Published: October 20, 2009 09:51 pm      

An evening with “Mama”

TV’s Vicki Lawrence coming to Palace Theatre Saturday

By Bob Belcher

Daily Sun



She received a lifetime of experience in 11 short years alongside a TV legend.

Saturday, Vicki Lawrence, accomplished actress, comedienne, singer, and stage star, will bring her talents to the Palace Theatre in Corsicana for “Vicki Lawrence and Mama: A Two Woman Show.” Two performances are scheduled, at 5 p.m. and at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Palace.

The world knows the story of how Lawrence came to be Carol Burnett’s “sidekick” — a meeting the two had when Lawrence invited her future TV boss to come see her perform, after being told the two had an amazing physical resemblance. What came out of that meeting a few months later became TV history, as Lawrence took on the role of a lifetime on the classic TV series.

Life working on The Carol Burnett show with Burnett and her other gifted co-stars — Harvey Korman, Tim Conway and Lyle Waggoner — was “an unbelievable experience,” Lawrence said.

“It was amazing,” she laughed. “That’s why everybody loved it ... it was a really well-oiled machine.”

With the opportunity to work with legendary performers including Jimmy Stewart, Bob Hope, Rita Hayworth, Sammy Davis Jr. and Ella Fitzgerald.

“I got to touch the Golden Age of Television, and that is just incredible to me,” she said.

Lawrence also starred in her own game show — “Win, Lose or Draw” — and her own talk show — “Vicki” — and starred in numerous stage productions through the years.

Lawrence’s stage show, now in its seventh year of touring the nation, offers the best of both worlds — her skills as a comedienne and singer, as well as the timeless “Mama” character TV audiences love to this day.

“It’s very funny,” Lawrence said of her show, followed by the punch line “which I’ve decided is going to be my health care plan — we all need to be laughing, because nothing else is working!”

Lawrence said they put the show together to “take people away for 90 minutes a make the laugh.”

The first half of the performance features Lawrence in what she called “largely auto-biographical.

“My life has been nothing, if not funny,” she added.

Lawrence will share her experiences from her early days in the touring group “The Young Americans” up through the Burnett show and her own series, “Mama’s Family.” A special video presentation will share “outtakes” of her “Mama” character gleaned from the show’s history, followed by “Mama” herself taking center stage for the remainder of the show.

“She is the ‘diva,’” Lawrence said. “She’s always guaranteed to make everyone laugh.”

“Mama” — whose full character name is Thelma Harper — was born from a skit on the Burnett show when Vicki herself was only 24 years old. The character carried over into a separate series called “Mama’s Family” after the Burnett show ended, and enjoyed a six-year run before going into syndicated re-runs that still air today.

How popular is “Mama” to her fans?

“Sometimes I feel like if I fell off the face of the earth, as long as ‘Mama’ was around, no one would miss me,” Lawrence laughed.

Tickets for both performances of “Vicki Lawrence and Mama: A Two Woman Show” are still available from the Navarro Council of the Arts. For seats and ticket prices, contact the office at (903) 872-5411.

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Bob Belcher may be reached via e-mail at belcher@corsicanadailysun.com. Want to “Soundoff” on this story? E-mail: soundoff@corsicanadailysun.com.