Editing Lily Tomlin (section)

=== 1965–1974: Career beginnings and breakthrough ===
[[File:Lilly Tomlin Rita Hayworth Laugh-In 1971.JPG|thumb|left|Tomlin as Mrs. Earbore (The Tasteful Lady) with [[Rita Hayworth]] on ''[[Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In]]'' (1971) ]]
Tomlin's first television appearance was on ''[[The Merv Griffin Show]]'' in 1965.<ref>[http://www.shemadeit.org/meet/biography.aspx?m=120 Lily Tomlin at the Paley Center] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102231906/http://www.shemadeit.org/meet/biography.aspx?m=120 |date=January 2, 2016 }} accessed 8-24-2015</ref> A year later, she became a cast member on the short-lived third and final incarnation of ''[[The Garry Moore Show]]''

'''Tomlin characters'''

In 1969, after a stint as a hostess on the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] series ''[[The Music Scene (TV series)|Music Scene]]'',<ref>{{Citation|title=Music Scene|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063932/|access-date=2019-09-05|archive-date=May 29, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190529223108/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063932/|url-status=live}}</ref> Tomlin joined NBC's [[sketch comedy]] show ''[[Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In]]''.  Signed as a replacement for the departing [[Judy Carne]], Tomlin was an instant success on the already established program, in which in addition to appearing in general sketches and delivering comic gags, she began appearing as the regular characters she created; they became well known and she portrayed them outside of the show in later recordings and television specials:
* Ernestine was a brash, tough and uncompromising [[switchboard operator|telephone operator]] who generally treated customers with little sympathy. Ernestine often snorted when she let loose a barbed response or heard something salacious; she also wore her hair in a 1940s hairstyle with a hairnet, although the character was contemporary. Her opening lines were often the comical "one ringy dingy... two ringy dingy", and, "Have I reached the party to whom I am speaking?" In the sketches, Ernestine was usually at her switchboard taking calls. She occasionally phoned her boyfriend, Vito, a telephone repair man, or her pal Phenicia, another operator.[[File:Lilly Tomlin Edith Ann 1975.JPG|thumb|180px|Tomlin as Edith Ann, 1975]] Tomlin reprised the role in 2016 for a TV ad as part of [[People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals|PETA]]'s campaign against [[SeaWorld]].<ref>Kelli Bender, "Lily Tomlin Reprises Ernestine Role for PETA's New Ad Blasting SeaWorld," ''[https://www.ew.com/article/2016/04/14/lily-tomlin-ernestine-peta-seaworld People] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211227062520/https://ew.com/article/2016/04/14/lily-tomlin-ernestine-peta-seaworld/ |date=December 27, 2021 }}'', 14 April 2016.</ref> Tomlin has also reprised the role on several episodes of ''[[Sesame Street]]''.
* {{anchor|Edith_Ann}} Edith Ann is a precocious five-and-a-half-year-old girl who waxes philosophical on everyday life, either about life as a kid or things for which she feels she has the answers, although she is too young to fully understand. She often ends her monologues with "And that's the truth", punctuating it with a noisy [[Blowing a raspberry|raspberry]]. Edith Ann sits in an oversized rocking chair (to make Tomlin seem child-sized) with her rag doll, Doris, and often talks of life at home with her battling parents and bullying older sister, Mary Jean (Lily Tomlin's given birth names). Edith Ann has an oversized, playfully aggressive dog named Buster and a boyfriend named Junior Phillips, a possibly unrequited love. (Only Edith Ann and "Doris" appear in the Edith Ann sketches.) Tomlin reprised the character for a series of sketches on ''Sesame Street'' in the 1970s, and voiced her in three prime-time cartoon specials in the 1990s (including ''[[Edith Ann: A Few Pieces of the Puzzle]]'').
* Mrs. Judith Beasley is a housewife and mother from [[Calumet City, Illinois]], who is often chosen for television commercials and offers "good consumer advice". She appears in the film ''[[The Incredible Shrinking Woman]]'' as the lead character's neighbor.
* Mrs. Earbore (The Tasteful Lady) is a somewhat prudish and prissy, conservatively dressed middle-aged apolitical woman who dispenses advice on gracious living and a life of elegance.
* Susie the Sorority Girl is a blonde collegiate who could be the Tasteful Lady's daughter. Humorless and melodramatic, her biggest worries are the likes of who took her missing album by [[The Carpenters]].
*The Consumer Advocate Lady is a dour, austere woman who rigidly inspects and tests products for their alleged value.  The Consumer Advocate Lady is something of a variation of Mrs. Beasley.
* Lucille the Rubber Freak is a woman addicted to eating rubber, whose monologue details her habit from its beginning (chewing the eraser on pencils) to her obsessive rock bottom (eating the tip off mother's cane). Tomlin performed this character as part of her ''Laugh-In'' audition.
* Tess/Trudy is a homeless bag lady who accosts theater-goers and various passers-by with her offbeat observations and tales of communications with extraterrestrials. ("They don't care if you believe in 'em or not—they're different from God.")
* Bobbi-Jeanine is a showbiz veteran of the lounge circuit where she sings and plays organ. She often dispenses advice. ("It's not called Show Art, it's Show Business.)

