On Saturday, April 7th iconic comedian, film and TV star Lily Tomlin visits Calgary as part of OutFest. An Evening of Classic Lily Tomlin will present her at her finest in a one-woman show featuring many of her greatest characters.
"The show is more formal than if I was doing a big theatre piece like [1985 Broadway show] In Search of Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe or [Tony award winner] Appearing Nightly. I do about 10 or 12 characters and I will talk about Calgary and the OutGames, and I will be interacting with the audience and hopefully be funny. I will do all of the old favorites like Ernestine. The material is more related to what is going on in the world; while doing Ernestine I might make a phone call to Bush or something like that. Ernestine and Edith Ann and Mrs. Beasley are pretty much a done deal," Tomlin said in a one-on-one interview to preview the show. Don’t expect to see the Telephone switchboard however.
"I don’t use anything on stage. I do have old switchboards and I have a life-sized cast of Ernestine from when my brother had a store. The show is like a stand up concert. I never did use anything. Even when I do something as elaborate as The Search we have elaborate sound and lights but no costumes or anything. Since I was a young girl I was just mesmerized by somebody who could, with just their face, body and voice, transport me and create a whole scene with several people talking to one another. I thought that was incredibly wonderful and I was always intrigued by that [art]form. With costumes and things, you can’t move fast enough. I always see a show as separate film cuts that can jump anywhere if you can get the audience to suspend their disbelief and go with you - its more magical for them."
Tomlin’s career has spanned over thirty years and has included six Emmy awards, a Tony, a Grammy award for her comedy album This is a Recording and two Peabody awards. She’s had successful runs and guest appearances in TV shows like Laugh-In, The West Wing, Murphy Brown and Will & Grace. In addition to her theatre and TV work she has had a successful film career in movies including Nine to Five, Big Business, The Beverly Hillbillies, I Heart Huckabees, A Prairie Home Companion and many more. With so many accolades we asked Tomlin if there was a defining moment in her career.
"As a performer I can’t point to one thing but, something I am especially proud of is the one person show The Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe. I played a lot of places like Toronto and Broadway and Vancouver. I never brought the show to Calgary. That play would be a watermark for me; some of the characters have been very memorable. I’ve said for years that when I die they will put Ernestine’s picture on my obituary instead of mine. That shows the impact she’s had, and what a long life she’s had. Even recently with the eavesdropping and the NSA and the Bush Administration a lot of cartoonists have brought her out again, with her running the White House switchboard and eavesdropping on everybody."
Tomlin and her business and life partner Jane Wagner will celebrate thirty-six years together this month, a remarkable milestone in both Hollywood and the gay community. We asked Tomlin if she had a secret to a successful relationship.
"Everybody asks me and I wish I could really tell them what to do. You just have a commitment to a relationship. If you love somebody you make it work. We have a lot in common so we have a synergy. I love her, she is brilliant and funny and kind and I feel as though I know her soul. The last thing I would want to do in the world is betray her soul."
While Tomlin’s sexuality was an open secret, she didn’t officially come out until 2000. In a day and age where, even now, an actor coming out makes the cover of People, Tomlin has managed to not have a media circus surrounding her sexuality.
"I don’t know, maybe because I am a female and was around for so long. I think in part it was because of the time I came into the business and got famous, which was 1970 when Ernestine hit on Laugh-In. Jane and I were definitely a couple, there was nobody in the business or the press that didn’t know it. We lived pretty openly and it’s been written about many times now, but 20 or 30 years ago it wasn’t written about no matter how much we were interviewed together. When I was on the cover of Time in 1977 at the same time there was a huge article in Newsweek and they both wrote about it differently. Time said I lived alone, and Newsweek said I shared a house with Jane Wagner."
It was Time Magazine that inadvertently led to one of Tomlin’s coy references to her sexuality.
"I got a call from my publicist and she said that TIME would give me the cover if I would come out on it. At that time..., because I thought of myself as an artist, I thought it was just [a choice] to trade a magazine cover for my personal life."
The September 8, 1975 cover ended up featuring Sgt Leonard Matlovich of the Armed Forces. It lead Tomlin to make an addition to her recording of her 1975 album Modern Scream that mocked straight actors who make a point of distancing themselves from their gay characters; answering the pseudo-interview question, "How did it feel to play a heterosexual?" she replied, "I’ve seen these women all my life, I know how they walk, I know how they talk...."
"As a result of this conversation I put a monologue on the album. That was my answer to this, what I looked at as the exploitation by the magazine at that moment. They were looking for a gay person, any gay person to put on the cover. To me it was also a time when...that was the whole deal of it. They were professionally gay instead of just being a human being."
