As the Stomach Turns

"As the Stomach Turns" is a series of comedy sketches parodying the soap opera As the World Turns featured on The Carol Burnett Show, with one installment airing on Carol Burnett & Company. The sketch was created by show writers Kenny Solms and Gail Parent.The Carol Burnett Show introduced the series during its first season in 1967–68 and continued to air new installments for the remainder of its 11-season run, through its final season in 1977–78. However, the final installment of "As the Stomach Turns" would not air until September 8, 1979, on a different four-week summer series titled Carol Burnett & Company. This was the only installment of "As the Stomach Turns" that did not air on The Carol Burnett Show which had completed its run almost a year and a half earlier on March 29, 1978.

The sketch's premise was to describe, in great detail, the problems of a woman in her 30s named Marion (played by Carol Burnett), who lived in the fictional town of Canoga Falls. The sketch dealt with problems that were more likely to be seen on a soap opera than in real life. For example, Marion's niece Raven (played by Bernadette Peters in a guest spot) came to visit her and was possessed by the devil, Marion assumed, because Raven was such a nice girl normally. The town exterminator/freelance exorcist (played by Tim Conway, using the same faux-Romanian dialect that he would use to play character Mr. Tudball) was forced to exorcise the demon from her body, a story that was eventually done, in all seriousness, on Days of Our Lives decades later.

The sketch also touched on stereotypical aspects of production values in American soaps. Many times, Marion forgot what she wanted to say, reminiscent of the times when soap operas were broadcast live and actors routinely forgot their next line. Marion also answered the door either too soon or too late when someone rang her doorbell. Other times, she would miss the correct time to answer the phone, saying "Hello" before the sound effect came for it to ring. On live soap opera productions, these were big problems; due to the live nature of the show, they happened fairly frequently, and were subsequently spoofed at length on The Carol Burnett Show.

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