When two writers on The Carol Burnett Show created Thelma Harper – better known as Mama, the cranky, acid-tongued curmudgeon with brutally honest observations about life – little did they know it would change Vicki Lawrence’s career.
“She was written as a one-time sketch by two of the writers on Carol’s show,” Lawrence told the LGBT Weekly. The writers thought it was going to be a great character for Burnett, and a guest star was going to play her daughter, Eunice. “But when Carol saw the sketch, she said she wanted to be Eunice and wanted me to play Mama.”
Of course, that choice seems creatively logical now, since most audiences grew up with Carol as Eunice and Vicki as Mama. At the time, however, the creators of the characters were having a fit.
“The writers were upset from the very start. They thought we had ruined the whole thing,” Lawrence said. Wait; there’s more. “Then Carol decided she wanted it to be Southern. (The writers) never intended it to be Southern. They thought that would offend everybody in the South. They were just very unhappy with what we did with that sketch and very disappointed that it went on the air that way.”
As history tells, however, Carol’s choices were best. Mama, Eunice and Ed Higgins (played by Harvey Korman) were a hit, and appeared numerous times on the show in The Family series of sketches. Lawrence even reprised her role in a spin-off comedy series, Mama’s Family.
Now, Lawrence tours the country in her two-woman show, Vicki Lawrence and Mama. The duo is currently performing at the Welk Theatre in Escondido. Not together, of course.
“I knew that I wanted to be me for half the show before I am not me any more,” Lawrence explained. “So first is me, and it’s largely autobiographical. I would say my life has been nothing if not pretty dang funny.”
“The second half is Mama,” she continued. “I knew I had to do Mama because I think people love her more than they love me. Sometimes I feel no one would miss me if I conked; they would only miss Mama. I know how popular she is. People treat her like she is a real person.
“She is the one that gets to have all the fun. She gets all the good jokes. Whatever is topical that is in the news, Mama gets to talk about it. She’s really the silliest half of the show.”
While the first half is a bit reflective of Lawrence’s career, the second half is constantly being updated. Mama is a feisty old gal and stays current with today’s headlines.
“When I put my show together, I didn’t want to be too nostalgic,” she said. “It is nostalgic because it’s Mama, but I wanted her to be modern. I wanted to push her into the new century. I wanted her to be topical. She’s very outspoken. She is the half of the show that changes the most, because I try to keep her newsworthy and current.”
Some of Mama’s topics include FEMA, the borders, automatic toilets that flush three times before you can get your pants back up, women that put their makeup on while they are driving and same-sex marriage. She even raps.
“It’s a lot of fun. I put it together wanting to make people laugh for a little while, and take them away from the lunacy of what is going on in the real world. Although, the real world has gotten so comical that I do include it a lot more,” Lawrence said.
Lawrence continued to explain the show is not for the faint at heart. Don’t expect Mama to be nice or politically correct with any of her topics. She’s both conservative and liberal – but neither at the same time.
“She’s a little of both: progressive with a gun,” Lawrence laughed. “She’s a little twisted. She’s forever a crazy old lady.”
Lawrence explained that Mama has her own way of sorting things out and making sense of it all. She calls it “Mama’s Logic,” but it’s usually not too logical.
“She’s always saying the most outrageous things. We laugh about it, and later we say, ‘Well, she might be kind of right,’” Lawrence said. “People sort of buy it, because in many ways, it’s what people are already thinking – or it’s Mama’s Logic, and it’s so far off the mark that’s it’s comical.”
Lawrence said Mama has never gone too far, but also added that she doesn’t think Mama can go too far. Even though Mama is rude and crude, obnoxiously honest and has her own logic, people love her.
“I think that’s because everybody knows her,” Lawrence said. “Everybody has a Mama in their family. It’s never them, so they are never offended by it personally. But we all know that person. We all have her in the family.”
And she’s part of our family, too – at least as an honorary Mama to the LGBT community, if not a drag queen. “I am the ultimate drag queen,” Lawrence proclaimed.
Lawrence was introduced to her gay fans when she was working on Mama’s Family. One day while back stage, she was talking with co-star Dorothy Lyman (who also played Opal Sue Garden on All My Children). Lyman was reading her fan mail and explaining her huge gay following to Lawrence.
“She said, ‘I am very popular in the gay clubs,’” Lawrence recalled, adding “… and then she said, ‘So are you, dear.’ I said, ‘I am?’ I didn’t really know.”
Since then, Lawrence has embraced her LGBT fans. She even gets a lot of pictures every Halloween – “Usually kids and sometimes men dressed as Mama,” she said. “Once in a while, they will show up at the show in drag – and there is usually a Eunice in the audience heckling me.”
So how does Mama feel about gay rights?
“She does have a very strong opinion about gay marriage,” Lawrence said, but would not say any more. “I hate to ruin it. It’s one of my favorite jokes in the whole show. It’s Mama’s Logic.”
Vicki and Mama perform at the Welk Resorts Theatre (8860 Lawrence Welk Drive in Escondido) through May 22. Tickets are $65 for the show, or $80 for a brunch buffet and show. For tickets, call 888-802-7469 or log on to welktheatersandiego.com.
