Two TV legends.
Norman Lear received the Carol Burnett Television Achievement Award during tonight's 2021 Golden Globes and the 98-year-old writer and producer couldn't help but gush over Carol Burnett herself for inspiring him throughout his iconic career. He even gave her a cheeky tribute that's sure to make you smile.
"Thank you for that wonderful night. It knocks me out to be introduced by Amy Poehler and Tina Fey and to accept an award, this award, in the name of Carol Burnett, I could not feel nor blessed," the creator of iconic TV series like All in the Family, Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons and One Day at a Time said during his virtual acceptance speech. "I am convinced that laughter adds time to life and nobody has made me laugh harder and nobody I owe more time to than Carol Burnett and the brilliant team that helped her realize her comedic genius."
After paying tribute to all of his writing and producing partners over the last 50-plus years, Lear shared, "Then of course, there's my family, my glorious wife and partner of 30 years. The five glorious daughters and my wonderful son, ranging in ages from 26 to 74, and their children. Four fabulous grandchildren. At close to 99, I can tell you that I have never lived alone. I have never laughed alone and that has as much to do with my being here today as anything else I know."
Lear concluded, "Thank you Hollywood Foreign Press. Thank you each individual attending this virtual event with whom I have worked and been entertained and nurtured by and enhanced by. Once more, thank you and bless you Carol Burnett for everything you have meant to me by way of joy, surprise, delight and laughter. As I think about you, and the laughter and the joy of our parallel careers, so glad we had this time together."
Lear then gave a nod to Burnett's iconic ear tug from The Carol Burnett Show by making the gesture himself, effectively giving us all the feels.
Lear is just the third person to ever receive the Carol Burnett Award after Burnett herself in 2019 and Ellen DeGeneres, who received the sophomore honor in 2020.
The honor is the TV equivalent to the Globes' Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award, which went to Jane Fonda this year.