>> rose: welcome to the program. on this labor day, we bring you an encore presentation of my conversations with three interesting women -- gloria steinem, carol burnett and peggy noonan. >> in the original cultures in which reproduction was naturally controlled by women because it's our health concern, it's our bodies and so on, there were somewhat gender-assigned tasks, like women might be in charge of agriculture and men might hunt but they were regarded as equal, and so, we did not start with division. we saw other people as -- the paradigm was a circle, not a pyramid, and we saw human beings as linked rather than ranked. >> a wonderful columnist told me

that some time back, he said, did you have trouble finding your voice? i said, no, i worried after working for reagan, such a vivid presence and such a vivid-sounding human that i would have trouble getting back to my own sound, but then i wrote my first book immediately after working for ronald reagan and i had no problem at all sounding like me. i inescapably sound like me. to the extent i have a voice, it's my voice. >> i had a sense of humor, but i never really explored it, you know, in school or anything. in fact, i was pretty much of a nerd and quiet, a good student. i wanted to be a journalist, and i wanted to write, and, so, when i got to u.c.l.a., i wanted to major in journalism, but there was no school of journalism. i could take a course and join

the daily bruin, but i looked in the catalog and >> rose: funding for "charlie rose" has been provided by the following: >> and by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and information services worldwide. captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. >> rose: gloria steinem is here. she is, as you know, a feminist icon, a writer, an inspiration to generations of women and men. she has led an extraordinary life of activism, adventure and writing. "my life on the road" is her

first book in more than 20 years. it reflects on her decades of traveling and championing women's rights. in 2013 she received the presidential medal of freedom from president obama. i am pleased to have her back at this table. welcome. >> thank you so much. >> rose: is there any award you have not received? >> oh, tons, i'm sure. and the presidential medal of freedom depends for its honor on the president you get it from. >> rose: yes. i mean, you might not have been given it by another president. >> well, fortunately. i mean, henry hyde, who probably has damaged more women's lives than any other single person -- >> rose: congressman from illinois. >> yes, was given a medal of freedom. so it meant a lot to me because it came from president obama. >> rose: so how do you think he's doing? >> well, you know, i have such respect and empathy for him

because he's dealing with an ultra right wing that, if they had cancer and he had the cure, they wouldn't accept it. i mean, i have never seen -- >> rose: that's a nice turn of phrase. you believe that? >> i believe that. i believe that. i think the hatred is so huge that, although it's certainly not the majority of the country at all, you know, it's maybe 20, 30% tops, but it has a lot of influence, and i admire him because he is always trying to talk, trying to reach out, some people would say too much, but i think that's the kind of fault to have. >> rose: and some people say not enough, they do. >> i don't know, i -- did not use the office inhat that way in reaching out enough. >> well, that has to do with the social criticism, that he's not -- >> rose: yeah, exactly. -- a guy who drinks beer and plays poker. >> rose: play off the notion

that ronald reagan and tip o'neil would at the end of the business day do battle and at night have a scotch and try to talk about the world. >> they did. >> rose: that's true. i can imagine tip o'neal doing it, but not because he was obdurate. he just didn't care about that much detail. he was reading off his california cards. >> rose: ronald reagan wrote a lot of things. he used to write all those speeches. you can like them or not. but it gives him some pride of authorship. >> you have resurrected an ancient memory of fact that ronald reagan actually, as president of the united states, called me in paris. you know, my office -- >> rose: as president. as president. my office said, the president --

i said, oh, you can make up something better than that, but it turned out to be true, and he was making calls that arguably should not have been made by a secretary in the white house, and he was making them himself to ask people to do television ads about products -- by-products of the space program that were important on their own. >> rose: yes. so he was asking me to do one with charlton heston. >> rose: would have been hard for you. >> i did it? because of his support of the n.r.a., i thought -- >> no, no, it was terrible. but i called jesse jackson and he said, people like i should really do this. >> rose: so ronald reagan reached out to gloria steinem. >> right. and i tried to keep making him laugh on the phone about how unlikely this was. i could not. he had a script and was there telling me about this movie that made western movies, you will love him, and stuff like that.

