The Only 2 Main Cast Members Still Alive From The Carol Burnett Show

Not only is "The Carol Burnett Show" one of the best sketch comedy shows ever, but it also helped to lay the foundation for the entire genre following its pioneering 1967 to 1978 run. And while the titular comedienne was obviously the glue that held the whole thing together, it was very much an ensemble effort, with the show featuring some of the best comedy and improv talent of all time. Along with Burnett herself, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway comprised the show's main cast, though not all of them stuck around until the end. Dick Van Dyke also did a recurring guest stint during the show's eleventh and final season. And that's to say nothing of the frequent guest appearances by a veritable who's-who list of the biggest stars around at the time. 

One of the reasons "The Carol Burnett Show" was so good is that the cast consisted almost entirely of people who were already established veterans in comedy; Lawrence was the only main performer who was under 30 when the show began. That experience shone through, with the cast firing on all cylinders from day one, already comfortable in their abilities. The downside of this is that, unlike "Saturday Night Live" which hit its 50th anniversary in 2024 with a large number of early cast members still around to celebrate, "The Carol Burnett Show" had lost many cast members by the time its 50th birthday came around in 2017. These are the only two main cast members still alive as of this writing. 

Not only was Vicki Lawrence the youngest cast member on "The Carol Burnett Show," but it was actually her first screen credit. It's hard to think of a better training ground than to be surrounded by such comedy television giants of the era. As the only other main female cast member besides Burnett, Lawrence was never lacking in things to do on the show and played a part in almost every sketch. Her breakout character was Thelma Harper (aka Mama) on the show's recurring sketch known as "The Family," which was so popular that Lawrence played Thelma in her own standalone sitcom called "Mama's Family," running for six seasons from 1983 to 1990.

Following her short-lived but Emmy-nominated '90s daytime talk show "Vicki!," Lawrence plied her trade in smaller television roles. She had recurring parts on "Yes, Dear" and "Hannah Montana," as well as one-offs on numerous shows, including "Cybill," "Diagnosis: Murder," and "Ally McBeal." Lawrence has also reprised the role of Thelma Harper for appearances on "Hollywood Squares" and "RuPaul's Drag Race All-Stars." She became a main cast member on a television show for the first time since "Mama's Family" when she joined the Charlie Day co-created sitcom "The Cool Kids," though it only aired for one season on Fox between 2018 and 2019. 

Since 2024, Lawrence has been touring the U.S. with a live show called "Vicki Lawrence and Mama: A Two-Woman Show," in which she performs half of it as herself and half of it as Thelma Harper.

Not that it's necessarily surprising, but it's wild to think that Carol Burnett had to fight to get "The Carol Burnett Show" made. Despite her bona fides in the industry, Burnett was told that shows like that should only be led by men. Not willing to take no for an answer or accept that a sketch show couldn't have a woman as its main creative force, Burnett pushed until the show was finally greenlit — and its haul of 25 Emmys speaks for itself. 

Remarkably, Burnett wasn't even done being a trailblazer in the sketch comedy space after her legendary show ended in 1978. Despite it unfortunately being relegated to the category of '90s TV flops that are actually worth watching, Burnett's "Carol & Company" is a fantastic sketch show that ran for just two seasons between 1990 and 1991. Rather than just doing the same thing again, Burnett tread new ground with the show by not doing smaller sketches but instead having each episode be a single, self-contained sketch. It was perhaps a bit too ahead of its time for 1990, but this anthology approach would find its niche decades later, including on the acclaimed comedy series "Documentary Now!" 

Even today, people still appreciate the veteran comedienne. Carol Burnett could make history if she hosted "SNL" like the internet wants, because she'd break Betty White's record of being the oldest person to ever host the show now that Burnett has lived past 88 (she turned 91 in 2024). But Burnett has already made history several times over, on her own terms and through her own shows. If there is any performer alive today that has absolutely nothing to prove to anyone, it's Carol Burnett.