Tomlin has a huge LGBT fanbase and many drag performers have done tributes to her, including Calgary’s own Ernestine. Tomlin is flattered and thrilled when they show up to her shows dressed as her characters.
"A lot of fans will come to the show in drag as Ernestine. In the old days they really came a lot, there were people who did that character all over the place. It’s fabulous. One time I was on Johnny Carson and Joan Rivers was subbing for him. Ernestine had been nominated for an Emmy for her take off of the scene from Flashdance, so I went on in my shorts and legwarmers. I had my brother, who looks just like me, dress up as Ernestine and a few other people in Ernestine costumes. There was this one brief shot of them in the audience like my fan club."
Tomlin has managed to remain low key with her private life while also living honestly. As far as she knows, she has never had anyone refuse to work with her because of her sexuality. Even today however, those in the spotlight can face prejudice from their peers. Grey’s Anatomy star Isaiah Washington came under fire for calling co-star T.R. Knight a faggot (and outed Knight in the process) and recently, former pro basketball player John Amaechi came out and was targeted by an anti-gay rant from former NBA all-star Tim Hardaway.
"I have no idea if there has been anyone who hasn’t wanted to work with me, I don’t know. I doubt it but I wouldn’t really know. I am sure there are people in different regions of the world and country that would run away from any gay person or me if they are rabidly religious, and that is an issue for them. ...What possess someone to speak out against it? They have a right I guess to express their opinion they just have to take the consequences. But when people have any kind of awareness it is hard to even fathom why someone is motivated to say that, or that negativity is in them.
"I will still get people saying ‘why doesn’t so and so come out?’ I have never felt that anybody should be coerced or pressured to come out because you never know what somebody’s situation is. The really big deal is that so many regular people in their regular lives, not in the limelight, became aware and stronger and they have enough support."
Having been part of the community for over thirty years, Tomlin has seen a great deal of change and evolution in the world.
"We have done awfully well. This is how bad it was thirty years ago, I remember when I was on Carson in 1973 and Johnny said ‘You don’t have any children do you?’ and I said ‘No.’ He said ‘don’t you want to have any children?’ For a female entertainer to say no she didn’t want to have children would make her like the wicked witch of the west. The audience was galvanized you could hear a pin drop. I said ‘No, I don’t want to have children but I love them. Who has custody of yours?’ because of course he didn’t."
While it may seem like a non-issue today, in 1973 it was a huge statement.
"Just the idea of a female who might not want to have or raise children was a very divisive issue. Great strides have been made in our community in terms of some of the rights. We are a long shot from where we should be, it shouldn’t even be an issue. But I am grateful for the things that have transpired. There is a younger generation of gay people that can be much more free and open. There was a time when it was considered a disease, finally through different people’s efforts, it has been taken off the psychological association’s list of disorders and diseases. People used to have to really hide just to be together or to socialize. A lot of stuff has happened for gay people and for women, but not enough. With this Bush administration in [my] country, it has been a real threat and a step backwards and we don’t know what these people will do at any time. The fact that people stay strong and continue to speak out and be brave and are themselves is a pretty fabulous thing. All of the really good things that have happened by, through and for us makes me gratified and proud."
Tomlin referred to her own home of Los Angeles as a sign of changing times.
"The gay community has created places where people could congregate, and where they can get support and medical and social and housing help. Here in LA we have the Gay and Lesbian Services Center, which is an incredible institution. Jane and I, through a major donor, named a small theatre after us. ...I can remember when the center first opened in the 1970’s it was in a little tiny building. Now it’s a multi-story building that really provides incredible services and support for the community. We have the village with 150 – 200 productions per year, all sorts of support groups that meet there, computer training, you can get all kinds of things there. Especially in Hollywood the kids on the street with no resources or support can come to the center and get housing and food and help with employment and schooling. That didn’t exist before."
Tomlin pointed to the parallels between the feminist and the gay movements with their timeline and how they have made a better life for so many people.
"There were no shelters for abused women or children until the late 1970’s. A lot of people worked to change all of that, and woke a lot of people up. Just to fight through it and stand up through the criticism and the ridicule, and fundraise and do all kind of things just to create something better for the people who should have a better avenue, for our own community and the feminist community. I identified as a female before I identified as a lesbian," she said, concluding, "It is remarkable, even with the threat of this kind of regime in our administration now, people are not intimidated and won’t back down. Even in heavy-duty states in the south and the west, people still fought and stood up and weren’t going to be intimidated back into a shadowy place. It’s courageous."