Vicki Lawrence doesn’t see the world in shades of black and white. For her, life is experienced in red and gray.

Lawrence is what many expect of redheads — spunky and fun. She’s outspoken, but only to a point.

When she becomes her most famous gray-haired character, “Mama,” Lawrence has no such restrictions — she can let it all hang out.

“Mama can say all the things I’d like to say and get away with it because she’s an old lady,” Lawrence said by telephone from Long Beach, Calif.

She had interrupted an appointment with her hairdresser where she was becoming “a natural redhead” to talk about her upcoming show in Huntsville, “Vicki Lawrence and Mama: A Two Woman Show.” She performs the Broadway Theater League show at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. Sunday at the Von Braun Center. Ticket information is available by calling (256) 551-2345, or visiting www.ticketmaster.com.

“I really wanted to just make people laugh for 90 minutes,” said Lawrence, who became a regular member of the cast of “The Carol Burnett Show” in 1968 when she was just 18 years old. She added to her credits in 1973 when she had a gold record with “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia,” and continued her career acting in plays and starring in the television series, “Mama’s Family,” based on the character created with Carol Burnett.

Lawrence created “A Two Woman Show” about a year ago and has been touring the country. Her husband, Al Schultz, often comes along, and her son, Garrett, 28, is her stage manager. Her long-time writing partner Monty Aidem helps write her material and the man who started as her cue-card holder on the Carol Burnett Show is the show’s director.

“It’s really a family affair,” she said.

She enjoys the freedom of the show, she said, because she is able to relate with a live audience and change material when she thinks of something new.

“The first half is largely autobiographical,” she said. “I talk about family and being a natural redhead. I try to talk about real life and do a little bit of singing. Then I turn the stage over to Mama.”

As always, Mama has attitude. She discusses the erratic behavior of Tom Cruise and Michael Jackson and takes on women’s issues.

“I try to keep Mama a little bit edgy,” Lawrence said. “I think of it as ‘Mama, unplugged.’”

While some material is not for children, Lawrence said it is fairly tame. “It’s a PG show,” she said. Lawrence will sing “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia,” and Mama will sing as well.

Her audience includes people young and old, she said.

“It’s neat to see how she (Mama) spans the generations, really,” Lawrence said.





A ‘lucky’ break





Vicki Lawrence was born in Inglewood, Calif., in 1949. In high school, she excelled in dancing and singing, was a cheerleader and was voted “Most Likely to Succeed” by her graduating class.

Also during high school, she sang with the Young Americans musical group and appeared in the film “The Young Americans,” which won an Academy Award for best documentary.

It was during her senior year that Lawrence came to the attention of Carol Burnett.

She sent Burnett a letter and included a local newspaper article mentioning their resemblance. Lawrence invited Burnett to the local fire department’s “Miss Fireball Contest,” in which she was performing.

At the time, Burnett was looking for an actress to play her younger sister on her new variety series and decided to attend the event. She liked what she saw, and Lawrence was soon appearing on The Carol Burnett Show, which premiered in 1967.

“I feel like I got to go to the Harvard School of Comedy in front of America,” Lawrence said. “Nowadays, some network executive would probably say, ‘Get rid of her and get an actress.’ I was very lucky.”

When it was pointed out during the interview that Lawrence had some natural comedic ability, she brushed the comment aside.

“It was hard not to learn it just by osmosis,” she said.

Lawrence said she doesn’t often see the Burnett show family —including Burnett, Harvey Korman, Tim Conway and Lyle Waggoner.

“I think everybody’s fab,” she said. “We don’t get together too often because everybody’s going in different directions.”

The gang was reunited last year when they were honored — along with the show’s costume designer Bob Mackie —with the Legend Award at the TV Land Awards last March.

“When we do get together, it’s like no time has passed,” Lawrence said.

The show still can be seen from time to time in syndication and is making a new generation laugh at the comedic antics of its cast.

“I think it’s one of the great, good old shows,” Lawrence said, adding she is glad new generations are seeing it.

“My kids grew up on Nick at Nite,” she said. “It’s the best thing ever to come along. They grew up on the things I loved when I was younger.”

Her next television series, “Mama’s Family,” which ran from 1985-1990, also stands the test of time. Lawrence said it made a list compiled recently by Country Music Television of favorite country shows.





New challenges





Although Lawrence had a few other recordings, none matched the success of “The Night the Lights Went out in Georgia.” A movie was later made with the same title starring Kristy McNichol and Dennis Quaid, but its script did not follow the lyrics.

Those lyrics, written by Bobby Russell, who Lawrence said was her husband “for about 10 minutes,” are still unclear to her.

“It’s still a mystery. It never made any sense,” she said. But she knew that wouldn’t matter to listeners.

“I kept saying, ‘It’s a hit, it’s a hit,’” she said. But no one bit. Cher was among the singers who turned it down. So, according to Lawrence, Russell’s manager said, “I’m going to take Vicki and record it.”

With the Young Americans, Lawrence had toured with the likes of Johnny Mathis and Henry Mancini, but she had no idea a gold record was on her horizon.

The song since has been recorded by Reba McEntire.

Though Lawrence did not pursue a recording career, she continued to act and host shows. She is also an outspoken proponent of women’s rights.

When “Mama’s Family” concluded, Lawrence hosted the game show “Win, Lose or Draw,” the talk show “Vicki!” and, briefly, “Fox After Breakfast.”

“Vicki!” was the only talk show other than “Oprah” to receive an Emmy nomination in its first year.

She has also appeared in numerous stage productions, including “Carousel,” “Send Me No Flowers,” “No, No, Nanette,” “Hello Dolly,” “Annie Get Your Gun” and live from the Grand Ole Opry, “Nunsense 3: The Jamboree” which aired on TNN. Most recently she appeared in the Vagina Monologues.

In 1995, she published her autobiography, “Vicki!: The True Adventures of Miss Fireball.”





Back to the future





Like Lawrence’s talents, Mama’s voice would not be stilled. Lawrence visited more than 80 cities last year with her “Two Woman Show,” bringing Mama and laughs to thousands.

“We’ve been all over the joint,” she said.

Lawrence said the show offers flexibility.

“It’s fun for me,” she said. “I can change the material when I want. There’s nobody from a network saying, ‘You can’t say this, you can’t do this.’”

Her work with her writing partner, Aidem, with whom she’s worked since her talk show, is collaborative.

“Mama’s southern and he’s a Jew from the Valley,” she said. “He’ll write a joke and Fax it to me and I’ll translate it into Mama’s language. It goes back and forth.”

Lawrence’s daughter, Courtney, 30, has seen the show.

“She said, ‘This is like your favorite aunt or mom telling stories,’” Lawrence said.

Lawrence and crew will arrive today for a performance near St. Charles, La., which is near New Orleans.

She said she has not been to Louisiana since Hurricane Katrina, but she hopes for quick recovery for the towns affected, including New Orleans, one of her favorite destinations.

“I just love that town. Love it, love it,” she said. “I understand where we’re staying was hit pretty darn hard.”

From Louisiana, the show comes to Huntsville.

Performing for her fans still gives Lawrence a thrill.

“There’s nothing like a live audience,” she said.