As much as Thelma Harper -- "Mama" on The Carol Burnett Show and Mama's Family -- was known for her crabbiness, she was also a sassy grandma. Her tongue could be as blue as her hair, metaphorically speaking on both counts.
What some might not know, though, is that her creator, Vicki Lawrence, is of the same stripe, as she demonstrated in the first half of Vicki Lawrence and Mama: A Two Woman Show. The performance Saturday was the headlining event of Casa Mañana's Laugh With a Legend Gala, which raises money for educational programs.
She began the show as herself, mixing standup with the history of her serendipitous discovery by Burnett, and her eventual creation of Mama. The comedy was heavy on the TMI shtick, spending a bit too much time talking about her OB/GYN, who informed her that she's a natural redhead. Before that, there were jokes about faking an orgasm when her dog humped her leg (because she's a giver), and taking Tyra Banks' advice and trying the coffee enema. Poor Starbucks barista.
Not every joke landed, but that's the way it goes with standup.
However, after she left the stage for a few minutes and returned in that famous dowdy print dress and gray wig, with the orthopedic shoes and bunched-down stockings, she killed.
Lawrence might have been the first-billed name of the show, but the near sold-out audience obviously was there to see Mama.
And she didn't disappoint.
It wasn't hard to imagine Eunice nearby as Mama ripped into current politics, celebrity obsession and that favorite topic of anybody who's over the retirement age: the fashion and music of "kids today." She even busted out with her own rap, serving some semi-mad rhymes about her well-padded badonkadonk.
It was vintage Mama: a little wacky, a little wrong and a lot funny.
Hey there. or join DFW.com. Your account. Log out.
