Why does Carol Burnett always say she had a chin job?

Because the chin job was done well before the earliest of the photos at your link there, OP.

Here's what she looked like before the chin job, during the beginning years of her CBS show. The difference is pretty remarkable, and had she not commented on it (it happened during the height of her fame on her TV show) it would have been talked about constantly. The change was quite dramatic.

Carol had a noticeably weak chin before she got the implant. The difference is clearer here.

Another photo of Carol in the pre-chin job days:

Marlon Brando was so impressed, he called Carol to get the name of her surgeon.

No, #1. She had the chin job after the show ended, during the filming of "Annie".

The story she told was that her daughter Jody needed oral surgery to fix a lower jaw problem.

She loved the results so much, she went to the surgeon to see what could be done for her lower jaw.

She must have been very self-conscious.

The surgery was done at a time when most people didn't realize the procedure was available; it certainly wasn't common knowledge.

It was a big improvement.

[quote]Marlon Brando was so impressed, he called Carol to get the name of her surgeon.

Yes, he was so impressed, he got four of them.

[quote]It was a big improvement.

In a way it was, and in a way it wasn't -- to me it threw off the alignment of her top and bottom lip.

Carol went public with her chin job, talking to People magazine about it in 1983

Link below for full interview

R1 is right, according to the [italic]People[/italic] article -- she had the implant in 1973, then the osteotomy (bite correction) in '83. I never noticed the implant, though, when the show was on the air; her chin always looked weak to me up until she had the second surgery.

In her book, she said it was between reshoots for Annie. She had to tell John Huston that her face would look different because she got a chin job.

R12 there was a YEAR between the re-shoots.

Your point, R13?

I bought the Mama's Family Complete DVD set, and they had some "Family" sketches from the Carol Burnett Show as bonus features. Anyhow, even though she was awful, you could sympathize with Eunice. Then, when I watched Carol in the Mama's Family episodes (post-chin job), Eunice looked like the devil and I couldn't sympathize with her anymore. Carol looked HARD after that surgery.

I don't get it either, OP.

To distract everyone from the fact that she also had a full facelift (or two).

JFC, she didn't look like she ever lacked for chin.

The issue seems to be less her chin than her jaw.

It's kind of quaint to see pictures of celebrities with teeth like this.