it was a realistic experience. >> rose: how long did the conversation last, four or five minutes? >> yeah, more than that, probably. but it was a minor thing, you know, that he -- the people in control were doing policy, and he was making trivial phone calls. >> rose: but you're an important person, so it's natural -- >> no, he was making all the phone calls. >> rose: where are gender roles least polarized? >> in oldest cultures. in the native american cultures, the quay, africa -- >> rose: less gender conflict in the oldest cultures? >> yes. >> rose: why is that? their languages, by and large, don't even have he and she as gendered pronounce. people are people. what a concept. >> rose: the dismounts. the qua and asan who are relatives of all of us, the native american and cherokee, for instance, in this country,

the language does not have he or she or the word nature because we're not separate from nature. in the original cultures in which reproduction was naturally controlled by women because it's our health concern, it's our bodies and so on, there were somewhat gender-assigned tasks, like women might be in charge of agriculture and men might hunt, but they were regarded as equal, and, so, we did not start with division. we saw other people as -- the paradigm was a circle, not a pyramid, and we saw human beings as linked rather than ranked. >> rose: if you had to make one last speech, and the subject was look how far we've come and

look how far we have to go, what would you say? >> well, to the first question, how far we've come, i would say we know we're not crazy, we know the system is crazy, this is big. >> rose: yes, it is. and to how far we have to go, i would say we have a long way to go because we need to stop dividing each other up by labels and thinking -- >> rose: you mean in the culture generally or among women? >> no, in the culture generally. >> rose: okay. that you and i share more as human beings than separates us because of sex or gender, way more. >> rose: yes. way more. >> rose: yes. all right. so why do we focus so much on these adjectives that are used to divide us by gender, by race, by class, by caste in india?

it's all about controlling reproduction in order to create and control and continue these hierarchical systems. >> rose: okay, so the answer as to why do we do this, it's to continue the hierarchical systems? >> yes. right. and you can see when some started, that is -- there is a wonderful book that calls exterminate all the roots which is aligned from heart of darkness, and it traces the invention of racism to justify colonialism. the whole idea of racial separateness -- >> rose: justifies colonialism. >> in order to justify colonialism. and where did that come from? that came from, i'm sure an historian would go crazy from my overgeneralization -- but the institution of patriarchal systems in europe caused

overpopulation, caused colonialism to go off and invade other people's lands and so on and so on, and in order to justify that you had to say these people are inferior, you're almost doing them a favor, you know, they can't adapt to the future. there came to be all these theories with skull measurements and all kinds of craziness that proved racial inferiority and were 100% wrong. so, you know, we have to undo that, and it's not easy because, as the old cultures will tell us, it takes four generations to heal one act of violence. >> rose: four generations to heal one act of violence? >> that's their cautionary note when they're choosing -- if they may feel they have to be violent out of self-defense, but you're way less likely to do it capriciously if you understand that if you normalize it in one generation, then you grow up -- you know, because we as human

beings have this enormous, long period of dependency because, you know, 80% of our brains develop outside the mother's body in culture. o the good news is that we're adaptable and the species survives, and the bad news is we're adaptable so we can come to believe that race and gender and hierarchy are real. >> rose: that they're real divisions? >> yes, and that we need to conquer nature when, in fact, we are part of nature. so, you know, there is a long way to go. but at least we have a vision of it and at least we understand that the way we are currently organized only accounts for maybe 5% of human history. >> rose: and where -- and it's not inevitable. >> rose: so where is the cutting edge of change? >> well, hopefully, at this table. >> rose: yes. ( laughter ) we try mightily.

>> it's a round table. >> rose: right. and no squares are allowed. ( laughter ) >> right. >> rose: no, where is the cutting edge of change? >> well, you know, it depends what we're actually looking at, you know. i mean, some people would say the web because it is a democratic network -- >> rose: and personalized. -- that skips over the divisions that we're accustomed to. >> rose: and gender is not identified. >> but we have to be cautious about the web because it is also divisive because of how many people are illiterate, how many people have electricity and how many people have access. it can be polarizing. >> on the other hand, it's liberating not only because it brings knowledge to an extraordinary -- >> an extraordinary number of people, but here's the other -- we just -- you know, it's not that it's not great.

