LOL!!! Love it when Eunice says to Ed "I haven't gone on yet you moron. Now put that old witch back on the phone!"... I die at her facial expression!! ROFL!!!
In response to John Hintergardt's comment "WELCOME TO THE CLUB." Thanks to this series of sketches which later followed up with Mama's Family that was more than enough to get me an A+ and perfect test scores in Abnormal Psychology and for my shrink to commit suicide less than a week after I talked to him. Just goes to show we have a responsibility to protect the professional community since they are unable to handle reality like the rest of us.
Eunice: Mama, don't you ever read? Chili dogs are all the rage in Hollywood. Merv Griffin threw a party and Pia Zadora put away six of these suckers. ...LOL!...ROFL!
I remember when I was a child I used to think Carol Burnett played Thelma Harper's character. I thought Thelma and Eunice was played by the same person and obviously I was wrong but I later found out that Vicki Lawrence was hired on The Carol Burnett show mainly because of her striking resemblance of Carol Burnett. Funny how that works.
Burnett modeled Eunice and Mamma after her own mother and grandmother's really (extremely) unhappy relationship. This is clear in Burnett's autobiography "One More Time." Carol Burnett was not close to her mother either, and perhaps the Family sketches were a way of dealing with her own pain. Given the circumstances I can understand why you wouldn't like these sketches.
Feels to me that Mama in Mama's Family is different from her character in the Eunice Sketches...maybe it's change of perspective since the show is called Mama's Family, and probably her version of the events. Mama seems more spite and hateful in the Eunice sketches then she does in Mama's family to me, especially as the show went on.
Remember that Mama's Family is a spin-off from the Family sketches that originated on the Carol Burnett Show in the mid-1970s. The majority of the clips seen here are takem from the Carol Burnett Show, not Mama's Family. In the sketches, the focus is on Eunice and her dysfunctional relationship with Mama, who was originally an emotionally abusive, narcissistic, hateful old dragon, not the lovable eccentric of Mama's Family.
Believe it or not, Eunice's ranting about having "big fat awful boys" was written by Dick Clair and Jenna McMahon. Carol Burnett knew Eunice so well that the writers' words seem to flow spontaneously from her.
I think I must be defective. I love Carol Burnette! I love Mama's Family! However, Eunice does nothing but break my heart. I always thought she was such a broken, tragic, disillusioned character. When other people were laughing. I was just feeling horrible for the character. Did anyone else have similar feelings about that particular character?
I saw the Family sketches when they were first telecast in the 1970s. I was in my early teens, and I reacted very much as you did. The sketch that really hit home was when Eunice went on the Gong Show. It just seemed so cruel for Eunice to have her dreams destroyed on national television. However, watching these again at a distance of forty-odd years, I see them with a clearer eye. While Eunice is deeply wounded by her emotionally abusive upbringing, she does nothing to attempt to heal and grow toward wholeness. Rather, she constantly pours salt into her own wounds and 'scratches the itch' of her misery, bringing up ancient disputes with her mother and her sister, as well as myriad imagined slights at the hands of all and sundry. Eunice may not be the author of her own unhappiness, but she certainly enjoys wallowing in it.
Jason Hurd I agree with what you said with but one exception. I don't think she enjoys wallowing in it. I don't think she has the strength or the emotional tools to even know how to get out of the hole she is in. It's all she has ever known. I'm now 59 and am still as heart broken by her as I ever was. Yes, I understand she is a character on a wonderful set of shows. Unfortunately I have known some very sad real individuals in my life with many of Eunice's traits. In most cases they just didn't really comprehend any other way of being. So sad! Thanks for your insightful reply to my original comment.
When I saw these in the 70s, I thought they were a riot. The Family skits just seemed so far fetched for me. It wasn't till years later watching these as an adult that I saw them in a different light. The sad thing is that there are families actually like this.
I once watched this with a friend. She was laughing and i had tears rolling down my face. She asked what was wrong and i told her how i feel for Eunice. I always start feeling emotional everytime i watch those skits
My sister and I watched this show back in the late 70s. The sketches would have us rolling on the floor with laughter. Except for these "Family" sketches. Our parents broke up when I was 6, mother got custody of us. She was a mentally ill, abusive monster. When Eunice yelled or scrunched up her face in anger, she was the spitting image of mother. My sister and I used to sit through these Family sketches completely stone faced. I dont recall any of them eliciting a single laugh from either of us.
I subscribed to your channel based on this video alone. The Family sketches were my favorite part of The Carol Burnett Show when I was growing up, and it is a delight to see many of Eunice's most outrageous moments all together in one place, along with that hideous old Gorgon Mama. Thank you so much!
I used to think Euince was such a flake until I became wiser and began to observe how she was mocked and insulted constantly by her family. Her Ma has a tough no nonsense approach to life and she was Not a bad mom but she had a mean mouth on her and Eunice always got the rough side of her tongue. Plus her obvious favortism of her other daughter while she let her boys slide and was hard on Eunice would made any one frustrated and nuetoric.
What you say is very interesting. Carol Burnett has commented that there were no jokes per se in the Family sketches as written. In fact she said once during one of the rehearsals they played one of those sketches completely straight and it was very chilling. I think it was the sketch where they met with Eunice's son's teacher --- the one where Eunice says she wasn't meant to have boys.
MAMA’S FAMILY was never as funny as the original FAMILY sketches. It was supposed to be a show with the whole family that Carol had envisioned. But Joe Hamilton (whom Carol was divorcing at the time) put MAMA’S FAMILY together and signed Vicki Lawrence first, just to spite Carol. This led to a temporary estrangement between Carol and Vicki, and left the series without its one crucial element - Carol Burnett and her portrayal of Eunice, though she did come back later.
Love mama's family just wish they would bring these old shows back on the aire it would be so. great. There is nothing better than watching this show every evening when I get off work to make me smile.
Actually Betty White was offered the role of Blanche in "The Golden Girls" but she asked to play Rose. Similarly Rue McClanahan was the one that was originally considered for Rose, but she felt she'd just be repeating the part she played on "Maude." The original director also didn't want Rue to do the Southern accent to the extent that she eventually ended up doing. This director was gone after the first episode.
hahahahahahaha this is comedy stuff because there is plenty to laugh about when someone has a loser attitude, its just funny hahahaha the envy the angry screams the gestures Carol is a comedy genius thats true she learned everything from Lucille Ball and perfected it
Eunice was the best, when her and mama got together it was brilliant. I wish she had a bigger part in the show, just a little bit more. Maybe 10 episodes total more. Too much Eunice doesnt work and would likely get annoying, kinda like Wanda Sykes.
