Carol Burnett to Guest on "Better Call Saul's" Final Season [Archive] - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TMC

07-26-2022, 07:51 PM

Better Call Saul director Michelle MacLaren was in awe of directing TV legend Carol Burnett. (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/better-call-saul-nippy-michelle-maclaren-interview-1235185972/)

So you get the script for “Nippy.” When did the Carol Burnett of it all become involved?

They said, “Will you come and do this?” They said, “We’re going to have a very exciting guest star.” They teased me and they said, “We’re not going to tell you who it is until we know for sure she’s doing it.” I was like, “OK,” not that I needed an exciting guest star to say yes. But when they did tell me it was Carol, I was like, “Oh my gosh!” I mean — she is an icon, and I was so excited to work with her. And she’s absolutely everything you want Carol Burnett to be and more. She is just a beautiful soul. She is so brilliant, so talented, so kind, so collaborative. She’s super-generous with her stories, stories that are so groundbreaking and glass ceiling-breaking and all of those things and she’s so humble about it. And she’s funny! She’s Carol Burnett, right? She’s so funny.

We were shooting in the grocery store in the beginning, and we were doing this shot where we were following her and I thought, “Oh my gosh, do I have the nerve? I’m gonna ask if she’ll do a take where she touches her ear.” I thought, “I don’t know if it’ll make it in. We’ll make it super, super subtle.” But just as a kid growing up and watching her, I was like, “I wanna ask her.” And she was so lovely and so sweet. She’s like, “Absolutely!” And I’m sure she’s probably been asked a million times to do that kind of thing, but she came on set one day and she did the Tarzan call, which was awesome! She’s super, super smart. She’s really a lovely soul and, as I was saying, so generous and kind. She was an absolute dream. I loved working with her and she’s so talented.

I interviewed her for something random back in 2016 and it was so generally cool to talk to Carol Burnett that I don’t remember a thing we spoke about. It’s not like you’re probably starstruck with everybody cool that you work with, but were you starstruck with Carol Burnett?

It’s funny, because I think the term “starstruck” can be interpreted in different ways. I was in awe with Carol, but she puts you at ease immediately. Bob had a lunch, and that’s where I first met her before we started shooting and I was so excited and so nervous — good nervous. She immediately puts you at ease and makes you feel comfortable and relaxed. So your nerves go away. So yes, I’m in awe and yes I’m starstruck, but not in a bumbling way. I found her incredibly collaborative and just a joy. But yeah, I was totally starstruck. I’m like, “Wow, it’s Carol Burnett.”

Were you able to take that step back and ponder what it was like to be doing these largely dramatic scenes with Carol Burnett and Bob Odenkirk, two of the key comedy figures of their respective generations?

I’ve had the privilege of doing straight drama now with a variety of great comedians, with Carol being at the top of that list, obviously. It’s such a joy and so fun and mind-blowing to do drama with comedians, because we’re all used to them being ha-ha funny, and I think the hardest thing to do is comedy. That’s in my humble opinion, because I’m not that funny, but I think it’s a very hard thing to do. I think that a lot of comedians can be really good dramatic actors, and there’s probably a lot of really good dramatic actors who can be great comedians, but there’s something where these comedians, they expose themselves so much by putting themselves out there being funny, so I think there’s something very raw for them when they do drama, something very real.

That scene around the kitchen table with Bob and Carol and Pat Healy [who plays cabdriver Jeff], I just loved doing that scene. Here you’ve got these comic geniuses having a conversation and having, of course, another conversation at the same time, with innuendo and looks and all that kind of stuff, and never making each other look stupid or unaware and making it work so brilliantly. That was really fun. The scene with Bob and Carol in the kitchen at the end, one of the things we wanted to make sure is that her character never looked played, she never looked like an idiot. She’s a smart, sassy, confident woman, and Gene is such a good hustler that he had to play it really well and really seriously and really genuine. That’s why he doesn’t dive in there with a bunch of hokeyness. He plays it real. He picked a dog because she’s a dog-lover. He draws her in so brilliantly, and it’s so kind and real that Carol’s character never looks like she’s an idiot. She’s a savvy, confident lady who knows how to take care of herself. That was really important to us.

These brilliant comedians have such a great way of riding that fine line and I love it. It’s one of my favorite things to do and I got to do it with the queen. She’s just the most amazing.

JamesG

04-28-2023, 07:16 AM

Bob Odenkirk Refused to Kill Carol Burnett's Character on "Better Call Saul"
by Maureen Lee Lenker
April 26, 2023

Carol Burnett almost met an untimely end on "Better Call Saul".

Burnett, who joined the sixth and final season of the AMC series as Marion, the mother of a cab driver who Saul (Bob Odenkirk) develops a complicated relationship with in his attempt to run a scam.

Creator Vince Gilligan has previously discussed why he had Saul pull back from killing Marion in their final scene together, but it turns out that her reprieve was also partly due to Odenkirk. Or so he tells it.

"They rewrote this scene exactly how I wanted it, but not how your so-called good friend Better Call Saul executive producer Vince Gilligan had written it," Odenkirk told the audience during "Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love" on NBC Wednesday night.

"Carol, there's something that you should know," he said. "Vince wanted my character to kill you in that scene. Look at him, he's shaking his head. His exact words to me were, 'Saul ends up killing Carol Burnett.' And if I remember correctly, he didn't say, 'Kill Carol's character,' he said, 'Kill Carol Burnett.' But I refused, and I told him I'd walk."

He continued: "Carol, I was willing to risk my career and never working in this town again. Because I didn't want little children who watched our show — and I hope many of them did — to see me on the street and say, 'Mommy, that's the man who killed Carol Burnett.' That's all I wanted to say. That I'm your real friend and Vince is not. And one more thing, Vince and I, and everybody on our show, we think you're the greatest."

https://ew.com/tv/bob-odenkirk-refused-to-kill-carol-burnett-character-better-call-saul/