The reigning queen of comedy tours New England
0Lily Tomlin will be making two can't-miss stops in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Indefatigable comedian Lily Tomlin -- "Laugh-In" lovely, creator of such character favorites as Ernestine and Ethel Anne -- will be stopping in New Bedford, Mass., and Hartford, Conn., to entertain the masses this month. The prodigious Tomlin took a breath with Bay Windows and chatted about "Glee," her favorite personage, and what it was like to live as an openly gay entertainer in the 1970s.
Bay Windows: Do you have a couple minutes to chat?
Lily Tomlin: Uh-huh. What if I said no?
BW: I'd be a little disappointed. Tell me about your upcoming appearances.
LT: I'll be coming to New Bedford. There's a good important thing...there was a mistake and they printed that this was a fundraiser for breast cancer research and it's because I'm doing one at the end of the month...I'm doing a big fundraiser in Connecticut. That's in Hartford, on the twenty-second of October. Anyway, the show will be kind of multimedia because I use clips from characters' past lives [laughs]. I do quite a lot of...ten or twelve characters. I'll talk about New Bedford and talk about the world...sometimes in my own voice or the voice of my character.
BW: What are you going to say about New Bedford?
LT: I don't know what I'll say about New Bedford just yet. What have you got to say for yourself?
BW: I don't know much about New Bedford.
LT: Oh, you don't?
BW: No. I'm a bad source. So can we expect to see all your characters at the show?
LT: Yeah, pretty much. I mean, not all of them, because I have 30 or 40 characters.
BW: Which character is your favorite?
LT: It's like asking Mrs. Duggar [mother on TLC's "19 Kids and Counting"] what her favorite child is.
BW: I bet she has a secret answer.
LT: She probably does [laughs]. I hope she doesn't let the others know.
BW: Can you tell me about the breast cancer benefit in Connecticut, and why you decided to do that kind of fundraiser?
LT: I do a lot of stuff like that from time to time. That's the big gala that they're having. I'm not a prime mover in this event. I'll be there to sell tickets and to entertain. It's a good thing to be involved with; this is not the first time I've ever done anything for breast cancer.
BW: I heard that you're hosting the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center's 39th Anniversary Dinner, which is honoring Jane Lynch. Are you a big "Glee" fan?
LT: Yeah, pretty much. I like Jane Lynch a lot. I haven't really...I don't really watch "Glee" to that degree. Not to disparage it in any way.
BW: You've never kept your relationship with longtime partner Jane Wagner a secret, even during a time when many entertainers chose to stay in the closet -- and plenty still do today. How did you decide to be open and honest about that part of your life?
LT: I was just around for so long, and I know so many people, it was just a fact. It was no secret in the business; I'm sure there were plenty of people in the country who didn't have any idea. Not that I tried to mislead them or anything, but it was something that journalists just didn't even write about in the '70s and into the '80s even, especially if you'd been around for awhile. If you were new on the scene, maybe somebody would start writing about you -- and nowadays they wouldn't hesitate -- but back in that time. ...This has been printed before, so I hesitate, but it's so illustrative. In '73 I was on "The Carson Show" and [Johnny] Carson asked, he said -- knowing full well that I was in a relationship with Jane -- he said, "You're not married, are you?" And I said, "No," and he said, "Don't you want to have any children?" [laughs] You could hear, the audience got dead quiet. It was a big deal as a female to say you didn't want to have children at that time. And I said, "Well, if you mean, do I want to biologically bear children? I don't." The audience was just...pregnant with tension. And I said, "Who has custody of yours?" He laughed, and that was all there was to it. I'm just saying, at that time, even that was a galvanizing question.
BW: You were great on "Desperate Housewives" in 2008 and 2009. Can we expect a spin-off from you and Kathryn Joosten any time soon?
LT: I don't know if very soon...it takes so long to develop some of these things, but we're still working on it. We want to do it because we have so much fun together. I think it would be great fun. We're still developing it.
Lily Tomlin will be appearing at the Zeiterion Performing Arts Center in New Bedford (684 Purchase St.) on Saturday, Oct. 9 at 8 p.m. For tickets, please call (508) 994-2900. Tomlin will also appear at the 13th Annual Nite of Lite Laughter, a fundraiser to benefit breast cancer research hosted by Lite 100.5 and Hartford Hospital, at The Bushnell's Mortensen Hall in Hartford (166 Capitol Ave.) on Friday, Oct. 22 at 8 p.m. For tickets, please call (860) 987-5900.