Vicki Lawrence has entertained generations for decades as a triple threat: an actress, a comedienne and a singer. She began on CBS playing multiple characters on The Carol Burnett Show for its entire run. During the sixth season, Thelma Harper was born, playing Eunice Higgins's mother. Mama's Family eventually got its own show and still remains popular in syndication.
She became a one-hit wonder with The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia, and has authored two books. Lawrence married her make-up artist, Al Schultz, and now enjoys touring the country in a two-woman show where she plays Mama in the second act.
Windy City rang up the funny woman right before her big date in Aurora.
Windy City Times: Hi, Vicki. So how does the story go? Originally, you approached Carol Burnett and told her that you resembled her and that led to you being on her show, correct?
Vicki Lawrence: Pretty much, because everyone said I looked like her. My mom told me to write a fan letter to her about it.
When I put my show together I decided that half should be autobiographical so that is the first story that I tell in the show. My life has been very serendipitous and comical. If you tell the stories correctly they can be pretty funny. I tell that story, how I became a natural red head, how I met my husband, how I had a one-hit juggernaut record, and how Mama happened. I cover everything that an audience would ask me if I did questions and answers, like Ms. Burnett does.
WCT: Did you want to be a performer starting out?
Vicki Lawrence: I didn't think so. Carol says I just didn't know it and it would have happened one way or another but I don't know how. I honestly thought I was going to go to college and study dental hygiene. I wanted to clean teeth for a living, marry a rich dentist, and hang it up. I have spoken to many women that have married dentists and they say, "Boy, did you get lucky!" There are some notoriously nutty dentists out there. It is the number-one suicide rate among different kinds of doctors.
WCT: I didn't know that.
Vicki Lawrence: It's because people don't like them. That's the problem! I was thinking, "It's a nice clean environment, you don't have to chit chat too much, you have a uniform so no stress about what you wear, you can save all your money for your cute clothes on the weekend." I think I also had a crush on my dentist so it was all of those things or maybe I was just terribly immature.
Anyway, show biz did kidnap me although I did some performing in high school growing up so I was prepared. I was in every damn singing group on campus.
WCT: Even with The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia, you were pitching it to other people, so that was an accident also.
Vicki Lawrence: Yeah; I was married to the guy that wrote it for a nanosecond. It was an extremely dysfunctional marriage but he wrote that song and hated it himself, so I did the demo. He and his producer could not give that thing away. I knew it was a hit in my heart. Finally the producer just threw his hands up and gave it to me.
WCT: There was a movie made after the song, also.
Vicki Lawrence: Which cracked me up because I couldn't wait to see how it ends because the ending of the song never made any sense to begin with!
WCT: With all the famous board-game skits on The Carol Burnett Show, are you competitive at home?
Vicki Lawrence: Oh god, yes. With Trivial Pursuit my husband has more useless knowledge stored up in his brain that I always want him on my team. We used to play Password when we were younger—me and Al. We would play with Lyle Waggoner and his wife all of the time. I remember one night when it was the guys versus the girls and we didn't find out until the end that guys were cheating and won. I didn't talk to Al for a week so, yes, I am competitive.
I remember when The Carol Burnett Show was on TV there was a show called Mike Stokey's Stump the Stars and it was basically charades. They invited me, Carol, and Harvey to come and play. I remember halfway through the show Harvey looked at me and Carol and said, "You guys are fucking nuts!" We were like, "Yeah, we want to win!"
WCT: So that wasn't a stretch with all of those crazy skits?
Vicki Lawrence: Oh, no. Carol and I both are like that. She wanted to do Password one time as Mama and Eunice and I was traumatized because I love to win and didn't know if I could do it in character. We actually did it in character and did win.
WCT: I loved watching Win, Lose or Draw on TV.
Vicki Lawrence: I hosted that and wasn't playing but when Al and I younger we used to go over to my record producer's house, Snuff Garrett—"my record producer," like I had a recording career. We went over and were playing Pictionary and that was in the very early stages of the show. We played with Burt Reynolds, and I think Burt was dating Sally Field at the time. Yeah, it was quite the evening. ... I can't draw. Art was not my forte. I like the word games like Pyramid. When Dick Clark died, people were posting the most hysterical clips with Dick and me on Pyramid. We had some fights!
