I’m glad I was born when I was. My time was the golden age of variety. If I were starting out again now, maybe things would happen for me, but it certainly would not be on a variety show with 28 musicians, 12 dancers, two major guest stars, 50 costumes a week by Bob Mackie. The networks just wouldn’t spend the money today.

Burnett is reflecting on the mid‑20th‑century network era when big-budget, live-orchestra variety programs were a prestige format and could sustain large ensembles, weekly guest stars, and lavish costume design (she nods to Bob Mackie, a key collaborator on The Carol Burnett Show). The quote contrasts that “golden age” with later television economics: fragmented audiences, tighter network spending, and a shift away from expensive weekly variety toward cheaper formats. Implicitly, she credits her success not only to talent but to an ecosystem that funded scale, experimentation, and spectacle—conditions she suggests are unlikely to be replicated for a new performer today.