How Lily Tomlin found liberation in exploring her characters | American Masters | PBS

On October 10, 2007, Lily Tomlin spoke about her time on Laugh-In and how she developed her characters. Interview conducted by director Michael Kantor for the six-hour PBS comedy series, “Make ‘Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America” (2009).

00:00 Utilizing character work to push past the limited expectations for female comics in the 1960s
02:37 Drawing on life experience to organically form the “Edith Ann” character
05:08 Hitting the ground running on Laugh-In debut with “Ernestine”
08:28 The struggle to separate Tomlin’s work and career from the runaway success of her characters
10:24 The boy’s club of comedy and their narrow fascination with the puerile

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[BettyofOOO]

She is a national treasure.❤
I love that she and Jane are still together, the way Lily talks about her with so much reverence is very sweet.

[tomwestbrook]

I’m pretty sure Ernestine brought down the old AT&T. Lily is a national treasure. I bought at least one of her albums back in the 70’s and listened to it repeatedly and laughed my head off. I finally found I was gay later in the decade and came out in the mid-80’s to my family. Lilly Tomlin is a hero to me.

[amherst]

So grateful to have grown up with women like Lily as role models ❤🧡💛

[PsulOrtiz]

I am just realizing now, just how very beautiful she is physically.
And when she smiles she is even more pretty because she smiles from her heart!
How could I have missed all of this for so long??!!!

DUH!!!

[fbaesh]

There's a lot to unpack here, re: comedy writing. Worth multiple views 🙂👍

[paulsuchy]

When someone asks, "what person would you want to meet and spend time with?", my choice has always been Lily Tomlin. I grew up watching her on television and listening to her albums, and her style of humor is unmatched. Of course, she made me laugh (sometimes jokes would stay with me for days), yet she also could come up with something so clever, that rather than immediate laughter, I would be taken aback and think, "that is so funny" before I would lose my composure; it's a gift that seems to belong to her alone.

[Michaela]

My husband and I have had the great pleasure of seeing her live when she brought her one woman show to our area. It/she was wonderful and one of the best theater experiences we'd ever had. Amazing talent.

[Nunofurdambiznez]

MARVELOUS interview!! I had no idea Lily Tomlin was so witty and well-spoken! She's fantastic!

[billythomas]

I saw LT once back in the 70’s and her stage consisted of a stool, a mike and a spotlight. For almost two hours, she held the sold out show in the palm of her hand. Phenomenal talent to witness!

[RaymondHng]

3:29 The TV show that Jane Wagner wrote can be found on YouTube as "J.T. Classic Holiday Movie w/ Kevin Hooks"

[michaelabbott]

One of my all time favorite actress/comediannes. Whatever she's involved in, I will watch it as I know it will balance hilarity with integrity. I've seen her live countless times and she was brilliant every damn time. Thanks for sharing this as it brightened a rather saggy Sunday. 😁💜

[mikeryan]

It is so good to see and hear Lily. I'm pretty sure this is an older clip as Lily looks much younger than she does today. I wanted to post because I met Lily and Jayne in 1972 while working as a waiter at the Venetian Room, the entertainment room of the Fairmont Hotel here in SF. I met a lot of stars while working there such as Tony Bennett, Nancy Wilson, Cleo Laine, Steve & Edie Lawrence, the Smothers Brothers, Brenda Lee and many more. I was out on the floor schmoozing with guests/customers when I saw her step into the wings out of the corner of my eye. She was alone. I excused myself and went directly into the wings, not sure what I was doing. Lily saw me right away and I smiled like a crazy person, like we were old friends. "You ok?" I whispered and she quipped, "I need some gum. Do you have any?" I said no but told her not to worry and headed through the kitchen doors, and down to the tobacco stand where a pack of Spearment gum was 35 cents. (THAT was a lot of money because you could get a heaping plate of fries at any one of the many Fosters Cafeterias for 15 cents!) I hurried back and when I came into the wings there was another person, a big person, heavy-set, shorter than Lily and they were huddling. "Spearmint?" I said holding up the green pack of gum. Lily smiled big and stuck her hand out. When she began to open the end, Jayne took it away from her. I think she said, "You haven't time, " because Lily went onstage within a minute after that. For years I didn't know who the woman was with Lily but eventually figured it out when I'd see photo spreads and interviews of them together, Jayne identified as Lily's manager. When I see Jayne today she has shed all the weight and you'd never know she was ever really heavy.

[sandybear]

She is so brilliant, and what a gorgeous smile. I’ve always loved her eyes when she smiles…they twinkle!

[treesny]

All these incredible characters plus a film career with many wonderful roles. God bless director Robert Altman and his genius for casting, when he chose her to play a serious dramatic role in "Nashville" (1975)!

[marlynklee]

Whenever I was depressed I listened to her LP album that featured Ernestine the telephone operator, sticking her nose in everybody’s business, memorable characters like J’Edgar Hoover, the Pope, one ringy-dingy, two ringy-dingoes, etc.

[T.JLS]

I was a young child of 5 or 6 when Laugh In was on TV, and it must’ve really sunk in. I’ve been the jokester in the crowd ever since. Throughout the years I have occasionally thrown out “Is this the party to whom I am speaking”, confusing the younger generation and getting laughs from those in the know! Love Lily!

[artgirltexas]

My sister had This Is a Recording and Modern Scream, and I listened to them endlessly as a kid. ❤

[johnboyle]

My favorite movie as a kid was probably Incredible Shrinking Woman, years later it happened to become Nashville. Lifelong fan.

[anthonymccarthy]

I loved Lily Sold Out, especially the scene of Ernestine with Liberace.

[rainespells]

Lily is a genius of our time ❤ She gives so much credit to her writer, Jane Wagner but Lily is so incredible too