Carol Burnett, the 2013 Mark Twain Prize recipient

WASHINGTON (AP) — When Carol Burnett launched her namesake variety
show in the 1960s, one TV executive told her the genre was "a man’s game”,
but she proved him wrong with an 11-year run that averaged 30 million viewers
each week.

This evening, the trailblazing comedienne will receive the nation’s top humor
prize at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Top entertainers including
Julie Andrews, Tony Bennett, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will pay tribute to Burnett
as she receives the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

The 16th annual show will be taped and broadcast Sunday, Nov. 24 on most PBS 
stations.

 
The series aired on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978

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