Vicki Lawrence Was Nearly Dropped From ‘The Carol Burnett Show,’ but One Person Refused to Let It Happen

Long before she became a household name, a teenager's striking resemblance to a comedy legend changed the course of her life. Decades later, she has revealed a behind-the-scenes battle she knew nothing about at the time.

Vicki Lawrence never imagined her life and career would turn out as storied as they have over the past several decades. The longtime actress and comedian landed in the industry almost by accident during her senior year of high school.

That year, Lawrence entered the Miss Fireball of Inglewood contest. When a local newspaper covered the pageant, it noted that she bore a striking resemblance to a young Carol Burnett.

Lawrence sent the article to Burnett, and the actress, now 93, decided to attend the contest, which Lawrence went on to win. Once Lawrence turned 18, Burnett offered her a role on "The Carol Burnett Show," which premiered in 1967.

"I think nowadays what happened to me would never happen," Lawrence, now 77, said, "because now if you're not pulling Carrie Underwood out of the box, you're going to get kicked off either by the judges or by America."

Had she competed on a talent show like "American Idol," she joked, "I would've been kicked off in the second week."

Instead, she found herself working alongside Burnett and fellow comedy veteran Harvey Korman. "To have those people literally hold onto me and train me like that, it's fantastical. That would not happen today," she said.

In the show's early seasons, Lawrence mostly played Burnett's sister in sketches. "I've often said I went to the Harvard School of Comedy in front of America, so it was such a learning experience for me," she said.

According to Lawrence, Burnett never seemed to entertain the idea of replacing her.

It wasn't until recently, however, that she learned the network's top brass at CBS had pushed for her exit. Executives said of Lawrence, "She's really rough. I think we should get a different actress."

"And Carol said, 'She's a diamond in the rough and we're keeping her,'" Lawrence shared. "And she's recounted that story a couple of times for me now, that I was a diamond, and I just go, 'Really?'"

"I don't know what she saw. And she has said to me, 'I think it would've happened regardless, Vicki. It would've happened,'" she continued. Lawrence, however, remains unconvinced. "I thought I was going to be a dental hygienist. Thought I was gonna clean teeth, marry a rich dentist, and hang it up."

She admitted she had "no aspirations to be in show business." Yet, as fate would have it, she went on to star on "The Carol Burnett Show" for all 11 of its seasons, until the series wrapped in 1978.

Among her most memorable roles on the show was Mama, the sharp-tongued matriarch in the recurring sketch "The Family." The segments followed Burnett's Eunice as she clashed with her catty mother, and audiences couldn't get enough.

Their popularity led to the TV movie "Eunice," followed by the sitcom "Mama's Family," which premiered in 1983 and lasted six seasons. Lawrence also scored a No. 1 single with "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia," a song written by her first husband, songwriter Bobby Russell.

"It's crazy the stuff that's happened to me," Lawrence said. Her personal life brought its own milestones.

Lawrence wed her second husband, Al Schultz, in 1974, and the couple shared nearly five decades together before his passing in 2024, shortly before they would have marked 50 years of marriage. "The whole thing has been fantastical and it doesn't happen," she reflected.