So Glad They Had This Time Together : BURNETT AND ORIGINAL CAST OF HER SHOW STAGE A REUNION

Vicki Lawrence described the experience as a “great high school reunion.”

Said Harvey Korman, “We just picked up like no time had elapsed--it was like we had come back from taking a week off.”

Actually, it had been 14 years since the cast of “The Carol Burnett Show” had performed together when Burnett, Korman, Lawrence, Tim Conway and Lyle Waggoner reunited recently for Sunday’s “The Carol Burnet Show: A Reunion.”

The two-hour special was taped at CBS Stage 33 in West Hollywood, the same studio where the 1967-78 series originated.

The special features new footage with the cast, as well as vintage clips. Highlights include sequences from parodies of “Sunset Boulevard” and “Gone With the Wind,” a montage of the show’s elaborate musical numbers and sketches with Burnett’s poignant cleaning woman and “Ed & Eunice,” “As the Stomach Turns” and “Mr. Tudball and Mrs. Wiggins.”

“We were always thinking about a reunion,” Burnett said. “The obvious one is the silver anniversary. Everybody is ready, and it is a true reunion.”

Not only did the cast return after 14 years, so did the writers, director Dave Powers and costume designer Bob Mackie.

“You could never get this staff of writers together for a regular show,” said Burnett, who with Korman is executive producer of the special. “They are all producers and head writers in their right. I would never go anywhere without Bob Mackie if I can help it. He did everything everybody wore.”

The “Carol Burnett” regulars look back on the Emmy-winning series with fondness. Waggoner, who departed the cast in 1974, recalled he was under contract to 20th Century Fox when his agents sent him to audition for the series.

“I met with the producer and head writer, Joe Hamilton and Arnie Kogen,” Waggoner said. “Joe’s secretary met me at the elevator and guided me through the offices. I sat and talked with Joe and Arnie for a few minutes and we hit it off. I left and said goodby to the secretary. Not until later did I find out that all the applicants were being screened by the secretary. The secretary gave me thumbs up. It was pretty cute.”

Burnett, Waggoner said, built his image as the series’ Mr. Perfect. “When I walked out she goes limp,” he said. “She still does it today. Even now she collapsed in my arms.”

Fans of the show, Korman said, are always asking him to explain the chemistry of the “Burnett” cast. He’s never been able to. “We had never even met before,” Korman said. “When we got together to rehearse the show, it just seemed to click. It was a wonderful thing you can’t put together, you can’t manufacture. It is like a love affair. It is either there or not.”

“It was an incredible ensemble that really worked well together,” Lawrence said. “The thing that amazed me looking at all the old clips is I can’t believe we did one of those shows every week.”

Korman said he enjoyed playing outrageous characters. “I liked doing things where I didn’t have to play myself,” he said. “The more outrageous, the more bizarre things where I could hide myself--the Gable, Peter Lorre, the ham actor--the better. Put me in drag, of course, and I am just so happy as a little bunny.”

Of course, every week Tim Conway managed to break up Korman. “He would do that with some frequency,” Conway said. Added Korman, “I broke up Tim a lot, but nobody ever talks about it. Everybody always focused on me. Poor me.”

Conway said he knew when Korman was going to lose it because “he kind of had a little vocal hum, like it was boiling inside. I was a writer and I would write one thing and would say something else. Harvey knew he was in trouble. It was very easy to confuse (him).”

Conway said he believes the series, which reached No. 13 in the ratings, endured because it didn’t offend anyone. “All comedy is vicious anyway,” he said. “You are targeting somebody, but we almost always targeted ourselves. The audience kind of laughed at themselves through us. Carol never got into making barbs about politics. It was all just good fun.”

And after looking at the old clips for the special, Burnett found most of the sketches to be timeless. “I don’t see anything that much cleverer today,” she said. “I sound like an old senior, but they would play today very easily. The premises are just as valid.”

“The Carol Burnett Show: A Reunion,” airs Sunday at 9 p.m. on CBS.