WCT: Do you ever get starstruck by these celebrities you have met over the years?
Vicki Lawrence: Probably all of them. It is always intimidating to meet someone you have watched from afar that you love. It's always a thrill.
When I was really young on Carol's show, after the tapings she would always take whoever the guest star was out to dinner in Beverly Hills. I would sneak out the back door and sit in the parking lot to watch them come out. I liked watching all of the fans. It was always fascinating to me that Carol was always "Carol" to the fans but if it was a movie star it was always "Ms. Hayworth" or "Mr. Stewart." With her, it was "Carol" or with Lucille Ball it was "Lucy." She said to me,"People curl up with their jammies and watch me between their toes so they feel they know you because you are on their TV set."
WCT: Sometimes people are worried about meeting their ultimate celebrity but Carol was one of the nicest to me, personally.
Vicki Lawrence: She is so sensible and sweet, isn't she?
WCT: Yes, and the nicest lady.
Vicki Lawrence: She really is, and a lot of celebrities are not. Some are very distant, don't want to talk and won't sign an autograph. She is extremely accessible and loves her fans.
WCT: How great was it for you to grow up around that?
Vicki Lawrence: I feel like that is where I got my training and learned so much. One of the most important things I learned from her was how show business should run. That it should fun and you should be grateful for your fans. There is definitely a trickle down theory on how a show is run.
WCT: This is a 40th anniversary for you.
Vicki Lawrence: Me and Mama have been together 40 years. It was 40 years ago that I upchucked that old lady!
WCT: How long does it take to get ready?
Vicki Lawrence: We just run a few outtakes from Mama's Family and that is all the time it takes me to change—like four or five minutes.
WCT: It's like a drag show when you put that wig on.
Vicki Lawrence: Yeah, I get to act like a crazy old lady.
WCT: You must have had a lot of gay fans over the years, even appearing on RuPaul's Drag Race as Mama.
Vicki Lawrence: Yes, when I watch my Instagram account I see many Mamas out there. Every once in a while, there is a wild and crazy Eunice that shows up!
WCT: How was it playing the grandmother of Miley Cyrus?
Vicki Lawrence: It was really fun. My agent found me when I visiting my daughter's home and we were on a road trip through Missoula, Montana. He told me it was a new show on Disney that would be huge. They wanted me to play the grandma on Hannah Montana. I told him I was on my way to Montana and the dog of my dreams our labrador was named Hannah. So I felt like I had to do it. That is how that happened.
She is like a little sponge, that Miley. She wanted to learn so much. The producers were thrilled to have a seasoned performer come in because she would learn from them. The first episode I remember we had lots of props. One of the things I loved about Mama's Family is they always choreographed setting the table or whatever we were doing so we actually got it done by the end of the scene. It helped with learning lines and made the scene feel real. I told Miley more than once, "Make your props your friends." So four years down the road we were doing a scene where I put my purse right in the middle of the table and knew it wasn't going to work so I asked Miley what she did with hers. She said, "I hung it on the back of my chair, Vicki. Make your props your friend!"
It had come full circle and was very cute.
WCT: Where did the Mama character come out of? [She] seems very Southern...
Vicki Lawrence: Well, I did have that Southern mother-in-law for a nanosecond, so I had that to draw on, and probably my own mother. I used to say,"Mothers I have known" so not offend anyone but everyone is gone now.
WCT: My favorite was the Family Feud episode. I had to buy the video so I could watch it over and over.
Vicki Lawrence: [Laughs] It was always funny to take that crazy family out into something real that everybody knew.
WCT: It is going to be fun to see her live and in person.
Vicki Lawrence: It is my mission in life to make everyone laugh for 90 minutes. I think we do a good job and people are pleasantly surprised because they don't know what I am going to do up there by myself. You are never really by yourself, that audience is with you and it's always a journey.
Don't miss "Vicki Lawrence & Mama: A Two Woman Show" on Sunday, Feb. 22, at The Paramount Theatre, 23 E Galena Blvd, Aurora; call 630-896-6666 or visit paramountaurora.com .
Keep up with Vicki at www.vickilawrence.com .
