Vicki Lawrence

Things have always sort of happened for me. Something else always comes up.

Everybody just told me from the day I went into high school that I looked like Carol Burnett.

I think the older you get, the more 'let's cut to the chase' you get, 'let's quit quibbling about this, let's tell it like it is.'

Even though I was in close proximity to everything, it never really dawned on me to pursue a career in show business.

Everyone has a crazy old lady in their family like 'Mama.' No one ever comes up to me and says 'Mama' is just like them, so no one is ever offended by her. Even young people like to laugh at her. I think she helps kids appreciate their own grandmothers more.

Life is much too serious to be taken seriously.

I feel like my life has been very serendipitous and really kind of humorous. Everything that's happened to me has been like an, 'Omigod, are you kidding me?'

I never intended to be in show business; I intended to be an extremely grounded person.

I often feel like I could fall off the face of the Earth. As long as 'Mama' was around, nobody would really miss me. People really think of her as an actual person. People all the time see me and ask, 'Where's Mama?' Like she should be with me.

I do love pasta. It gets me into trouble. If I could give up pasta and bread, I'd look like Cate Blanchett.

The fun part for me is to just really push that envelope.

I always tell people I went to the Harvard School of Comedy in front of America.

I wanted to study to be a dental hygienist, marry a rich dentist, and hang it up.

I went to UCLA, my dad's alma mater, and that was his dream.

That's my opportunity to hide behind that old lady and say what I want to say.

I was married for 10 minutes into a Southern family.

Tim Conway was a little different from the rest. He was always in the back of the studio building something with the prop man, rewriting his lines, or plotting our demise.

I didn't plan on going into show business. Show business picked me. And it's been fun. One of the best things about being in show business is people think they know me, and they feel like they grew up with me.