The Peabody Awards, considered the highest honor in television (and based in the University of Georgia’s journalism and mass communication program), have decided to award their first-ever career achievement honor to Carol Burnett.
Burnett will be celebrated May 19, 2018, alongside the regular annual recipients of Peabody Awards in New York City.
“Carol Burnett is one of the all-time greats of television comedy. Her wit and talent set the bar for women in entertainment,” said Jeffrey P. Jones, executive director of Peabody. “Suffice it to say there would be no Gilda Radner, Julia Louis-Dreyfus or Tina Fey without her blazing the trail. We are pleased to celebrate the many contributions of a beloved TV icon.”
She already won a personal Peabody Award in 1962. Her citation then: “In a world that needs laughter today more than ever before, Carol Burnett has emerged in the past year as one of television’s funniest, and most highly acclaimed, comediennes. Already a star of the first magnitude, she promises to give untold enjoyment to the world of television for years to come. May her tribe increase!”
That was five years before she launched the legendary and iconic sketch comedy revue, The Carol Burnett Show, in 1967.
Burnett is back in the spotlight in 2018, as host of the upcoming Netflix series, A Little Help with Carol Burnett, where children provide the help and advice to various adults.