it is great but we have to understand its limitations and, in addition to the fact that it leaves out, you know, millions upon millions of people and polarizes to some extent, it also does not allow us to empathize with each other. we can get information from it, and this is great, and we can find each other, and this is great. but to empathize, you need to be present when all five senses -- with all five senses like at this table. >> rose: to empathize. to empathize. i asked my friendly neurologist -- >> rose: your neurologist or neuroscientist? >> well, both. to produce oxytocin, which is the hormone that allows us to not just know but to empathize, to feel -- >> rose: a hormone called

oxytocin causes us to empathize and feel? can you get that and add to someone who's not empathetic? >> well, for instance, when a male or female holds a child, we're flooded with oxytocin, it allows us to bond. but it requires it to be present with all five senses. as much as i love books, you don't get it in the printed page, and you don't get it on the screen. you know, i have a dream. here's my dream. >> rose: i want to know. we should have a satellite with -- right away with radio programs in every language that can be heard by somebody on the ground with a wind-up radio, don't even need electricity. >> rose: windup computers. well, electricity, but you still need to be literate. >> rose: right. so that would be an even more democratic means of

communication. it's one of my many dreams. >> rose: tell me more, ms. steinem. you've come to the right place to share your dreams. >> oh, well me -- oh, tell me more... okay. here's another one. all the people who are talking about climate change and global warming, for which i'm very grateful -- >> rose: most are in paris as we speak. >> yes, i'm very, very grateful -- would remember the pressure of unwanted population is the first root of the basis of climate change. now, unfortunately, the people in the old days who used to talk about population control -- >> rose: the presence of unwanted people -- >> yeah, overpopulation. >> rose: right. -- is -- >> rose: oh, i see, overpopulation. >> overpopulation. >> rose: okay.

people, pre the women's movement3that talked about population control, unfortunately talked about it in a racial way that focused on other countries and made racial assumptions, and that has given it a third-rail aspect, so now we don't talk about the fact that there are, what, 8,000 more people on earth every minute or so, and there's, like, you know, hundreds of millions of women who want desperately because it's a health concern for us to be able to limit births but it's suppressed by religions and culture and so on and they cannot do what in old cultures was understood with herbs and abortifations and so on. >> rose: were you impressed with what mark zuckerberg has done, taking time off, paternity

leave. >> no, i think that's great. >> rose: someone as prominent and young and wealthy and heroic to people who worship the god of technology? >> it's great because how men get to be whole people with all their human qualities is being raised to raise children or raising children. >> rose: how we become -- whole people, yeah, because the qualities that are wrongly called feminine and are just human are empathy, attention to detail, patience, flexibility, that's what you need to raise kids, and men who aren't raised in that way get to be hypermasculine, and they -- and some of them -- >> rose: yeah, some of them. -- but seriously, some of them, because of the crime we've just seen in california, some of them create crimes i would call supremacy crimes. they have no gain, nothing. they're not going to gain money when they are domestically violent. they are not going to gain

something when they're racist cops. they're not going to gain something when they go into a theater or post office and just shoot random strangers. >> rose: it doesn't add anything to their value. >> no. and in a lot of cases of domestic abuse, they may kill their family and kill themselves. they are getting absolutely nothing out of it except they have become addicted to control. they are addicted to saying, you know, powerfully, i can kill you, this is the ultimate proof of my control, and we should call them what they are which is supremacy crimes. and in this country -- >> rose: i have control of your life. >> yes, and that is hypermasculinity. they got born into this culture, they didn't make it up. >> rose: you know what the interesting thing is today, in san bernardino, this is the first time they have begun to

see couples. >> yes, that is the very first time. up until this time in this country, in general, these people who commit these crazed crimes of killing strangers or their own families have been, like, 98% -- well, 100% male, up to now, white, and not poor. they are exactly the people who are most likely to get hooked into -- get hooked on the drug of control, that they're not real men, they're not real people unless they control others to the degree even of going against -- >> rose: to the degree of violence. >> right. >> rose: back to nurturing and what it does for a male. do you regret not having children? >> no, not for a milli millisec. >> rose: not for a

millisecond. >> but i was raised for children. >> rose: help me to understand why you say not for a millisecond because i mean it in -- >> no, i understand. as a friend of mine once said, there is no more reason why everybody with a womb should have children -- >> rose: i saw that -- -- wait a minute, than why everybody with vocal chords should be an opera singer. it's a gift. >> rose: okay. and we nurture in different ways. >> rose: i understand. and it's possible in my case that because my mother and i were reversed in our roles to a certain extent, that i was looking after her as a young person, and sometimes i was the parent and she was the child that maybe, you know, that that's why i feel like i did that. i have no idea, you know. i'm really not sure. i just know i'm happy. >> rose: one of the things they say is all of a sudden you realize it's not about you.

