'Two-woman show': Vicki Lawrence talks about Cape appearance

Thelma Harper is coming to Cape Girardeau on Sunday, and she's bringing Emmy Award-winning comedienne Vicki Lawrence with her.

Harper, or "Mama" as she's known to fans of the "The Carol Burnett Show" and "Mama's Family," is Lawrence's most enduring character, comedy foil and half of her "two-woman show."

The show will be part standup by Lawrence and part standup by Lawrence as Mama. While the two personas are different, ("Dear God, I hope we're different!" said Lawrence), she says her portrayal of Mama has evolved since she began the character when she was only 24 years old.

"[My 'The Carol Burnett Show' co-star] Harvey Korman told me many years ago that any character you do well is a part of you, and I believe [Mama and I] have grown together," she said during a telephone interview. "I sort of think more like her as you get older. You don't have time to mince words."

Her performance at Isle Casino Cape Girardeau may be particularly well-received because Lawrence based her alter-ego on her Missouri grandmother.

"I hope [the Missouri crowd] is seriously going to be my peeps," she joked. "My grandma and I, when I'm dressed as Mama, look like we're separated at birth, seriously."

She said playing off the crowd always has been one of the things she's enjoyed about performing and what she's looking forward to.

"You're alone onstage, but you're not really alone," she said. "You have this audience that goes along the way with you. No audience is the same."

As the zeitgeist turns more toward profanity and the risque for laughs, the enduring popularity of characters such as Mama has been due in part to their ability to provide an audience with a breath of fresh air, so to speak.

"People look back so fondly on 'The Carol Burnett Show' and 'Mama's Family' because you didn't have to think about it too much," Lawrence said. "It was just silly, and you could laugh."

But don't let the orthopedic shoes fool you. Mama's no frail woman.

"It's very freeing to be able to play this crazy old lady who gets to say exactly what's on her mind," Lawrence said. "But I wanted to keep [her] topical."

So, at one point, Mama wrote a rap song.

"About her life, what she knows," Lawrence said. "Write what you know, right?"

And Mama -- and Lawrence, too, of course -- knows how to make people laugh.

"I'm pleased that people love her this much," she said. "It's great."

She attributes Mama's popularity to her relatability.

"We all have a Mama in the family," she said. "And if you are Mama's age, you had better wear your Depends, just in case."

Tickets for both the 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sunday shows are available at Isle Casino Cape Girardeau and online for $25, $50, and $75.

tgraef@semissourian.com

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