Moreover, Lawrence has made numerous post-Mama's Family guest TV show appearances in her famed Mama role.

Her paternal grandmother, Anna Irmas, was born in Illinois, to German Jewish parents but became an adherent of Christian Science, in which faith Vicki's father was raised.

A reporter for a local newspaper wrote a story about the contest and stated that Lawrence bore a striking resemblance to a young Carol Burnett.

After receiving the letter, Burnett found Lawrence's father's name in the phone book, called him, and said she would go to see the Miss Fireball contest.

After a few months and auditions, Lawrence, aged 18, got the part, specifically to play "Chrissy" in the "Carol and Sis" sketches.

Korman taught her various sketch comedy skills, such as listening not just for a cue line, and also coached her in other areas, such as speaking in different accents.

Lawrence has credited Korman and Burnett with being her mentors, and has referred to her experience on the show as the "Harvard school of comedy".

After The Carol Burnett Show ended in 1978, Lawrence and her husband Al Schultz moved with their children to Maui, Hawaii, but after a few years, returned to Los Angeles, where they have remained.

In The Carol Burnett Show's seventh season, Lawrence debuted her famed Mama role on a comedy sketch called The Family.

Only created as a one-off skit, The Family's unexpected success with audiences led to it having recurring installments for the final five seasons of the program.

Lawrence has made appearances on other programs, such as the sitcoms Laverne & Shirley, The Love Boat, Major Dad, Diagnosis: Murder, and Yes, Dear.

Between the NBC and syndication runs of Mama's Family, Lawrence starred in the 1985 comedy pilot Anything for Love, which aired as a special on CBS that summer and co-starred Lauren Tewes and Rebeca Arthur.

She starred in the Fox sitcom The Cool Kids, along with Martin Mull, Leslie Jordan, and David Alan Grier from 2018 to 2019.

Playing for a charity, she made it to the final two but ended up losing to Ed Begley Jr. As a singer, Lawrence got her start as one of the scores of hopefuls on the syndicated Johnny Mann's Stand Up And Cheer program.

However, she is most known for her number-one hit, "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia", a song written by her first husband Bobby Russell,[1] which was released on Bell Records in November 1972.

In the fall of 1975, Lawrence managed one last minor U.S. chart entry on the Private Stock label with "The Other Woman" (number 81).

As an emcee, Lawrence hosted the daytime NBC version of the game show Win, Lose or Draw (1987-1990), as well as an unsold pilot for Mark Goodson Productions, 1990's Body Talk.

In 1997, she hosted Fox After Breakfast, which was renamed The Vicki Lawrence Show,[6] but was cancelled five weeks later due to low ratings.