you don't have to look at child bearing to feel that way. >> especially if you're a female because you're raised for sacrifice. if you say, what movie do you want to go to, i'm raised to say, i don't know, what movie do you want to go to? >> rose: i don't know if you do though. >> i try not to. >> rose: but i think empathy, in part, is to say i'm interested in where you want to go. >> to be unable to feel you shouldn't, is it's unfeminine to voice your opinion is a problem. and by and large, the golden rule was written by a very smart guy for guys -- ( laughter ) -- but by and large, women need to reverse it. we need to learn to treat ourselves as well as we treat other people. >> rose: aren't we doing better on that? >> yeah. we're not crazy. we know we're not crazy. this is huge.

>> rose: why did it take you 18 years to write this? >> because i was doing it every summer and then going back on the road. ( laughter ) and actually it got much too long and two wonderful friends of mine, suzanne lavine and amy richards, took machetes and cut it down. >> rose: oh, you mean -- yeah, because it was too long. >> rose: it was a thousand pages and they cut it down to -- >> well, i don't know, but it was too long. in these days, thanks to the web, you can put what you cut out on the web. >> rose: that's what you did? no, not yet. i will. >> rose: oh, look. here's a picture of you. look at this. >> yeah, that's a very typical picture. ( laughter ) but there is the dedication. >> rose: i'm going to read it. "this book is dedicated to dr. john sharp of london who in 1957, a decade before physicians

in england could legally perform an abortion for any reason other than the health of the woman, took the considerable risk of referring for an abortion a 22-year-old american on her way to india, knowing only that she hd broken an engagement at home to seek an unknown fate, he said. you must promise me two things. first, you will not tell anyone my name. second, you will do what you want to do with your life ." this is powerful. "dear dr. sharp. i believe you who knew the law was unjust would not mind if i say this so long after your death, i've done the best i could with my life ." >> right, this book is for you. >> rose: good for you. i'm gladder every day that i dedicated it that way. >> rose: nice to have you here. >> thank you. >> rose: gloria steinem, the book is called "my life on the

road." we'll be right back. >> rose: peggy noonan is here, columnist for the "wall street journal" and author of nine books on american pol ticks -- s and culture. her book is called a time of our lives, chronicling of her time in the white house where she was the president's speech writer. pleased to welcome a colleague of cbs back to the table, peggy noonan. welcome. >> thank you, charlie. >> rose: "the time of our lives," why that title? >> because it's derived from an observation that we have to remember each day we are living not only our own lives but the life of our times. you're part of something big, you've got to be part of it. >> rose: how do you put something together like this? do you look for themes? do you look to divide it

chronologically? >> we thought of all different ways. this is what i decided to do -- i wanted to collect the things i had written over 30 years, there is some old cbs stuff -- >> rose: you used to write radio scripts for dan rather. >> and radi radio news. i had all my work in big white boxes in the back of closets and warehouses. i got it altogether, surrounded myself by the work in my house. i started going through everything i had written and i found it naturally divided itself into themes and topics. and i love this, and i don't know about this and i hate this. >> rose: is it different, and i wod assume it is, if you're writing for ronald reagan, you're writing for his voice, and if you're writing for others, you're writing for their voices. >> yes. >> rose: you're writing for your voice when you're writing a

column. >> yes, my essays and own commentaries and columns are what writers do. it comes out of your head, heart and you sound like yourself because you are yourself. you don't have to channel -- >> rose: but as a writer, finding your voice is a crucial ingredient of great writing. >> a wonderful columnist told me that some time back. h he said to me, did you have trouble finding your voice? i said, no, i worried after working for reagan such a vivid presence and vivid sounding human that i would have trouble getting back to my own sound but then i wrote my first book immediately after working for ronald reagan and i had no problem at all sounding like me because i am me. i inescapably sound like me. so to ticket tent i have a voice, it's just my voice. >> rose: who edits you? a wonderful man for 15 years at the wrowrchl, james toronto, who is also a writer.

