Carol Burnett and Vicki Lawrence Reunite in Sweet Selfie

Carol Burnett and Vicki Lawrence are still each other’s people — and a recent dinner date proves it. Lawrence, 77, posted a warm selfie to Instagram on May 18 alongside Burnett, 93, captioning it: “Special night. Dinner with Carol. Thank you Brian for a beautiful meal. Lotsa laughs and lotsa memories. I love her so… 🥰”

In the photo, Burnett looked effortlessly cool in a beige turtleneck, a maroon zip-up jacket, and oversized matching sunglasses. Lawrence was equally stylish beside her in a dark velvet jacket adorned with jeweled floral embellishments. Two icons, one table, zero signs of slowing down.

The comments section lit up almost immediately. Actress Melba Moore, who appeared as a guest star on The Carol Burnett Show, wrote: “My two beautiful ladies 🌹 Tell Carol I am tugging my ear” — a nod to Burnett’s signature sign-off gesture. Wilson Phillips singer Carnie Wilson chimed in too: “No words for this comedic duo and your friendship. Love & adore you both.” Fans were just as effusive. “Two of the funniest women ever. Period,” one wrote. “ICONS!!!!” posted another. “I watch the reruns every night! ❤️” And one fan had a very specific request: “We need you two to do a podcast video together talking about memories.”

How It All Started — and How They Almost Lost It

Their story is genuinely one of Hollywood’s sweetest origin tales. Lawrence was fresh out of high school when her mother suggested she write a fan letter to Burnett. As luck — or fate — would have it, Burnett was actively searching for an actress to play her younger sister on her upcoming variety show. She noticed the resemblance between herself and Lawrence, tracked down the family in the phone book, and asked her to audition. That’s it. That’s how a 50-plus-year friendship began.

Lawrence went on to star in The Carol Burnett Show for all 11 seasons, from 1967 to 1978, playing multiple recurring characters. Their fan-favorite sketch “Carol and Sis” — where the two played sisters named Carol and Chris — was drawn directly from Burnett’s real life experience of raising her younger sister in New York. The show earned Burnett three Primetime Emmys for outstanding variety series, and Lawrence took home her own Emmy for outstanding supporting actress in a variety series.

But the relationship wasn’t without its fractures. When Burnett went through a painful divorce from Joe Hamilton — who produced Mama’s Family, the spinoff that grew out of Lawrence’s breakout character Thelma “Mama” Harper — she began pulling away from everyone connected to him, including Lawrence.

“She went through a horrible divorce,” Lawrence told Screen Rant in 2024. “So, it was almost … for a while there, it was almost like she divorced all of us who were involved with [Hamilton] at all.”

The moment that stung most? A phone call early in the Mama’s Family run. “My son answered the phone, and she said, ‘Can I talk to your dad?’” Lawrence recalled. “I said, ‘Who is it?’ And my son said, ‘It’s Carol.’ I said, ‘Does she want to talk to me?’ And he said, ‘No, she wants to talk to dad.’ And it kind of broke my heart.”

But Burnett made a promise that night. She told Lawrence’s husband Al: “I promise I’ll be back. I promise.” And she kept it. “When she was back, she was fully back,” Lawrence said.

Closer Now Than Ever

Mama’s Family ran until 1990, and the two eventually found their way back to each other — and then some. In that same 2024 interview, Lawrence described their bond as “closer than we have ever been.” “I’m glad we are so close now,” she said simply.

The reunion wasn’t just personal — it was professional too. Burnett and Lawrence most recently shared the screen together on Season 2 of Apple TV+’s Palm Royale, which premiered in November 2025, giving a whole new generation of viewers a reason to fall in love with them all over again.

Monday’s dinner was just the latest reminder that some friendships — even the ones that go quiet for a while — have a way of coming all the way back.