When Carol Burnett Fired Harvey Korman

Carol Burnett has been known in show business as a kind and cheerful person to work with for many decades. During filming of The Carol Burnett Show in the 1960s and 1970s infectious laughter often overtook the cast members and even the guests stars. The joy and camaraderie on set was palpable. But, even on such a jovial show, the cast sometimes fell out. When cast member Harvey Korman was having a bad week and snapping at people Burnett decided he had gone too far.

In an interview in 2022 Burnett said that Korman “never bothered” her when he was grumpy. She said that even though he could “turn on a dime” he could “be just adorable the next second”. She described him occasionally being “a little difficult” but also said that she brushed it off when it was directed at her. Except one time when he said something unkind to a guest on the show, Petula Clark, which pushed Burnett over the edge. She recalled, “You can step on me cus I can take it, but you don’t step on our guest.”

Then Burnett had to take action. In a shock to all involved she fired him. She decided to “be the boss” for once as she put it, as she preferred to be friendly on set and not pull rank like that. Burnet told him he was fired and that he shouldn’t come back the next week to continue tapoing.

In a longer telling of this scenario from Burnett’s 2016 memoir In Such Good Company she went so far as to call his agent and let him know he was no longer needed on the show.

When Korman pleaded for his job she told him he’d better act happier on set if she was to keep him around. To her surprise he acted more than happy, but we’ll let her tell the rest of the story in her own words.

You can watch the funny interview with Carol Burnett in the video below.