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Vicki Lawrence, front, is touring as herself and her alter ego, Mama, who was first made popular on "The Carol Burnett Show." The show will come to The Maryland Theatre on Wednesday. (Submitted photo) |
Vicki Lawrence said she likes to live by a motto: "Life is much too serious to be taken seriously."
And Lawrence, who is known for her character Mama, has made a point to live by her own mantra.
"When people meet me they always ask for Mama, like she's a real person," Lawrence, 62, said during a telephone interview from her Long Beach, Calf., home.
Lawrence will bring Mama to Hagerstown for the two-woman show "Vicki Lawrence & Mama" at 2 and 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 28, at The Maryland Theatre, 21 S. Potomac St., downtown Hagerstown.
The show, Lawrence said, will include memories shared by both Vicki Lawrence as herself as well as in costume as Mama.
"I think I could fall off the face of the Earth and (fans) wouldn't miss me as long as Mama's around," Lawrence said with a laugh.
When Lawrence was a high school senior, she famously broke into show business by writing to comedienne Carol Burnett. Lawrence had included a newspaper article that stated their resemblance and invited Burnett to attend the pageant she was in. Burnett happened to be looking for someone to play her kid sister in an upcoming performance — so she attended.
And in 1967, the same year Lawrence entered University of California, Los Angeles, to study theater arts, she performed on "The Carol Burnett Show." For 11 years Lawrence shared the stage with Burnett, as well as the likes of Harvey Korman, Tim Conway, Lyle Waggoner and Dick Van Dyke.
Mama was part of "The Family" skits on "The Carol Burnett Show," but Lawrence wasn't the writers' first choice to play the feisty Mama — Burnett was.
"They lovingly created this dysfunctional family, and they wanted Carol to play Mama," Lawrence said. "But that was not the character that spoke to her. I have often said that Mama is yet another gift from Carol because she did not want that part."
Burnett instead took the role of Eunice, Mama's daughter, while Lawrence — only 24 at the time — took the role as Mama. (Betty White played Mama's other daughter, Ellen).
Mama fans will note that when the character was developed for "The Carol Burnett Show" that the matriarch was a bit, well, meaner.
"Both of those writers hated their mothers and it was just a labor of love for them to get this women down on paper," Lawrence said with a laugh. "They were like these little plays. They were borderline true to life, I think."
And that's where her motto comes in. "You have to laugh at the hysteria that is your life," she said.
Her psychologist (who Lawrence said will be in Hagerstown to watch the show) told her that "anyone who says they don't have a dysfunctional family is living alone."
When the show "Mama's Family" was in development for NBC as a sitcom, Lawrence said it was then that her character had to become more than a one-dimensional character.
"I actually shot the show down because I said it wasn't working."
That's when she asked Korman to come in to help with Mama.
"He said, 'She's got to turn into a sitcom character now. She's got to turn into a peacock. She's got to be silly,'" Lawrence recalls. "But I said. 'She's never even smiled, Harvey.'"
And Lawrence, who is known for her character Mama, has made a point to live by her own mantra.
"When people meet me they always ask for Mama, like she's a real person," Lawrence, 62, said during a telephone interview from her Long Beach, Calf., home.
Lawrence will bring Mama to Hagerstown for the two-woman show "Vicki Lawrence & Mama" at 2 and 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 28, at The Maryland Theatre, 21 S. Potomac St., downtown Hagerstown.
The show, Lawrence said, will include memories shared by both Vicki Lawrence as herself as well as in costume as Mama.
"I think I could fall off the face of the Earth and (fans) wouldn't miss me as long as Mama's around," Lawrence said with a laugh.
When Lawrence was a high school senior, she famously broke into show business by writing to comedienne Carol Burnett. Lawrence had included a newspaper article that stated their resemblance and invited Burnett to attend the pageant she was in. Burnett happened to be looking for someone to play her kid sister in an upcoming performance — so she attended.
And in 1967, the same year Lawrence entered University of California, Los Angeles, to study theater arts, she performed on "The Carol Burnett Show." For 11 years Lawrence shared the stage with Burnett, as well as the likes of Harvey Korman, Tim Conway, Lyle Waggoner and Dick Van Dyke.
Mama was part of "The Family" skits on "The Carol Burnett Show," but Lawrence wasn't the writers' first choice to play the feisty Mama — Burnett was.
"They lovingly created this dysfunctional family, and they wanted Carol to play Mama," Lawrence said. "But that was not the character that spoke to her. I have often said that Mama is yet another gift from Carol because she did not want that part."
Burnett instead took the role of Eunice, Mama's daughter, while Lawrence — only 24 at the time — took the role as Mama. (Betty White played Mama's other daughter, Ellen).
Mama fans will note that when the character was developed for "The Carol Burnett Show" that the matriarch was a bit, well, meaner.
"Both of those writers hated their mothers and it was just a labor of love for them to get this women down on paper," Lawrence said with a laugh. "They were like these little plays. They were borderline true to life, I think."
And that's where her motto comes in. "You have to laugh at the hysteria that is your life," she said.
Her psychologist (who Lawrence said will be in Hagerstown to watch the show) told her that "anyone who says they don't have a dysfunctional family is living alone."
When the show "Mama's Family" was in development for NBC as a sitcom, Lawrence said it was then that her character had to become more than a one-dimensional character.
"I actually shot the show down because I said it wasn't working."
That's when she asked Korman to come in to help with Mama.
"He said, 'She's got to turn into a sitcom character now. She's got to turn into a peacock. She's got to be silly,'" Lawrence recalls. "But I said. 'She's never even smiled, Harvey.'"
