you went along with her retelling the skits almost in their entirety. Like you were in the rehearsal room listening to a Tuesday reading. However, the last third of the book did prove tedious to finish because of that. Still, if you were a fan at all of the show, this is still worth a good recommendation.

Happy-Go-Lucky

Carol reading this aloud made it for me. It's like being told a bedtime story by your grandmother, and the audio excerpts from interviews with the other cast members adds an extra element you couldn't get reading the book yourself.
If you're a longtime fan, she doesn't really give too many new anecdotes (almost all the stories have been told in various interviews elsewhere), but her telling of them makes them fresh. She really sounds like she's reminiscing, so it's one of the most genuine memoirs I've come across.

Comedy at it's finest!

I just hated to have to turn the book off! I loved revisiting the hysterical sketches that made for some of the best T.V. moments ever captured! Hearing the back stories makes me want to see them all over again!

Funny and entertaining as expected

What did you love best about In Such Good Company?

The fact that Carol Burnett herself was the narrator! It made all the stories that much more real since she was the one who had lived them.

What did you like best about this story?

All the back-stage stories that most of us don't get to know about regarding the stars she worked with along the way, and some of the funnier moments that never make it on the air. But also about the personal relationships they all had together and the sense of family among the cast members.

What does Carol Burnett bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

You get to hear her own words in her own voice, so you know the emotions in those moments she describes are very real, whether it is laughter or tears or both.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

There were several times when I literally laughed out loud at her descriptions of certain situations. The whole story of how they discovered and hired Vicki Lawrence was particularly interesting too, and I was glad they included excerpts from actual interviews with several of the people Carol worked with.

Any additional comments?

I love Carol Burnett, so I expected this to be entertaining, and I was not disappointed!