The Rage Monthly: You’ve said that your show Vicki Lawrence and Mama: A Two Woman Show is not a retrospective for you. Will you elaborate on that?
Vicki Lawrence: When we put the show together, Harvey [Korman] and Tim [Conway]
were on the road. They were doing really well with their show and their show was sketches…we used old sketches from the Burnett Show basically. So, when I decided to put a show together, I decided I don’t want to go backward. I knew I had to bring Mama out of the closet because everybody loves her so much. But I really wanted to bring her into the new century and make her modern. I sort of considered her my op- portunity to be Chris Rock. Mind you, I don’t go quite as nuts as Chris does but kind of my opportunity to push the envelope and talk about things that wouldn’t otherwise be politically correct for Miss Vicki to talk about. So, [Mama] gets all the good jokes and all the good material. My half of the show is retrospective only in that it’s pretty autobiographical. I think
I answer every question that anybody would ask me if we were to do questions and answers like Carol used to. You’ll probably know more about me by the end of my half of the show than you really ever wanted to know (laughter).
Rage: There’s a down home earthiness to Thelma Harper [Mama]. In this age of cynical humor and tabloid headlines, why do you feel Mama’s take on life right now is so important?
VL: I think for the same reason that everybody’s always loved her. She just tells it like it
is. She’s sort of like your crazy old aunt or grandma who sits at the Thanksgiving table and says everything you wanted to say but would never. Then you’re in the powder room after dinner going “Oh my God” to your friend… “Can you believe she said that?” I kind of think of Mama the same way that I always thought of Archie Bunker. Everybody knows Archie Bunker. Everybody has an Archie Bunker in his or her fam- ily. Nobody ever fesses up to being him so nobody is ever offended by him. Nobody ever comes up to me and says, “Oh my God. I’m Mama.” They always come up to me and say, “Oh my God, you’re my aunt” or “Oh my God, you’re my grandma.” Consequently she gets away with murder because she’s a crazy old lady. She can say whatever the hell she wants.
Rage: Your career is so phenomenal. Bouncing from The Carol Burnett Show to Mama’s Family,your own talk show and all the hilarious game shows you were a part of. I discovered you also do speaking engagements across the country. What is that experience like?
VL: Actually the first half of my show is largely based on
what I learned at my speaking engagements—that everyone wants to hear the stories of my life. It’s pretty hysterical that I should be found by Carol by writing a fan letter and how I met my husband…over the years; the speaking engagement has expanded to include whatever is going on in my life. Whether it’s kids or menopause, because every woman is going through that crap. It’s whatever I need to talk about depending who the group is.
Rage: How do you think television comedy has changed over the years?
VL: We were sort of left to our own devices back then doing a live show. Now, you’d
have eight gazillion suits down there telling us what to do. Telling you what you can and can’t say…everything is so politically correct now. I think comedy has gotten cyni- cal and dark. Sexual. It’s hard to find for the kids those great old shows that you can sit and watch together. Where you can laugh at totally mindless shit like I did when I was young…like Green Acres or Lucy. Those shows are sort of timeless.
Rage: What are some of the shows you watch now?
VL: I’m crazy about Modern Family. I love that show. I think it’s hysterical. I still watch
Saturday Night Live. Although it’s not that often that it totally tickles me to death. I will say Betty White tickled the crap out of me. The Office and 30 Rock are funny but I don’t watch them all the time.
JUNE 2010 | RAGE monthly 55
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