The Carol Burnett Show - The Lost Episodes

A Couple of Carol's fellow CBS stars pay a visit to the show. At the time, Lucille Ball preceded Carol as part of the network's Monday night line-up, while Eddie Albert enjoyed country life in "Green Acres" on Wednesdays. The soap opera spoof "As the Stomach Turns" finds Lucy and Carol portraying full-time funeral attendees who are booked months in advance, while Eddie's mortician character passing through town proves to be a real stiff. Amid all the craziness, Nancy Wilson arrives in Canoga Falls to integrate the town. The songstress chooses "The Folks Who Live on the Hill" for her solo spot. In an astrology finale celebrating Leo, Nancy and Carol share the stage for "The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener," a top-40 hit for Petula Clark.

A severely hungover Harvey Korman is taken to the cleaners by blackmailing "Fireside Girl Alice Portnoy," played by Carol. She's got pictures - and a few coins donated to the summer camp fund quickly grows into a wad of bills. In a "Carol and Sis" sketch, Harvey is all eyes when his dull tax accountant, Bob Newhart, drops by with his knockout wife. Everyone participates in the salute to MGM Studios finale, Carol and Harvey take "America's Singing Sweethearts" Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy to strange new comedy heights, while Garbo's first laugh, articulated by Carol, is painful.

Fabray, Tormé and Rickles sounds like a law firm, one that specializes in entertainment. Want to see Don Rickles blow a gasket? Have him try to sell a pair of shoes to Nanette Fabray. He becomes so exasperated that he practically speaks in tongues at one point. Mel Tormé does a better job keeping his cool swinging through "Take a Letter Miss Jones." In a cameo as 90-year-old Dr. Zazlo, Harvey breaks out a speed shuffle that rivals the fluidity of future cast member Tim Conway's "The Oldest Man." The whole gang takes part in "The Tin Pan Alley Story" set in New York in the early 1900's. Melvin Potts (Mel) and Phoebe Panz (Carol) seemingly have a bright song-writing future together as Potts and Panz. Life intervenes, hardships abound. Showbiz may not be pretty, but it's pretty darn hilarious.

Carol's good friend Jim Nabors holds the honor of being the first guest star in the CBS network debut of her long-running variety show. He went over so well that he ended up starring in the first episode of all elven seasons. At the time, he was still riding high as the lovable hick in his own CBS comedy, "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." He and Carol play a couple of stumblebums at a ski lodge, then show their musical chops in an array of Broadway tunes. This episode also includes the very first "Carol and Sis" sketch, based on Carol's raising of her kid sister, Chris.

Beloved crooner Bing Crosby and beloved character actor Paul Lynde join the regulars for an unusual evening of song and drama. With a peace symbol on the backdrop, Bing brings a mellow vibe to a '30's/g0's combo platter of "Love Thy Neighbor" and "Put a Little Love in Your Heart." Paul dominates the "As the Stomach Turns" installment, portraying town masochist Mel Torment. He's scalded, smacked, burned and crunched, and relishes the frying-pan spanking he receives from huge Mother Marcus (Harvey).

Eydie Gorme performs a fine version of "A House Is Not a Home." Conway refrains from singing. Instead, he and fellow cop Harvey Korman go undercover to nab a serial mugger. Tim dresses as the blond female bait. Every time he tosses his hair and makes eye contact, Harvey stifles another guffaw.

Before Burt Reynolds gained notice through TV appearances, movies and his star-making role in "Deliverance," he broke into the business as a stuntman. Those skills get tested when he croons á la Dean Martin in "As Time Goes By." Nanette Fabray is far less physical during the song-and-dance production of "It's a Musical World." She and Carol later offer a rousing duet of "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain" in honor of the first transcontinental railroad.

Lesley Ann Warren joins Don Adams as Carol's special guests. Adams plays late-night show host Donny Bishop, whose striking technical crew has been replaced by inept TV execs. Warren delivers the Frank Sinatra standard "The Best is Yet to Come" in a song-and-dance sequence.

Lucille Ball and Tim Conway both debut on this show. Crazy redheads Carol and Lucy dine at the Cafe Argentine, run by the lunatic Lunch Nazi Pedro (Harvey). As rival rental car agents, the duo trade barbs trying to sign up Tim Conway. His sketch finds him anchoring a news broadcast with no news, no weather report, and partial sports scores.

Tim Conway is such a wickedly funny man that he appeared in many episodes of the show before becoming a full-time cast member in 1975. Big laughs begin once he joins Carol in the audience question-and-answer session. When Tim and Carol attempt to paint her apartment, every tool becomes a potential instrument of death. The ad libs fly and Time trots out the fluid shuffle move he perfected in his recurring character "The Oldest Man."

Guests Bobbie Gentry and Gwen Verdon perform "Bugs," "The Look of Love" and "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)." Phyllis Diller covers everything from fashion to bad driving in her monologue. Phyllis, Gwen, Bobbie and Carol salute the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" in full Pepper regalia with three songs from that landmark album.

Andy Griffith opens the show with Aesop's fable about the lion and the mouse, and narrates "Cinderellie," the backwoods version of "Cinderella" that closes the evening. In the "Carol and Sis" segment, Carol's husband, Roger (Harvey), is obsessed with Sunday football on TV. Carol provides and exaggerated instant replay of her departure, including a slo-mo sequence.

Guests Cass Elliot & Bernadette Peters. Cass plays the heavy-fasion model Suzie Shrimpton-in "As the Stomach Turns." Will she find true love with underground filmmaker Randy Wahoo? And what will become of Sister Ruby, the tap-dancing nun? The Carol, Cass and Bernadette trio performance of "You've Got a Friend" has a few surprises, but predictably strong vocals enriched by the Mamas & the Papas-styled harmonies.