Carol Burnett, 93, shared “lotsa laughs and lotsa memories” with her former “Carol Burnett Show” co-star Vicki Lawrence during a recent reunion.
Lawrence, 77, took to social media on Monday, sharing a photo from their joyous night out on the town which showed the pair in good spirits as they posed alongside each other.
“Special night. Dinner with Carol. Thank you Brian for a beautiful meal. Lotsa laughs and lotsa memories. I love her so…🥰.” she captioned the photo.
Lawrence first crossed paths with Burnett when she was fresh out of high school after her mother recommended that she write a fan letter to the comedian.
Coincidentally, Burnett was looking for an actress to play her younger sister on her upcoming show, and noting their similar features, she looked up Lawrence’s family in the phone book and asked her to audition for the role.
Lawrence starred on the “Carol Burnett Show” from 1967 to 1978, portraying a number of characters — her most notable being Thelma “Mama” Harper, which scored her a leading role on the spinoff series, “Mama’s Family” in 1983.
The series ran until 1990. But, somewhere along the way, Burnett and Lawrence had a falling out as friends which the actress later attributed to Burnett’s difficult divorce from Joe Hamilton.
During their breakup, Burnett began to separate herself from “Mama’s Family” — which Hamilton produced — and its cast as she made less appearances on the show.
“She went through a horrible divorce,” Lawrence told Screen Rant in 2024. “So, it was almost … for a while there, it was almost like she divorced all of us who were involved with [Hamilton] at all. I know it was tough for her. She spent a long time …”
“She talked to my husband one night,” the actress continued. “She called — it was early in the ‘Mama’s Family’ run. I was making dinner. My son answered the phone, and she said, ‘Can I talk to your dad?’ And I said, ‘Who is it?’ And my son said, ‘It’s Carol.’ I said, ‘Does she want to talk to me?’ And he said, ‘No, she wants to talk to dad.’ And it kind of broke my heart.
“But she did say to Al, my husband, ‘I promise I’ll be back. I promise.’ and when she was back, she was fully back,” Lawrence remembered. “But I know it was a really tough time for her. It was more sad than anything.”
However, the two stars eventually made up — to the point that Lawrence described their relationship as “closer than we have ever been” in her 2024 interview.
“I’m glad we are so close now,” Lawrence said.
The pair reunited onscreen for Season 2 of Apple TV+’s “Palm Royale,” which premiered in November 2025.
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