"Just scream!" instructs Carol Burnett. "You vent, and the body just feels good after a good old yell." The creator of "The Carol Burnett Show" is teaching me how to do her famous Tarzan yell, a staple of her popular television variety series, which aired from 1967 to 1978.
Ms. Burnett says that she still lets out the yell during live shows when an audience member requests it-and also sometimes does it for stress relief when she's home alone. "I'll just do it," she says. "The cat looks at me strangely."
Ms. Burnett, 83, describes her Tarzan yell and other moments from her show in a new book, "In Such Good Company." And she didn't just go by memory. Ms. Burnett went back and reviewed all 276 episodes, "even though at times I felt like Norma Desmond watching herself on the screen in 'Sunset Boulevard!' " she writes.
The long-running show-which included comedy sketches, musical tributes, movie parodies and her beloved closing theme song-was one of the first of its kind to be hosted by a woman. It won 25 Emmy Awards.