Carol Burnett Talks About Guest Stint on “Glee”

I'm sure many fans of the Carol Burnett show are looking forward to Carol Burnett's guest appearance on Glee as Sue Sylvester’s Nazi hunter mom as much as I am.

Carol Burnett chatted with TV Guide about her Glee guest stint. Here is an excerpt:

TV Guide Magazine: You’ve played a lot of mothers before, but probably not a lot of Nazi hunters.
Burnett: Let me think back now [laughs] — this must be a first. I knew I was going to play [Sue's] mother, but somebody said, “You have to go on the Internet and see about your character!” I looked it up on the Internet and that’s when I found out I was a former Nazi hunter. I started to laugh. At least she was on our side!

TV Guide Magazine: Describe Doris Sylvester.
Burnett: She’s retired. They caught the last Nazi. You get the idea where Sue got her temperament from. This mother makes Sue Sylvester look like Mother Teresa.

TV Guide Magazine: You and Jane Lynch sing “Ohio” from the musical Wonderful Town. Who’s idea was that?
Burnett: My husband and I were having dinner and he said, “Why don’t you do ‘Ohio,’ since your character’s coming back to [the show's setting of] Ohio? You could sing, ‘Why, oh why, oh why, oh — did I ever leave Ohio?’” I talked to [Glee co-creator] Ryan Murphy — and nobody [at the show] knew the song because they’re all so young. I said, “Listen to it and see what you think.” They thought it was great. It’s funny, [later] they called my assistant and said, “We’re going to send over the music. We don’t know if Miss Burnett knows this song or not.” [Laughs]

TV Guide Magazine: Tell me about working with Jane Lynch.
Burnett: I love locking eyeballs with her because she is a consummate comedian. She knows exactly how to say it and whether or not it will land — and it does every time. And Jane can really sing. In this duet she does the harmony, so it doesn’t show off her voice the way it should. But I think they should give her major singing [scenes] because she’s really musical.

TV Guide Magazine: And the other cast members?
Burnett: All of my scenes were with Jane. [But] during a break I watched them do a tribute to “Singin’ in the Rain.” I said, “My God, it really is like going back to the good old days with Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire.” All the kids were wonderful and Matt [Morrison] was dancing up a storm and [guest star] Gwyneth Paltrow was terrific.

TV Guide Magazine: Will you do just this one guest spot?
Burnett: I’m going back again for another episode. I have no idea what I’m going to be doing, but I trust them.