From Julie Andrews to Julia Louis-Dreyfus: Carol Burnett's Famous Friends Toast Her 90th Birthday

The comedy legend turns 90 on April 26 and will celebrate with an NBC special Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love

Later this month, Carol Burnett will celebrate turning 90 with an NBC special.

Everyone from Cher and Ellen DeGeneres to Steve Carell and Katy Perry came out for the pre-taped, two-hour Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love event. Ahead of the big day on April 26, some of Burnett's friends and costars shared well wishes and a few of the lessons the six-time Emmy winner taught them in this week's PEOPLE.

Related:Carol Burnett on Turning 90 — and Cherishing Her Hips and Knees: 'I Still Feel Like I'm About 11'

Julie Andrews

Burnett's longtime pal Julie Andrews calls her friend of 60 years her "dear chum."

"From day one, we both seem to know and understand where each one of us is coming from," says the Mary Poppins star, who named Burnett godmother to her daughter Emma. "She's wonderful to work with, and she's loyal and kind, and it's never changed. It isn't that we speak every day to be truthful. But it's the kind of friendship that the minute you meet up again, it's exactly as it was."

Her respect for her dear friend runs deep. "She transcended a very tough childhood by finding the gift of laughter and she used that phenomenal gift of comedy to save herself and to make all of us much happier," says Andrews, 87. "After 90 years, she has given us so much and she is a survivor. She has an understanding of humanity and the laughter she engenders in us is based on a recognition of some truth. From life. From the quirkiness of everyone. Sometimes, the characters she plays are not that loving, but she makes them so real. The humor is what is so brave, I think. Hugely brave."

Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus shared a few comedy lessons from Burnett.

"Here are three things about comedy that Carol Burnett taught me: 1.) Comedy isn't just funny, it's fun," says Louis-Dreyfus, 62. "Seeing Carol Burnett with her friends (that's what it seemed like: they were all friends) was infectious. I wanted to leap through the screen and be a part of that fun. 2.) Comedy is a team sport. The way they played off of each other, the way they enjoyed each other, the way Carol enjoyed watching all of them? I had never seen anything like that before. 3.) Comedy is hard. Singing! Dancing! Doing funny accents! Not cracking up (well, they weren't so great at that part). Carol Burnett could do it all and, I realized, that takes practice. That takes work. I've taken all of that to heart, thanks to Carol Burnett. Fun, team and work. Wow, what a great way to make a living."

Lisa Kudrow

The Friends alum recalls watching The Carol Burnett Show as a kid. "I'd watch it with my dad and we just laugh hysterically," says Lisa Kudrow, 59. "It was a woman who had her own show and was hilarious. And then you see the bloopers and you're like, 'Oh, they are having so much fun and they love what they're doing.' And I wondered if it felt like work."

Burnett's 1972 film Pete 'n' Tillie was another reminder that the star "is a really good actress," notes Kudrow.

"That was a huge inspiration to me," she adds. "She's funny. And she can also act. And you also got that same feeling from her, even if she's doing drama. I also loved The Four Seasons where she is being effortlessly great and human. You believe every word that's coming out of her mouth. It doesn't feel like a performance. That's great acting to me. It just feels like she's inhabiting another person."

"That level of funny, to do the sketches, and have her own show, she really gave me a North Star," says Kudrow. "She has a lot of heart — and honesty."

Amy Poehler

"Growing up, I loved The Carol Burnett Show," says Parks and Recreation star Amy Poehler, 51. "Carol was a benevolent captain. The ensemble always had a delightful sense of play, and most importantly, I saw a deeply talented and funny woman at the helm. I love Carol in everything she does: the great, grounded acting in The Four Seasons, the deep camp of Annie's Miss Hannigan. Carol can do no wrong."

Bob Odenkirk

"There are a few people in the industry who really make you question whether you're still living in reality, because they seem to have popped out of your memory, your childhood universe," says Better Call Saul's Bob Odenkirk. "It's like [Abraham] Lincoln jumping off a penny to talk to you. Carol is that. She is a national treasure. And a personal treasure for me."

"She's as game and present and smart as any hip, cool 22-year-old who just got their first job," adds Odenkirk, 60. "That flexibility and youthfulness of spirit and mind is really to be envied, more than anything, more than her achievements and greatness. She's just so fun. It's amazing to see how she's fully aware of all that she's achieved, and how important she is to people. She's perfectly happy about it, but she doesn't live only in that amber. She is ready for the game of this day and this scene and the acting that we're doing."

Odenkirk thinks Burnett deserves an Emmy for her recent work on Better Call Saul.

"People are always surprised when comedy actors can do drama, and boy oh boy did she anchor that performance in an intense reality," he continues. "It's brilliant. She is a character lost in her own little world, and it's horrible that Saul takes advantage of her the way he does and uses her. I'm thankful that in the end, in the last moment, he abandons his plans, which seem to be murderous. She's just utterly real. She made that character as real as anything you've ever seen anybody play. So you don't think about her being Carol Burnett but then when you're just about to pretend to kill her, for just a moment, you think, I can't kill Carol Burnett."

Related:Carol Burnett Jokes That, at 90, She Only Has 1 Thing Left to Do: 'George Clooney!'

Vicki Lawrence

Burnett gave Vicki Lawrence her start on The Carol Burnett Show when she was in her late teens.

"She acts like a clown and she does silly stuff, but there's very smart lady under there that really knows the business of show business," says Lawrence, 74. "She was my teacher. I learned from the very, very best in the business."

She also recalls a unique warmth which the audience felt for her.

In the early days of the show, Burnett would often take the guest stars, such as Rita Hayworth and Jimmy Stewart, out to dinner at Chasen's. "I would watch them coming out of the artists entrance," Lawrence recalls. "There was always a crowd there. They would always yell 'Hi Carol.' For the others, it would be 'Hi Miss Hayworth. Hi Mr. Stewart.' I asked her why and she said, 'Oh honey, they're watching us through their toes. They're laying in bed and we're right there in bed with them. They know us.' And she was so good at sending that love through the camera lens."

For more on Carol Burnett, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands now, or subscribe here.

Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love airs April 26 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and streams on Peacock the next day.

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