Carol Burnett Recalls Risky Hollywood Sign Adventures From Her Youth

Carol Burnett is opening up about a side of her life that feels almost unbelievable today — climbing and hanging off the Hollywood sign as a carefree kid.

Speaking on Good Hang, hosted by Amy Poehler, the comedy legend shared stories from her younger days growing up in Los Angeles, long before fences and security surrounded the famous landmark.

“We used to climb the Hollywood sign, the other neighborhood kids and I,” Burnett recalled. “Now you can’t get near it.”

Burnett, who lived with her grandmother in Los Angeles, said the city felt very different back then. Doors were often left unlocked, and kids freely roamed the neighborhood looking for fun.

If boredom struck, the solution was simple — and dangerous by today’s standards.

“We would fly kites or roller skate and they’d say, ‘I’m bored. Let’s go climb the sign,’ so we did,” she said. At the time, the sign was unstable and full of splinters. “It’s a wonder we didn’t break our necks.”

Despite the risk, Burnett remembers those days fondly. Her favorite place to sit? The round letters.

“The ‘O’s’ were my favorite,” she laughed. “I’d hang over them and say, ‘Hello, Hollywood, hello!’ We’d do the Tarzan yell and all of that.”

Later in the episode, the Palm Royale star reflected on a much more emotional moment from her youth — one that changed her life forever.

Burnett explained that her family struggled financially. Rent was just $1 a day, but even that was sometimes hard to pay. Still, she dreamed of attending University of California, Los Angeles.

Tuition for one semester was $50 — an impossible amount for her family at the time. Her grandmother told her it simply wasn’t possible.

Then something extraordinary happened.

One morning, Burnett checked the shared apartment mailbox and found a letter with her name typed on the envelope. Inside was a $50 bill — exactly the amount she needed.

“To this day, I don’t know where that came from,” she said.

That anonymous gift allowed Burnett to attend UCLA, setting her on the path to comedy stardom and eventually to television history with The Carol Burnett Show.

Decades later, Burnett’s stories are a reminder of a very different Hollywood — and how a little courage, luck, and kindness helped create one of comedy’s greatest legends.