>> rose: a what does he add or subtract? >> he looks at what i've wrifn and will sometimes question things and say, peggy, i'm not sure about this. >> rose: both content and style? >> it's primarily factual content. james is very much the person who will say that didn't happen in the winter of 2012, it happened in the early spring of 2012. but he also, i think, just sort of looks out for me. you can make mistakes of judgment that to you seem just an honest point of view that is just correct and james will sometimes say, really? okay. are you sure? and just james saying are you sure will make me think, okay, am i sure? >> rose: i've never seen somebody who couldn't use a good editor. >> if you don't have a good editor, you'll get in trouble and you won't have as much fun. editors become friends. >> rose: the great bill sapphire, wrote a column for the

"new york times" and before that a writer for richard nixon. >> yes, a speech writer for nixon. >> rose: what did you learn from him? >> he was wonderful. when i went in washington in 1984 from cbs, i knew nobody, and he took me under his arm a little bit and he was sort of an advice person. did i say that the right way? took me under his shoulder. >> rose: bob bartley, former opinion page editor of the "wall street journal." >> called me up, after i worked at the reagan white house had me write op-ed pieces for the "wall street journal" now and then. then in 2002 he called me and said there is a new thing called the internet and the journal will have internet editorial page and columnists, will you be one? and i said, light heartedly, yes, not knowing it would become a large part of my life. he made an offer and i said, can

we add 10% so i will feel like i drove a hard bargain? he said, yes. >> rose: you should have said 50%. >> well, you're right. i should have had you there. >> rose: no. and jane jane. who is jane jane? >> jane jane is my great aunt jane jane, my maternal grandfather's sister who had a great impact on me when i was a child. i spent a great deal of time with her in the summers at a very quiet and lonely little home out in long island and learned much about life from her. >> rose: if i read all your columns, what would i know about peggy noonan? >> ooh... >> rose: i know she's a good writer. i know she's passionate about politics, and -- >> i love politics. i've come to terms with that as i put the book together. i never told people before putting together the book i love politics.

but i saw my love for the greatness game over 30 years' time, the excitement of it. i think you probably know i am a christian of the catholic variety. you would probably know i'm a woman living in new york. there is a lot of walking the streets of manhattan and brooklyn there. you would know i am a conservative. >> rose: what kind of conservative are you? >> well, that is the subject of a column coming up at some point. >> rose: it is also an emerging question in this political debate that the republicans are having. >> yes. look, let me jump. i think something really huge and fund meant is happening this year on the republican side in politics. in 1976, ronald reagan went up against gerald ford to decide one question, will the republican party be conservative, that's it. will it be moderate, liberal or conservative.

1980 landslide, 1984 reagan landslide answered the question, the modern republican party will be conservative. this year, 2016, going into 2016, i think we are answering the question, what does conservatism mean? what does conservative mean in the 21st century? and the entire republican party is having a roll about it and conservatives have been having a roll about it for a while as you know. >> rose: do you see it as part of your responsibility to help reps define what it means to be conservative in 2015-2016? >> no. i think it is, in part, my responsibility or my joy to share my thoughts about this, about where conservatism should be going, where the party should be going, but i don't feel the pressure of being a guide or a guru. >> rose: because of barry goldwater and ronald reagan, and

bill buckley and then barry goldwater and then ronald reagan, reagan was what was called a movement conservative. >> yeah. >> rose: does that still exist? >> it does, but even that is a bit fractured. i mean, one of the unlucky, lucky things about the old conservatism in america was that there were so few of them that they could agree on three or four essential items. government spending should be lower, not higher, taxes lower not higher, regulation lower not higher. it's all a lilt more complicated now. it became complicated in the george w. bush era when things started to fall apart. why did they start to fall apart? because there was great argument within the party about the wars, that he felt it necessary should be launched. >> rose: he came to power saying he wanted to be a compassionate conservative. is conservatism compassionate?

