Plucked out of total obscurity as a high school senior, Vicki Lawrence went on to become part of the now-legendary cast of the “Carol Burnett Show.” “I went to the Harvard School of Comedy in front of America,” Lawrence said of her Carol Burnett Show training.

In the seventh season and hundreds of hilarious sketches later, at the ripe old age of 24, Vicki created her most endearing character to date, Thelma Harper, or “Mama” as she is better known to her fans. After the Burnett Show, Vicki went on to star in “Mama’s Family,” which consistently topped the ratings for its entire six-year run of original shows.