Emmy Award-winning entertainer
Nationally-known comic and entertainer Vicki Lawrence, most famous for her role on The Carol Burnett Show where she developed the Thelma Harper/Mama character, will be the featured guest on an episode of Landmark Live on Thursday, Sept. 23.
Landmark Live is The Landmark Newspaper’s podcast, telecast live on The Landmark’s Facebook page at Platte County Landmark.
The Sept. 23 episode will go live at 6 p.m. with hosts Ivan Foley, Chris Kamler and Brad Carl. If you miss the live telecast, the video will remain on The Landmark’s Facebook page for viewing at your leisure.
Lawrence will be joining the show via Zoom video call.
Vicki Lawrence appeared on The Carol Burnett Show on CBS from 1967 to 1978, for the entire series run. The Thelma Harper/Mama character she created later became the central character of a popular situation comedy series called Mama’s Family. The show can still be seen daily in syndication throughout most of the country and is available as a Time-Life DVD collection.
These days, Lawrence spends much of her time on the road with her stage production entitled Vicki Lawrence and Mama: A Two Woman Show.
Lawrence will bring her show to the Ameristar Casino and Hotel in Kansas City on Friday, Oct. 15. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.com.
Lawrence has multiple Emmy Award nominations, winning one in 1976. She is a multiple Golden Globe nominee, all for The Carol Burnett Show. In 1973, Lawrence recorded the hit song “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.” It reached number one on both the United States and Canada top charts.
When The Carol Burnett Show ended, she starred in her own comedy show, Mama’s Family, which also featured Dorothy Lyman, Ken Berry, Beverly Archer and Betty White. Carol Burnett also frequently appeared on the show. After ending her sitcom, Lawrence delved into hosting television shows.
She became the first successful female game show host when she hosted Win, Lose or Draw. She also hosted her own talk show for a time, entitled Vicki!, which ran from 1992-94.
Most recently she co-starred in the Fox-TV comedy series The Cool Kids, about a rowdy, rag-tag group of friends living in a retirement community who are willing to break every rule in order to have fun. Her co-stars on that show included David Alan Grier, Martin Mull, and Leslie Jordan.
Through the years Lawrence has made appearances on other television programs, such as Laverne and Shirley, Major Dad, Roseanne, Hannah Montana and Yes, Dear. She has also appeared with Burnett, Harvey Korman, and Tim Conway in the Burnett show retrospectives.
She has also appeared in numerous stage productions.
In addition to her career in entertainment, Lawrence has been active in many causes. She was the honorary head of the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program, raised money to protect widows and families of slain police officers in Long Beach, Calif., supports the Humane Society and works with the American Heart Association as well as Walk for the Cure.
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