>> well, that's a wonderful question. it should be. it can be. it does not always look that way. conservatives can be pretty crabby folk, especially when they debate what conservatism is. look, we've got a party right now that can say the conservative way to look at entitlement spending is we made a deal with the people, and you keep your deals. they have a moral right to everything they were ever told to expect from those programs. another conservative thought on entitlement spending would be american spending is out of control, our kids will carry the burden of our spending, it is uncompassionate to them to make them carry the load. all these things are going to have to be adjudicated in this election cycle and maybe also in the next election cycle.

i'm not sure when it ends. immigration is a huge, huge issue that just isn't going away. >> rose: this may sound like a stupid question but i ask anyway. do you love writing the idea of being able to -- i guess in the famous words of john kennedy about winston churchill, i'm paraphrasing loosely, you know, he -- he took the english language and took it to war. >> yeah. >> rose: meaning -- to fight for us. >> rose: to fight for us. the idea of how words and ideas have such power enhanced, if they are said in such an inspiring and precise way so that they touch the spirit and the mind. >> i never considered being anything but a writer. you know, there is a while when i wanted to be an actress but it

would be an actress writer. i wanted to be a nun, then i was going to be a nun writer. i was going to be a reporter, a reporter writer. writer is what i was. i enjoyed writing when i was a kid. i enjoyed reading, which is sort of how you come writing. you love reading and you think, wow, does a person do this? who's that person? so it's just part of my image of myself. it's like being irish catholic. >> rose: did mitt romney disappoint you greatly? because you were -- you know, you were there for him in a lot of what you wrote. >> i was trying to be supportive of the conservative candidate, which i do sometimes. i can't say he disappointed me because he never struck me as a great political talent, i have to tell you, and part of me thought -- i never wrote this -- but part of me thought, when he sadly lost in 2012, as i said to friends, we dodged a bullet. we need -- on the republican

side, we need some kind of political genius going on to succeed, and that was not a political genius. that was a man who was great at life, not politics. >> rose: and with a great family and the right values. >> yeah, good man! to me, the meaning of edmond burke's work is respect reality. see it and respect it. don't be a jerk. don't be going off on -- >> rose: burke? what did you think about dizrali. >> one to have the big political movers, survivors, leaders and putter-yooffers of his oppositi. gla-- gladstone was a gifted man and dizrali danced on his head. >> rose: american culture, are we debasing it? >> we've made it bizarre and

gross and it worries me not for the adults. nothing you watch or see on the computer or watch on tv or hear is going to hurt you. you are you. but yore kids from families that don't cohere, kids who are the object of a certain amount of negligence and inattention to be brought up in this culture is, to me, a scary thing. i worry about it a lot. i say in my essay in the book, when we were children, nothing was ever -- >> rose: peggy noonan, the time of our lives. >> thank you, charlie. >> rose: we'll be right back. >> rose: carol burnett is here. her comedy has inspired generations of comedians for almost 60 years. she has received many awards including six emmys, the mark twain prize and the presidential

medal of freedom. she also receive a lifetime achievement award from the screen actors guild next year. the carol burnett show the lost episode is a new d.v.d. box set featuring her work. here is a look at classic moments from the carol burnett show. >> that absolutely did it! i am leaving this house! and i am not coming back until the end of football season! raf >> in case you missed it, here's the instant replay! >> that's it! i am leaving this house and i am not coming back until the end of the football season!

>> i wonder how grandfather is doing? gramps, how are you feeling? >> oh, oh, oh! just as i thought! hello, general hospital, dr. hoffer, please. in emergency operation? yes, i'll hold. hello, dr. hoffer? this is marion, can you come right over? gramps is really sick this time. i think it's serious. oh, just in case, would you pick up my black dress? it's at the cleaners. thank you, bye-bye! (doorbell ringing) >> at last! oh, thank you. >> where is he? he's right -- (suspenseful music) >> oh!

