Ms. Tomlin if You're Nasty Trivia Quiz

Answer: Detroit, MI in 1939

Lily was born September 1, 1939. She grew up in Detroit and attended Wayne State University there before leaving for New York to study acting. If she seems younger, it's because she was at the height of her career at an age when many comedians lose their edge. She has used the towns of Slippery Rock, Arkansas and Manhattan, Kansas in her acts.

Answer: Cheerleading

Lily used to joke that she was "the best white cheerleader Detroit ever saw." She also performed a cheer for one of her "Saturday Night Live" hosting gigs.

Answer: "Laugh-In"

Lily's first regular TV gig was on "The Music Scene", which only lasted one season. After that, she joined "Laugh-In" in 1970 for three seasons. "The Music Scene" was one of those great shows that never found an audience, having been shuffled in the schedule too many times.

Many artists who performed on "The Music Scene" are now musical legends (Janis Joplin, Isaac Hayes, Three Dog Night, Della Reese). The shows are now available on DVD, a must-have for fans of Woodstock-era artists. Lily was hired for this show three years after her television debut (at age 28) on "The Garry Moore Show".

Answer: Ernestine

Phoenicia is the gal Ernestine chats with on the switchboard while she's supposed to be working. (She's probably her only friend!) Ernestine's trademarks are her squinty eyes, 1940s hairstyle, rolling her tongue and sticking it out, and snorting when she laughs.

She has a lot of fun at her job, mostly at the callers' expense. She was hilarious in a 1983 TV special in which she sang a medley of then-current hits like "Maniac" and "She Works Hard for the Money", dressed as Ernestine, ending with her sprawled on a chair and splashed with water, a la "Flashdance"! Priceless.

Answer: A giant rocking chair

Edith Ann is a little girl who tells it like it is, even if she's being asked about where babies come from. She has a little baby brother, and a dog, Buster (whom she kisses on the lips). Her last line in every skit is always, "And that's the truth..." only she can't make the "th" sound without giving the rasperry (a.k.a. the "Bronx cheer") with her tongue.

Answer: Grammy

"This is a Recording" was the first album in which Lily played Ernestine. There were no other characters on this album. It was a recording of a live performance, and there are parts where she talks to the audience (including one person getting up to go to the restroom).

The cover featured Lily at a switchboard, dressed as Ernestine. Her other albums, "And That's The Truth", "Modern Scream", and "On Stage", can now all be found on CD.

Answer: Richard Pryor

Pryor is considered a pioneer for pushing the envelope with his frank and often crass humor, as well as his racial subject matter. Most African American comedians cite him as an influence, although there were comedians like Redd Foxx and Moms Mabley before him. Pryor was recently named the #1 greatest stand-up of ALL-TIME by Comedy Central.

Answer: Laraine Newman

Newman was one of the original "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" when the show debuted on NBC. The word "Live" was added to the title the next season. Newman and her castmates stayed for five seasons. Robin Duke, Denny Dillon, and Mary Gross did not join the cast until after the original players all left in 1980.

Answer: True

In "Nashville", Lily played the lone caucasian singer in an African American choir. First choice for the part was Louise Fletcher, who did win an Oscar that year anyway, for "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", a part once considered for Lily! Lily lost in the Supporting category to Lee Grant ("Shampoo"). Before "Nashville", Lily could be heard on the telephone in an obscure 1971 movie called "Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers", which starred Andy Warhol protegee and "Walk on the Wildside" subject, Holly Woodlawn. Lily's "Nashville" co-star Ronee Blakely was also nominated. Blakely would become known to a whole new generation nine years later as the mother in "A Nightmare on Elm Street".

Answer: John Travolta

It didn't help that they looked like brother and sister. Travolta was riding high on the success of "Grease" until this came out. The main reasons critics panned it were the tedious dialogue and the lack of chemistry between Lily and John. It is only fair to point out, however, that when a man appears with a fifteen-year-younger woman, the movie industry doesn't say boo about it! (i.e., Woody Allen)

Answer: "9 to 5"

Her co-stars were Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton, who earned an Oscar nomination for writing the title song. Lily played Violet Newstead, a confident, albeit bitter, intelligent person, for which Lily was well suited. It was one of 1980's biggest box office hits, after "The Empire Strikes Back". Sadly, the film's director Colin Higgins died of AIDS in 1988.

Answer: The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe

"Appearing Nitely" was Lily's first Tony-winning Broadway show in 1977. "Modern Scream" was the title of her 1975 album, and "Lily for President?" was a 1982 television special. She also had a 1981 Broadway show, "Sold Out". "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe" was made into a film in 1991, and revived on stage in 2001.

Answer: Lounge singer

This is one of Lily's most over-the-top characters. Midway through his act, Tommy's shirt unbuttons revealing a thick layer of chest hair! He has hair on his knuckles too. Lily once performed as Tommy to a freaked-out Elizabeth Taylor at a 1997 televised gala event in her honor.

Answer: Alan Alda

Charles Grodin appeared with Lily in "The Incredible Shrinking Woman". Steve Martin had to share his body with Lily in "All of Me" (her best since "9 to 5"). Lily and Bette Midler played two sets of twin sisters in "Big Business". Alan Alda would have to wait until 1996 to co-star with Lily in the fabulous "Flirting With Disaster", although he did appear on television with her in the 1970s.

Answer: Jane Wagner

The other three women listed are all great comedy writers, but it is Wagner who has lived and worked with Lily since the early 1970s. Their relationship even survived Wagner's writing "Moment By Moment"! There aren't many pairs that could withstand working together so much, but whatever they're doing, let's hope they keep it up, and keep making us laugh for years to come.