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Carol Burnett

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5 min read

Age & reading levelAdult
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4.5

· 6,252 Amazon ratings
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$18.51 on Amazon
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Our review

This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection

This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection by Carol Burnett Review: A Warm, Witty Memoir from a Legend

by Carol Burnett

This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection is Carol Burnett's memoir published by Harmony Books in April 2010, collecting the anecdotes, friendships, and personal stories she gathered across a legendary career in television and entertainment. Organized as a series of short, self-contained episodes — from her early days stretching pennies in New York to her eleven-year run on The Carol Burnett Show, which won twenty-five Emmys — the book is grounded in the same Q&A format Burnett brought to her live touring show, Laughter and Reflection: A Conversation with Carol. Endorsed warmly by collaborators including Julie Andrews and Tony Bennett, it is reviewed here based on its content and published reception, not hands-on use.

$18.51 on Amazon

LuvemBooks Verdict

Best for

Devoted fans of Carol Burnett and the golden age of American variety television who want an intimate, anecdote-rich companion to her life and career rather than a traditional autobiography.

Worth it if

Worth reading if you want to spend time in Carol Burnett's company — hearing her voice, her comic timing, and her firsthand stories about Jimmy Stewart, Julie Andrews, Lucille Ball, and the making of one of television's most beloved shows.

Skip if

Skip it if you're looking for a sustained, chronological life narrative or a candid reckoning with the harder personal chapters of Burnett's story, as the episodic format and characteristic humor keep the tone consistently light.

Penguin Random House's book page describes the memoir as "touching and hilarious" and "100 percent Carol Burnett — funny, irreverent, and irresistible," while bookaweekwithjen.com notes that listening to the audiobook "is like listening to her on stage," praising the polish of the storytelling throughout.

Sources: Penguin Random House, Book a Week with Jen
4.5from 6,252 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score

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This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection is Carol Burnett's episodic memoir, assembling decades of show-business anecdotes — from Lucille Ball and Cary Grant to the behind-the-scenes legend of The Carol Burnett Show's twenty-five Emmy wins — in the same warm, conversational spirit as her beloved live Q&A touring show. Ideal for fans of golden-age American variety television, the book earns genuine enthusiasm from collaborators like Julie Andrews and Hal Prince and praise for Burnett's "writer's eye for the moment, the detail, the slip that reveals character." Readers seeking a sustained, deeply introspective autobiography may find the deliberately light, anecdote-first structure leaves personal hardships underexplored.
Is it worth reading?
For fans of Carol Burnett, golden-age American variety television, or show-business memoir told with genuine wit, This Time Together delivers exactly what it promises. Published commentary was genuinely enthusiastic: a critic cited by Barnes & Noble praised Burnett's 'writer's eye for the moment, the detail, the slip that reveals character,' and fellow performers Julie Andrews ('I cannot recommend it highly enough') and Hal Prince ('an excellent writer — so spot-on intelligent and hilarious') endorsed it with specific, firsthand enthusiasm. The key caveat is structural: readers expecting a deeply researched, architecturally complex autobiography — or a frank reckoning with the harder chapters of Burnett's life — will find the format intentionally light and fragmentary by design.
Similar books
Readers who enjoy This Time Together's blend of celebrity anecdote, warmth, and show-business insider perspective will find kindred titles among the related books curated below. Making It So: A Memoir by Patrick Stewart similarly chronicles a legendary stage and screen career with humor and specific personal incident. The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man: A Memoir by Paul Newman offers another behind-the-curtain look at a major American entertainment figure. Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey shares the episodic, anecdote-driven structure and the sense of a performer's voice carried directly onto the page. Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir by Matthew Perry provides a candid celebrity memoir for those who want more emotional depth alongside the show-business stories.
Who should read this?
This Time Together is most rewarding for fans of Carol Burnett and of The Carol Burnett Show specifically, as well as readers with a broader interest in the history of American variety television and its golden age. Show-business memoir enthusiasts who enjoy anecdote-driven, personality-forward writing — rather than dense, heavily researched biography — will feel at home with its structure. It is also a natural read for anyone who grew up watching Burnett and Julie Andrews collaborate, or who wants an insider account of working alongside figures like Lucille Ball, Jimmy Stewart, and Cary Grant.
About Carol Burnett
Carol Creighton Burnett is an American comedienne, actress, singer, and writer.
What are the main themes?
The central themes of This Time Together are friendship, professional loyalty, and the shared experience of building a career at the center of American entertainment over several decades. Burnett repeatedly returns to the specific human moments — the prank she and Julie Andrews played that went wrong in front of the First Lady, the time her famous Tarzan yell deterred a mugger — that reveal character more than any general appreciation could. A quieter theme is the intimacy between a performer and her audience: the book's opening frames it as a direct continuation of her live touring show, a space where, as Burnett describes it, 'It's just the audience and me.'
How much covers The Carol Burnett Show?
The Carol Burnett Show is a significant thread running throughout the memoir, though it shares space with Burnett's earlier career and her many celebrity friendships. Readers get the backstory of iconic moments — most notably the full origin of the 'Went with the Wind' sketch, in which Burnett descended a staircase wearing a gown made from a curtain rod — along with behind-the-scenes portraits of the show's production across eleven seasons and twenty-five Emmy wins. For readers drawn to the history of American variety television, this thread functions, as the review notes, as 'an informal institutional history of that era, told from the inside.'
Summarize this book