( laughter ) >> rose: so there we are, these lost episodes. why were they lost? these were scenes from carol burnett. >> yes, well, the first five years, we were going to go into syndication and we couldn't use the first five years. there was some kind of legal stuff going on. so we released the last six

years, six through eleven, now it's all been cleared up so here they are. >> rose: and you now have them in d.v.d. box. >> right, and these have not been seen since they were first aired, so they've never been syndicated or on youtube or anything. >> rose: why do people love them so much? >> funny is funny. >> rose: it is. i dare anyone to look at the dentist sketch today that's over 40 years old with harvey and tim and not laugh. you know, what we had were be belly laughs, and that's what we aimed for, and it holds up. >> it does. but most of them, there is no political stuff in it so it's not dated. >> very little. right, exactly. in a way, we kind of did that on purpose, not that we ever thought we would go into syndication because variety shows didn't, but i just felt that, you know, that's for the shuttersmothers brothers who dit

beautifully and others. but i'm a clown. i was a clown on the gary moore show. i like the idea of a belly laugh. >> rose: how did you come to create "the carol burnett show"? >> well, i got my training on the gary moore show as one of his second bananas. doing sketches and characters every week is what i absolutely loved doing. i had signed a ten-year contract with cbs as i was leaving the gary moore show, and there was a caveat, in the first five years that some brilliant lawyer or my agent or somebody came up with that said, if within the first five years of the ten-year contract, if i -- if i wanted to push that button, they would have to put us on the air one

hour, 30 pay or play variety shows. >> rose: explain to people pay or play. >> if they didn't take us up on that contract, they would have to pay us for 30 variety shows. >> rose: whether on the air or not. >> whether on the air or not. so they took the chance to put us on. they had forgotten because i didn't think i wanted to do it. i can't host a variety show. i never thought that i would. and then the five years was almost up. there was one week to go. and my husband and i had just put a down payment on a house in california, and i was not quite as in demand as i had been five years earlier, and, so, we looked at each other. we had two children, and we said, you know, maybe we ought to push that button. and, so, it was christmas -- the week between christmas and new year's, and i called cbs in

new york and got one of the vice presidents on the phone -- hi, carol, merry christmas. thank you, i'm calling to push that button. what? what are you talking about? five years. they had forgotten. i said, you know, where i get to do a variety show, 30 variety shows, one hour? he said, oh, yeah, well let me get back to you. and i said this before, i'm sure they got a lot of lawyers out of christmas parties that week. and he called back the next day and he said, yeah, i see that, carol, but, you know, variety is a man's game. it's caesar, milton burl, jackie gleason and now dean martin. it's not for you gals. >> rose: yeah. and he said, we've got this

great sitcom we would love you to do called here's agnes -- god, can you picture that? ( laughter ) anyway, i said, no, i don't want to be the same person week after week. i want to be different characters. i want a rep company like syd caesar had, i want guest stars, costumes, dancing, a true comedy variety musical review. and they had to put us on the air. >> rose: was it a hit from day one? >> it was successful. they put us on a monday night first opposite "i spy" and "big valley," which were major shows. >> rose: nbc. nbc and abc was, i think, "big valley." so we did well and we started to pick up on it, and so forth. so we got renewed for a second season and then a third and they

got the idea that they'd move us to wednesday night, to, like, 8:00 or something like that, and i didn't care for that because i always felt we were a 10:00 show, and they put us opposite "adam 12", which was a cop show, and it just wasn't our thing. so we did not do well in that time slot. and then mr. paley moved us to the wonderful sat die night line -- saturday night lineupy it was all in the family, mash, mary tiler moore, bob newhart and us, and everybody thrived. mash was an hour. >> rose: why did you pick vicky and tim and harvey? >> i was smart.

we were putting together a rep company and we had seen harvey korman on the danny kay show as danny's second banana. he's like reinhart was and art carney. so danny's show was going off the air the september we were going on the air and we kept saying with we need harvey korman. and finally, we don't we need "the" harvey korman. i practically attacked him in the parking lot of cbs one afternoon. i think we had called his agent, but i jumped him. i said you've just got to be on our show. >> rose: and he said? yes. >> rose: love to. what comedy for you? were you always funny? >> i don't know. i had a sense of humor but i never really explored it, you know, in school or anything. in fact, i was pretty much of a nerd and quiet, a good student.

