Editing Lily Tomlin (section)

=== 1990–2009: Continued work and ''The West Wing'' ===
[[File:Lily Tomlin (2008).jpg|150px|thumb|Tomlin in 2008|left]]
Tomlin also played chain-smoking waitress Doreen Piggott in Altman's 1993 ensemble film ''[[Short Cuts]]'', based on stories by [[Raymond Carver]]. Tomlin voiced Ms. Valerie Frizzle on the animated [[television series]] ''[[The Magic School Bus (TV series)|The Magic School Bus]]'' from 1994 to 1997. Also, in the 1990s, Tomlin appeared on the popular [[sitcom]] ''[[Murphy Brown]]'' as the title character's boss. In 1995 she appeared on an episode of ''[[Homicide: Life on the Street]]'' as a murder suspect being transported to Baltimore. She also guest starred on ''[[The X-Files]]'' in 1998, in episode 6 ("How The Ghosts Stole Christmas") of season 6 as a ghost haunting an old mansion. In 2005 and 2006, she had a recurring role as [[Will Truman]]'s boss Margot on ''[[Will & Grace]]''. She appeared on the dramatic series ''[[The West Wing]]'' for four years (2002–2006) in the recurring role of presidential secretary [[Deborah Fiderer]]. Tomlin performed in two films by director [[David O. Russell]]; she appeared as a peacenik Raku artist in ''[[Flirting with Disaster (film)|Flirting with Disaster]]'' and later as an existential detective in ''[[I Heart Huckabees]]''. In March 2007, two videos were leaked onto [[YouTube]] portraying on-set arguments between Russell and Tomlin, in which among other things he called her sexist names. When the ''[[Miami New Times]]'' asked Tomlin about the videos, she responded, "I love David. There was a lot of pressure in making the movie—even the way it came out you could see it was a very free-associative, crazy movie, and David was under a tremendous amount of pressure. And he's a very free-form kind of guy anyway."<ref>{{cite web|title=What a Character. She's had her brush with online infamy. Now Lily Tomlin is ready to make you laugh again|first=Frank|last=Houston|date=April 12, 2007|url=http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2007-04-12/culture/what-a-character/|access-date=December 9, 2016|archive-date=December 1, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201124710/http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2007-04-12/culture/what-a-character/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Tomlin collaborated again with director Robert Altman in what would prove to be his last film, ''[[A Prairie Home Companion (film)|A Prairie Home Companion]]'' (2006). She played Rhonda Johnson, one-half of a middle-aged Midwestern singing duo partnered with [[Meryl Streep]]. Tomlin provided a voice for the film ''[[Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea]]'', which was released in August 2009.<ref>{{cite web |date=November 26, 2008 |title=Exclusive News on Ponyo's English Voice Talent Cast |url=http://www.ghibliworld.com/news.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206090310/http://www.ghibliworld.com/news.html |archive-date=December 6, 2008 |access-date=November 30, 2008 |publisher=Ghibli World}}</ref> In the 2008–2009 fifth season of ''[[Desperate Housewives]],'' she had a recurring role as [[List of Desperate Housewives characters#Karen's Family|Roberta]], the sister of [[Karen McCluskey|Mrs. McCluskey]] (played by [[Kathryn Joosten]] who coincidentally had played Tomlin's secretarial predecessor on ''The West Wing''). During the 2008 [[Emmy Awards]], Tomlin appeared as part of a tribute to the influential 1960s television series ''Laugh-In''. Tomlin voiced Tammy in the 2005 ''[[The Simpsons]]'' episode "[[The Last of the Red Hat Mamas]]".

Since its launch in 2008, Tomlin has been a contributor for [[wowOwow]].com, a [[website]] for women to talk culture, politics, and gossip.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/check-it-out-im-a-woman-on-the-web/|title=Check it out! I'm a Woman on the Web!|last=Wood|first=Molly|website=CNET|date=November 14, 2008|language=en|access-date=2019-09-05|archive-date=September 5, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190905100120/https://www.cnet.com/news/check-it-out-im-a-woman-on-the-web/|url-status=live}}</ref> Tomlin and [[Kathryn Joosten]] were in talks to star in a ''[[Desperate Housewives]]'' spin-off,<ref>[http://www.nypost.com/seven/05122009/tv/wives_spins_168753.htm "Wives" Spins] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090515131405/http://www.nypost.com/seven/05122009/tv/wives_spins_168753.htm |date=May 15, 2009 }}, ''[[New York Post]]'', May 12, 2009</ref> which was given the green light in May 2009.<ref>[http://www.nypost.com/seven/05182009/tv/galloping_girls_169862.htm Galloping "Girls"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090521095208/http://www.nypost.com/seven/05182009/tv/galloping_girls_169862.htm |date=May 21, 2009 }}, ''New York Post'', May 18, 2009</ref> The series plan was scrapped due to Joosten's illness, a recurrence of lung cancer; Joosten died on June 2, 2012, twenty days after the onscreen death from cancer of her character [[Karen McCluskey]]. In 2010, Tomlin guest-starred as Marilyn Tobin in the third season of ''[[Damages (TV series)|Damages]]'' opposite [[Glenn Close]], for which she was nominated for an [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series|Emmy]]''.'' She also appeared in the ''[[NCIS (TV series)|NCIS]]'' episode titled "The Penelope Papers", playing Penelope Langston, the grandmother of Agent [[Timothy McGee]] ([[Sean Murray (actor)|Sean Murray]]). In 2012, Tomlin guest starred on the HBO series ''[[Eastbound and Down]]'' as Tammy Powers, mother of the main character [[Kenny Powers (character)|Kenny Powers]], and appeared in three episodes of Season 3. Tomlin co-starred with [[Reba McEntire]] in the TV series ''[[Malibu Country]]'' as Reba's character's mother Lillie Mae. The series started shooting in August 2012 with a premiere date of November 2, 2012, at 8:30 pm ET but was canceled in 2013 after 18 episodes.