- - Carol Burnett and Vicki Lawrence Open Up About On-Screen Reunion on “Palm Royale”: ‘Like Old Times’

Victoria EdelJanuary 1, 2026 at 10:37 PM

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Carol Burnett (left) and Vicki Lawrence in 'The Carol Burnett Show' in 1973 -

Carol Burnett and Vicki Lawrence reunited on-screen in Palm Royale

The actors first starred together on The Carol Burnett Show, which premiered in 1967

On Palm Royale, Lawrence plays Burnett's mother, just as she did in one of The Carol Burnett Show's most famous sketches

Carol Burnett and Vicki Lawrence are together again!

Burnett, 92, first started working with Lawrence, 76, in 1967, when her sketch series The Carol Burnett Show premiered. Though Lawrence is 16 years younger than Burnett, her most famous character was “Mama,” the mother of Burnett’s Eunice Harper Higgins. The sketches featuring Mama and Eunice, called “The Family,” proved so popular that they were expanded into the 1982 TV movie Eunice and then the 1983 sitcom Mama's Family, which ran for six seasons.

Now, the pair are reuniting in season 2 of Apple TV’s Palm Royale. On the series, Burnett plays Norma Dellacorte — and Lawrence joined in season 2 as Norma’s mom, Lottie.

CBS Photo Archive/Getty

From left: Vicki Lawrence, Harvey Korman and Carol Burnett on 'The Carol Burnett Show' in 1975

“Being with Vicki again was like old times,” Burnett told Parade in an article published Dec. 31. “I mean, it was as if all the years had not passed, and here we are again together.”

Burnett said Palm Royale showrunner Abe Sylvia was the one who suggested casting Lawrence. He asked her, “How would you feel if we have Vicki on?” and she said, “Of course, I was thinking the same thing.”

Burnett continued, “So it was really such fun. And when she showed up on the set, you know, it was, as I say, it’s like the years just washed away. And here we were again, you know, Carol and Vicki together.”

Burnett told Parade Lawrence wasn’t that surprised to be asked to play Burnett’s mother again. “What happened was Abe Sylvia called Vicki and said, ‘Okay, we would like you to be on the show, and you’ll be Carol’s mother.’ And Vicki said, ‘So what else is new?'” Burnett told the outlet.

“Here she was playing my mother on my show when we did ‘The Family’ sketches,” she said. “She was 24 years old when she played mama, when we first cast her.”

Apple TV (2)

Vicki Lawrence (left) and Carol Burnett (right) in 'Palm Royale'

Sylvia told Parade that their mission for season 2, which premiered in November, was to “make the entire season a love letter to Carol.” He said, “There are Easter eggs throughout the 10 episodes – but our triumph in this regard was the gift of reuniting Carol with Vicki Lawrence.”

Sylvia said that he wasn’t worried about people buying that Lawrence was Burnett’s mother. He said he told the actresses, “because of [Mama’s Family], Vicki has been Carol’s mama in the public’s consciousness for 50-some odd years. I think we’re good in this regard.”

Lawrence told TV Insider in an interview published Dec. 31 of the reunion, “It was very comfortable and so good to see Carol and so good to meet all those lovely ladies that I’m a fan of. It was a fun set, a fun group.”

The series also stars Kristen Wiig, Allison Janney, Kaia Gerber and Leslie Bibb.

Lawrence noted that she and Burnett see each other “quite often.” “We laugh a lot,” she said. “We went to one of the local restaurants one night, and she invited some friends. When we left, the maitre d’ said, ‘I haven’t heard that much laughter in this restaurant ever.’ It’s always good to see her and reminisce about the good old days.”

Palm Royale streams on Apple TV. New episodes are released on Wednesdays.

on People

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”