Summarize this book

This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection grew directly out of Carol Burnett's live touring show, Laughter and Reflection: A Conversation with Carol, in which she fielded unscripted questions from theater audiences. Rather than a chronological autobiography, the memoir is assembled as a series of short, self-contained episodes — each named for a person, place, or moment — covering everything from her early years attending the Rehearsal Club and working Garry Moore's variety show in New York, to the eleven-season run of The Carol Burnett Show on CBS, which earned twenty-five Emmy Awards. Episodes feature firsthand stories involving Jimmy Stewart, Lucille Ball, Cary Grant, Julie Andrews, and Alfred Hitchcock, among others, and include fan-favorite backstories like the full origin of the 'Went with the Wind' curtain-rod gown sketch. The publisher describes the result as 'touching and hilarious' and '100 percent Carol Burnett — funny, irreverent, and irresistible.'

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Our Review

This review covers the book's content, premise and published critical reception, not a first-hand reading.

This Time Together is a memoir shaped by one of American television's most enduring performers, and its published reception confirms that the warmth and wit of Carol Burnett's stage presence carries directly onto the page.

What the Book Actually Is

This Time Together grew directly out of Burnett's live touring show, Laughter and Reflection: A Conversation with Carol, in which she fielded unscripted questions from theater audiences across the country. That conversational DNA defines the book's structure: rather than a chronological, chapter-by-chapter autobiography, it is assembled as a series of short, episodic memories — each one self-contained, anecdote-driven, and rooted in a specific person, place, or moment.
The table of contents reads like a scrapbook: "Jimmy Stewart," "Alfred Hitchcock and the Epaulets," "The Dress," "Nanny's Visit to New York," "Fans," and dozens more. The publisher describes the result as "touching and hilarious" and "100 percent Carol Burnett — funny, irreverent, and irresistible."

The World Burnett Brings Back to Life

The memoir's richest material lies in Burnett's accounts of the celebrity friendships and professional relationships she accumulated over decades at the center of American entertainment. She writes about Jimmy Stewart, Lucille Ball, Cary Grant, and Julie Andrews, among many others, grounding each portrait in a specific incident rather than a general appreciation.
The behind-the-scenes story of the "Went with the Wind" sketch — the moment she swept down a staircase wearing a gown made from curtain rod and all — is given its full backstory. Other episodes track the prank she and Julie Andrews played that went wrong in front of the First Lady, the time her famous Tarzan yell deterred a mugger, and the elaborate ruse she constructed involving a faked wooden leg to secure service at a celebrated ice cream parlor.
These are the kinds of stories that belong to a singular show-business life, and the book is organized to deliver them with maximum comic timing.

