It's about time Carol Burnett had an award named after her.
During the 76th Golden Globes on Sunday, Burnett accepted the inaugural Carol Burnett Award, a new honor established by the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. to celebrate lifetime achievement in television.
"I guess I'll have to keep my name now," she joked to Ryan Seacrest on the red carpet.
Steve Carell presented the award, noting Burnett's numerous milestones and that "half a century later [she] remains the gold standard for comedy."
"I'm really gobsmacked by this," Burnett said onstage. "Does this mean I get to accept it every year?"
In her heartfelt acceptance speech, Burnett, 85, remembered how her first love was the movies, and she'd see six or eight a week before her family finally got a TV when she was a teenager. And then she had a new love
"Regardless of the medium, what fascinated me was the way the stars on the screen could make people laugh or cry. Or sometimes both," she said. "And I wished and I hoped that maybe, just maybe, someday I could have the chance to do the same thing. Well, those childhood dreams came true."
"Sometimes I catch myself daydreaming about being young again and doing it all over," she went on. "And then I bring myself up short when I realize how incredibly fortunate I was to be there at the right time. Because what we did then couldn't be done today.
"Here's to reruns and YouTube," she joked.
"But what has remained the same for every person who is lucky enough to be on television is the belief that we've been given an opportunity to do something special. We've been granted a gift, a canvas to paint with our talent."
It's fitting that the new Golden Globe TV accolade is named after the veteran actress and TV personality. A five-time Globe winner for her groundbreaking "The Carol Burnett Show," Burnett is the most decorated honoree of all time on the TV side, as Carrell noted in his introduction of Burnett.
Burnett's past accomplishments also include induction into the Television Hall of Fame, the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, Kennedy Center Honors, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Emmy Awards and even a Grammy.