i wanted to be a journalist, and i wanted to write, and, so, when i got to u.c.l.a., i wanted to major in journalism, but there was no school of journalism. i could take a course and join the daily bruin but then i looked in the catalog and it said theater arts english where i could take play writing courses and still join the daily bruin, the school newspaper. but i didn't realize when you majored in theater arts english you, as a freshman, you had to take scenery building, acting, lighting, sound, costumes, all of that. so i had to take an acting course. and i was terrified. i got up and i did a scene with

a fellow student, and they laughed where they were supposed to. >> rose: so you knew you could make people laugh. >> and i went, you know, this is a good feeling. >> rose: oh, yeah. and then some of the kids from, you know, seniors even came up to me and said, whoa, you were funny. you want to have lunch with us? all of a sudden, i was popular. >> rose: there you go. here is a sketch featuring carol being visited in her cell by a priest played by tim conway. >> oh, father, i'm so glad you've come. i've needed you. >> there, there, my child. the time is growing short. we only have a few more minutes. i'd like to give you some words of comfort. >> thank you, father, but i'm not afraid to -- to -- >> rose: fry in thto -- fry in the electric chair?

thank you for those words of comfort. >> are you sure there isn't something you would like to tell me like why you committed terrible crime? >> no, father. it's my secret and i'll carry it with me to the -- to the -- >> your grave? ( laughter ) well, you can tell me, my child. i've heard confessions of all kinds. >> but, father, mine is sick and sordid and depraved. >> well, they're the best kind. ( laughter ) >> rose: writing, writing, writing. >> you got it. that was a takeoff on madam x. >> rose: i remember that movie. >> we did the whole parody on it. we used to do long-form stuff, and that particular sketch -- well, several -- >> rose: which one? madam x, double indemnity, we did the postman always rings twice. they would run maybe 12 or 13

minutes. today, everything is one minute or two minutes long. you know, it's, like, are people going to sit and watch anything that length of time? >> rose: are they trying to bring back a variety show? >> i hope so. >> rose: yeah, there is someone doing a variety show. neil -- >> patrick harris! well, he's got the talent. >> rose: yeah, he does. it's all going to be in the writing because he's got it. there are several people who could do variety, but it depends -- they couldn't do what we did because of the cost. we had 12 dancers, we had a rep company, two guest stars a week, a 28-piece orchestra. that can't be done today. >> rose: one last clip. this is you last night on the "late show" with stephen colbert. take a look at this. a great bit with stephen in his new late show. here it is.

>> yes, the red head in the third row, right there. >> yes, i'd like to know why you're doing this -- ( cheers and applause ) >> carol burnett?! carol! wow! holy cow! ( cheers and applause ) incredible! that's amazing! that's amazing! thank you! well, carol, thank you for being here. what's your question, carol? >> well, it's just that i wanted to know where you get off doing this bit because it's my bit. ( laughter ) >> well, i don't understand. stephen, for eleven years, you know, i used to come out and take questions. i would take questions with the audience. so, really, you know, it's mine. i own this. ( laughter ) >> i'm sorry, you know, listen,

i'm a big fan -- i'm a huge fan. i never missed your show. but, carol, you don't own the idea of answering questions. >> well, that's true, technically, but i have a patent on it... ( cheering ) i quote, "for responding to audience inquiries on a comedy varietiy broadcast " . >> fine you own questions and answers. then get up here and show me how it's done. carol burnett, everybody! ( cheers and applause ) that lady there. >> can you do your tarzan yell? well, i would be happy to. that's my tarzan yell. your tarzan yell? uh-huh. i bet that's news to tarzan. ( laughter ) >> are you ready? (clears throat) (yelling like tarzan)

( cheers and applause ) >> rose: there's tarzan. there's tarzan. >> rose: you've got the timing. timing is everything, isn't it. >> yes, it is. but it's also writing. >> rose: yeah. and we had wonderful writers. >> rose: it's great to see you. >> thank you. >> rose: thank you so much. the carol burnett show, the lost episodes, available through time life web sites. the lost episodes. thank you. >> thanks, charlie. >> rose: good to see you. for more about this program and earlier episodes, visit us online at pbs.org and charlierose.com. captioning sponsored by rose communications captioned by media access group at wgbh

access.wgbh.org >> rose: funding for "charlie rose" has been provided by: >> and by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and information services worldwide.

this is "nightly report" with tyler m sue herera. good evening, ev welcome to the speci edition of "nightly report." i'm sue herera and t mathison is off. it is labor day and intents and purposes over. vacations are a memory, and that means that it is not only timek school, but it is time for y in finances and the market, and that is where we will begin, the stock ma lig volume as it usually does, but it had a strep of very low volatility, and for a while, the