Carol Burnett reveals she sometimes calls people who send her fan mail

Carol Burnett goes above and beyond for her fans.

The "Palm Royale" star revealed to Willie Geist during the March 31 edition of Sunday Sitdown that after receiving fan mail, she occasionally will pick up the phone to respond.

"I’m getting fan mail from 10-year-olds," Burnett, 90, told Geist. "And sometimes I’ll call them."

For example, she recently received a letter from a little girl who landed the lead role in her school's production of "Once Upon a Mattress." That young fan was smart enough to leave a return address and her phone number.

"So I thought, 'Instead of writing her, I’m just gonna pick up the phone, call her,'" Burnett said with a laugh.

As for that little girl's reaction?

"She was shocked," Burnett recalled, but nevertheless, the legendary comedian and the 10-year-old fan had "a nice conversation."

Touching moments like this align with how Burnett says she'd like to be remembered.

"If I were to say to you, Carol, 'Your legacy not just in comedy, but in American culture is blank,' how would you answer?" Geist asked.

Burnett answered with a quote.

"'People may forget what you said, forget what you did, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.' So I’m hoping that I made them feel good at times when they were down, they needed a laugh," she shared.

During her conversation with Geist, Burnett also opened up about her role on the new Apple TV+ show "Palm Royale." Burnett likened her character, Norma, to her memorable turn as Ms. Hannigan in 1982's "Annie."

"I think some of the people who aren’t very nice, it’s kinda fun to play them," she said.

Burnett also hosted her own comedic variety show, "The Carol Burnett Show," which received 25 Emmy Awards. Geist noted that some of the most memorable sketches involved the performers breaking character, or laughing mid-skit — like "The Dentist."

"That’s maybe 45 years old, and I dare anybody to watch it today and not lose it. Funny is funny, you know?" Burnett said of the sketch.

Burnett added that "we never broke up on purpose."

"Most of the time it was Tim Conway’s fault," she said.

Now, Burnett might be enjoying her easiest role yet. In "Palm Royale," Norma is in a coma for the first three episodes of the 10-part comedy drama.

"It was kind of strange for me, as an actor," she said. "I get up at 5 in the morning, go to the set, get made up, get all the stuff, you know, on and everything, and then go back to bed. So it was, I mean, a slam dunk, you know.

"And I got paid."

This article was originally published on TODAY.com