Critical and Peer Reception

Published commentary on This Time Together was genuinely enthusiastic. The Barnes & Noble review excerpt draws on a critic who wrote that Burnett's "short memories, of the people she met and interviewed over the years, on- and off-camera, bring it back — the golden age of variety shows," adding that "Burnett has a writer's eye for the moment, the detail, the slip that reveals character."
Fellow performers were equally forthcoming: Julie Andrews stated, "I cannot recommend it highly enough." Hal Prince called Burnett "an excellent writer — so spot-on intelligent and hilarious."
Tony Bennett offered that the book made him feel "every American family prays that they can have someone as lovely as Carol as their next door neighbor." That those endorsements come from collaborators who knew the events firsthand gives them a particular weight.

The Career It Documents

The memoir is also a chronicle of The Carol Burnett Show, the CBS variety program that ran for eleven seasons and won twenty-five Emmy Awards, reaching millions of viewers each week. Burnett traces the arc from her early years in New York — attending the Rehearsal Club, working Garry Moore's variety show, stretching limited finances, performing in Once Upon a Mattress under director George Abbott — through to the heights of network television.
For readers who grew up watching the show or who are drawn to the history of American variety television, this thread of the book functions as an informal institutional history of that era, told from the inside.

Who This Book Is For — and Where It Has Limits

This Time Together is designed for readers who want proximity to Burnett's voice and personality rather than a densely researched or architecturally complex autobiography. Its episodic, anecdote-first structure is its greatest asset for fans, but readers seeking a sustained narrative — a deep examination of Burnett's creative process, the business of television, or the personal difficulties she references only in passing — may find the format intentionally light.
The book's own opening passage describes the live show format that inspired it: "It's just the audience and me. The evening lasts ninety minutes." That intimacy is what the memoir replicates.
It is, by design, a companion piece from a performer to her audience — generous, accessible, and crafted in the spirit of shared laughter.

Sources & Further Reading

The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.

  1. 1
    Carol Burnett — author profile

    Carol Burnett, LuvemBooks

  2. 2
    This time together : laughter and reflection : Burnett, Carol : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

    archive.org

  3. 3
    This Time Together, Laughter and Reflection by Carol Burnett | website

    garysvintagebooks.com

  4. 4
    Book 4 of 52: This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection by Carol Burnett - Book a Week with Jen

    bookaweekwithjen.com

  5. 5
    This Time Together (Burnett)

    litlovers.com

  6. 6
    This Time Together by Carol Burnett: 9780307461193 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

    penguinrandomhouse.com

  7. 7
    This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection by Carol Burnett, Paperback | Barnes & Noble®

    barnesandnoble.com

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One More Time: My Story

Carol Burnett

Burnett's earlier memoir covers her turbulent childhood and rise to fame — the backstory that makes the anecdotes in This Time Together land deeper.

Where This Time Together skips lightly between career highlights, One More Time goes back to Burnett's hardscrabble childhood in Depression-era Los Angeles, tracing the poverty and family dysfunction that shaped her resilience and humor. Readers who found the later book charming but craving more emotional depth will find it here. It's a natural companion read — the origin story to the success story.

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Another beloved TV comedy star reflecting on a long career, though Perry's tone is rawer — a good next step for readers who wanted more emotional honesty.

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The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man: A Memoir

Paul Newman

Hollywood-era reflection from a Golden Age icon, organized around candid personal vignettes — matches the insider warmth and self-deprecating tone Burnett fans love.

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No Time Like the Future

Michael J Fox

A beloved TV comedy star balancing humor and hard-earned life wisdom in a short, anecdote-rich book — tonal near-twin to Burnett's format and spirit.

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The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir

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Hollywood insider stories told with warmth and wit across a sweeping career — shares Burnett's sense that the best stories live in the relationships, not the fame.

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Greenlights

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If Burnett's gentle, anecdotal style felt too breezy, McConaughey's memoir offers the same episodic format but with wilder stories, philosophical detours, and a bigger emotional swing.