Because She Said so, Candid Vicki Lawrence Keeps it Real as 'Mama'

[Zoneboy]

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From "The Carol Burnet Show" to her own show, "Mama's Family," Vicki Lawrence has mastered the art of playing the boisterous and stern but loving grandmother role. But television is not enough for the renowned actress. Lawrence will perform her latest project, "Vicki Lawrence and Mama: A Two-Woman Show," at 8:15 p.m. Thursday, July 31 p.m. at the Marriott Shoals Conference Center.

The TimesDaily had the chance to talk to Lawrence about her upcoming show, her career and some of her future plans.

Q. Now with Mama being a Southern character, how does it feel to be able to come to the South and perform?

A. Oh you are my peeps; it's always fun to come down there.

Q. So how was Mama created? Tell me a little bit about that.

A. You know, I tell this story in my show. I tell all the stories that I think fans want to hear about me and my career in the "Vicki" halves of my show. But just briefly, it was written as a one-time sketch in "The Carol Burnett Show." And Mama was actually written for Carol, but she didn't want that part. She wanted to play Eunice, so she said "I think Vicki should play Mama." And it was her choice to do it Southern because she has Texas roots. The writers were incredibly upset that we wanted to do that, because you're going to offend everybody in the South, and that's not what we ever intended. That's the way it went on the air, because that's the way Carol wanted to do it. And, of course, it didn't offend anybody; it just made everybody laugh. So they had to write those characters over and over again. It was only intended to be one time.

Q. And from that it just grew?

A. Yeah, and you know again, I just knew that Mama was another hit from Carol. It was another old lady at the time. Who knew it would take off and be that popular.

Q. So who is Mama/Thelma Harper? What is her

personality?

A. Well you know, at the time, when I first did Mama, it was about midway through the Carol Burnett run and I was about 24 years old. So I was really just trying to find an older version of her. and I sort of loosely based her on my ex mother-in-law. I just kind of threw in a little bit of my mother. You know my mom called in after watching the show and said, "You know you take that old lady way too seriously." And all I could think was it must be hitting close to home. I'm pretty right on. Yeah, but I just kind of based her on older women that were around me that I could kind of get a handle on. She's like your crazy old aunt or your grandma that says the most horrible things at the Thanksgiving table, and you go in the bathroom with your sisters and you say, "Can you believe she just said that?"

Q. And what about "The Carol Burnett Show?" What was it like co-starring on that show?

A. It's such a long time ago, and it's like an ancient chapter in my history that's sort of almost surreal. It was just a very special time, and I felt like I just got to go to the Harvard School of Comedy in front of America. I learned from the very best teachers in the world, and I have often called it the Emerald City because it just doesn't happen very often. It's a very hard place to get to "The Carol Burnett Show." It's very special, it was a very different time in television between then and now. And we just kind of got paid for playing dress up and having a very good time.

Q. What is the challenging part about being Mama?

A. She's just so fun. She can just get away with murder. She really can. So when I put my show together, which was like 5 or 6 years ago, I knew that I wanted to do the first half as me because I know there are a lot of things that people want to know about me and my career. And I also know that I want to be me just for my own sanity, because I also feel like I could fall off the face of the earth and if Mama was still around, no one would miss me.

Q. So what lesson does Mama teach?

A. Let's see, not to take your mother too seriously. Well you know, she's got good mother logic; and she's trying too keep her family in check. She's probably like every mother in the world -basically at the end of the day, she's just trying to put a nice meal on the table for her family and her loved ones. She's all about keeping the family together and on the straight and narrow.

Q. Now what about Vicki Lawrence. Where are you at right now in your career?

A. I don't know. Who knows; I just kind of keep going. Right now, I'm just busy touring the country and having fun with the show and promoting my new book and playing the grandmother on "Hannah Montana." And that's a whole new bunch of fans that I didn't have before. A lot of the young kids in my neighborhood have just discovered me.

Q. So what are some of your future endeavors?

A. I don't know. Well, let's see, the movie with Tyler Perry that will be good. You know I check meetings all the time. Who knows, it might be fun to get back on television if it was the right people. But in the meantime I just keep busy touring the country.

[PlayOn]

thanks for posting. i didn't know Vicki had a movie with Tyler Perry coming out. i bet it's hilarious. lol.

[catlover79]

Thanks for posting this, Charles. I've always liked Vicki - she just seems like such a cool lady.