Comedy icon and actor Carol Burnett was honoured as the eponymous winner of the first-ever award in her name at this year's Golden Globes, where she paid an emotional tribute to television.
Burnett, a five-time Golden Globe winner, said she was "gobsmacked" to receive the inaugural Carol Burnett Award. In her speech, the actor talked about the effort it took to put on her variety show, that ran for 11 seasons starting 1967.
"Sometimes I catch myself daydreaming about being young again and doing it all over. Then I bring myself up sharp when I realise how incredibly fortunate I was to be there at the right time," she said.
She dedicated the award to "all those who made my dreams come true and to all those out there who share the love I have for television and who yearn to be part of this unique medium who has been so good to me."
"I'm just happy our show happened when it did and I can look back and say once more, I'm so glad we had this time together," Burnett added. Burnett also made a point of calling out major networks for failing to invest in high-end variety shows.
“Nothing like our show, and I might add other variety shows at the time, could ever see the light of day today because the networks just wouldn’t spend the money,” Burnett said. “And because there are so many cable competitors, they are not going to take a chance. And sad to say today’s audiences might never know what they are so here’s to reruns and YouTube.”
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), which conducts the Globes, announced last month it was establishing a new award named for the TV icon.
Burnett is one of the most celebrated actors in comedy.
She has previously received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2003, earned the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2013 and received a Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015.
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