Carol Burnett and Vicki Lawrence starred together on The Carol Burnett Show from 1967 until 1978. Earlier this week, the two comedic legends reunited nearly half a century after their hilarious variety show went off the air.
Burnett And Lawrence Reunite
Lawrence, 77, took to Instagram to share a selfie of herself with Burnett, 93.
“Special night. Dinner with Carol. Thank you Brian for a beautiful meal,” Lawrence wrote in the caption. “Lotsa laughs and lotsa memories. I love her so…🥰.”
Lawrence is 16 years younger than Burnett. Despite this, Lawrence’s most famous character was “Mama,” the mother of Burnett’s Eunice Harper Higgins. Indeed, Mama was so popular that Lawrence scored her own spinoff for the character Mama’s Family, which ran from 1983 until 1990.
These two comedy icons recently got to act together on television for the first time in decades on Burnett’s Apple TV show Palm Royale. There, Burnett played Norma Dellacorte. Lawrence signed on in season 2 to play Norma’s mother Lottie.
“Being with Vicki again was like old times,” Burnett told Parade in December of 2025. “I mean, it was as if all the years had not passed, and here we are again together.”
Burnett went on to say that show-runner Abe Sylvia was the one who suggested casting Lawrence in the role of Norma’s mother. Indeed, he reportedly asked Burnett, “How would you feel if we have Vicki on?” She replied by saying, “Of course, I was thinking the same thing.”
“So it was really such fun,” Burnett gushed. “And when she showed up on the set, you know, it was, as I say, it’s like the years just washed away. And here we were again, you know, Carol and Vicki together.”
Burnett Doubles Down
Burnett then said that despite their age difference, Lawrence wasn’t surprised to be asked to play her mother again.
“What happened was Abe Sylvia called Vicki and said, ‘Okay, we would like you to be on the show, and you’ll be Carol’s mother.’ And Vicki said, ‘So what else is new?’” Burnett recounted.
“Here she was playing my mother on my show when we did ‘The Family’ sketches,” she added. “She was 24 years old when she played mama, when we first cast her.”
Watch Burnett talk more about her onscreen reunion with Lawrence in the video below.
Lawrence Sees Burnett ‘Quite Often’
As for Lawrence, she was all too happy to sign on for the role.
“I feel like I was right back where I always was,” Lawrence told TV Insider. “It was very comfortable and so good to see Carol and so good to meet all those lovely ladies that I’m a fan of. It was a fun set, a fun group.”
“When he gave me the offer, I was so excited because all those women are so gorgeous,” she continued of Sylvia. “The costumes, the makeup, everything is beautiful. I couldn’t wait to see what I was going to get to do.”
Lawrence concluded by saying that she and Burnett have remained close friends over the years.
“I see her quite often,” Lawrence said of Burnett. “I go up north and visit her in Santa Barbara. We laugh a lot. We went to one of the local restaurants one night, and she invited some friends. When we left, the maitre d’ said, ‘I haven’t heard that much laughter in this restaurant ever.’ It’s always good to see her and reminisce about the good old days.”
Burnett and Lawrence are two living legends, and there will never be others like them. After making us laugh for so many years, it’s nice to see that the two of them are still close friends.
God bless you both, Carol Burnett and Vicki Lawrence!