Tomlin was one of the first female comedians to break out in male drag with her characters Tommy Velour and Rick. In 1982, but later popularized by a ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' appearance on January 22, 1983, she premiered '''Purvis Hawkins''', a black rhythm-and-blues soul singer (patterned after [[Luther Vandross]]), with a mustache, beard, and close-cropped [[afro]] hairstyle, dressed in a three-piece suit. Tomlin used very little, if any, skin-darkening cosmetics as part of the character, instead depending on stage lighting to create the effect.

[[File:LilyTomlin1976.jpg|thumb|right|Tomlin in 1976]]
In 1970, [[AT&T Corporation|AT&T]] offered Tomlin $500,000 to play her character Ernestine in a commercial, but she declined, saying it would compromise her artistic integrity.<ref>{{cite web |last=Chambliss |first=John |title=Lily Tomlin, Playing Lakeland Next Week, Dishes on Her Act, Sexuality and Retiring |url=http://www.theledger.com/article/20100107/entertainment/100109893?p=2&tc=pg |url-status=dead |work=The Ledger |location=Lakeland, FL |date=January 7, 2010 |access-date=October 16, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502012416/http://www.theledger.com/article/20100107/entertainment/100109893?p=2&tc=pg |archive-date=May 2, 2014}}</ref><ref name="NYT98">{{cite news |last=Elliott |first=Stuart |title=Lily Tomlin in Madison Ave. debut with Peter Lynch |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/04/business/the-media-business-advertising-lily-tomlin-in-madison-ave-debut-with-peter-lynch.html |work=The New York Times |date=September 4, 1998 |access-date=October 16, 2012 |archive-date=June 17, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130617130844/http://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/04/business/the-media-business-advertising-lily-tomlin-in-madison-ave-debut-with-peter-lynch.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1976, she appeared on ''Saturday Night Live''<ref>Season 2 Episode 1, September 18, 1976</ref> as Ernestine in a [[Ma Bell]] advertisement parody in which she proclaimed, "We don't care, we don't have to...we're the phone company." The character later made a guest appearance at ''[[The Superhighway Summit]]'' at [[UCLA]] on January 11, 1994, interrupting a speech being given on the [[information superhighway]] by then-Vice President [[Al Gore]]. She appeared as three of her minor characters in a 1998 ad campaign for [[Fidelity Investments]] that did not include Ernestine or Edith Ann.<ref name="NYT98"/> In 2003, she made two commercials as an "updated" Ernestine for [[WebEx]].<ref>{{cite news |title=WebEx to Begin $8 Million Campaign |work=[[The New York Times]] |first=Jim |last=Rutenberg |date=January 15, 2003 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/15/business/the-media-business-advertising-addenda-webex-to-begin-8-million-campaign.html |access-date=October 16, 2012 |archive-date=May 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521111423/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/15/business/the-media-business-advertising-addenda-webex-to-begin-8-million-campaign.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Tomlin brought Edith Ann to the forefront again in the 1990s with three animated prime-time television specials. She published Edith Ann's "autobiography", ''My Life'' (1995), co-written with [[Jane Wagner]].

Tomlin released her first comedy album, ''[[This Is a Recording (Lily Tomlin album)|This Is A Recording]]'', on [[Polydor Records]] in March 1971 that contained Ernestine's run-ins with customers over the phone. The album hit No. 15 on the [[Billboard Hot 200|''Billboard'' Hot 200]], becoming (and remaining {{as of|2011|lc=y}}) the highest-charting album ever by a solo comedienne.<ref name="Billb">[https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1044968/chart-beat-katy-perry-kathy-griffin-miley-cyrus "Chart beat: Katy Perry, Kathy Griffin, Miley Cyrus"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091218094050/http://www.billboard.com/ |date=December 18, 2009 }}. Billboard.com.</ref>  She earned a [[Grammy]] award that year for [[Best Comedy Recording]]. Tomlin's second album, 1972's ''[[And That's The Truth]]'', featuring her character Edith Ann, was nearly as successful, peaking at No. 41 on the chart and earning another Grammy nomination. (Tomlin has two of the three top-charting female comedy albums on ''Billboard'', sandwiching a 1983 [[Joan Rivers]] release.)<ref name="Billb"/>