Talking to a legend is always amazing so when you get to talk to one twice, you want to brag. So here we go. WE GOT TO TALK TO LILY TOMLIN TWICE! OK sorry. So yeah, Lily Tomlin will be at Segerstrom Center for the Arts this Saturday October 22nd and before the big event goes down, we got random with her talking to her (bragging) about passengers, talking to her (bragging) about music, and even talking to her (brag, brag, brag) about rappers. Of sorts.
OC Weekly (Ali Lerman): What’s do you keep under your bed?
Lily Tomlin: Under my vent? Under my vest? My belt? [Laughs.]
This phone connection may be bad but what do you keep under your vest is the greatest thing I’ve heard in a while. I said under your bed but feel free to answer whichever you like. Oh under my bed! [Laughs] Well, my bed is not raised up off of the ground because it has a support all around it. There is a drawer built in too and I keep a heating pad in there, wait. [Laughs.] Let me make up some stuff. I keep a pan of mashed potatoes in there so I can grab it at any moment. And I use the heating pad to melt some butter for the potatoes.
That actually sounds like my dream bed. If you were on an international flight, who would you most like to sit next to? Hmmm. I’d like to sit next to Jane Fonda even though I sit next to Jane Fonda all of the time. That wouldn’t be anything new exactly unless she was a terrible flyer and I didn’t know it. [Laughs.]
Can you imagine? She’s like, there is one thing you don’t know about me, and she just cries the entire time.
[Laughs.] LET ME OFF! LET ME OFF! All the way across to England or something.
Ha! That’d be awful but it’s also really sweet that you enjoy her often and would still pick her to sit by. So did you have a backup plan if this whole comedy thing didn’t work out? [Laughs.] Yeah I would have been a waitress and I would have been a very good waitress. I probably would’ve eventually owned the coffee shop. Yeah, I would’ve probably owned a coffee shop and taken great pride in it.
That would be so cool to own a coffee shop. What would you name it? I’d call it Lil’s.
Like L-I-L? You know how rappers are all “Lil’s?” Your coffee shop would be so hip. Oh yeah, Lil! [Laughs.] I’d be called “Lil Lil.” That would be cool.
That is officially your rap name from here on out. Staying with music, is there a song you always go back to and play over and over? Probably “Let’s Stay Together” by Al Green. It’s such a great song. We’ve used it in several pieces that we’ve done so it has extra significance.
That is a sweet song for sure. Is there something that makes you laugh every single time? Yeah! There are a lot of things but the one thing that comes to mind is this German Shepard on the internet. This guy is talking to the dog and his big nose is up in the camera. I just love those dogs with their big dumb noses. They’re so big! [Laughs.] The guy says things like, oh you know the bacon that was in the refrigerator? And the dog is like, yeah. [Laughs.] The guys like, I took some of that bacon. The dog goes, yeah. And he’s starting to get really excited. [Laughs.] Have you never seen this? You have to see it! Jane and I were watching it like every morning for about ten months because it would make us just scream! It’s so perfect. It’s so dear. The dog is so eager and then so disappointed. It’ll will make you laugh because if it’s sweetness.
I haven’t but I swear to make it my mission to. I do love a good dog video. If you could learn a new craft today, what would it be? Does learning a language qualify? I’d like to learn Russian, Chinese, and Spanish. I’d learn what I would need to survive in the future. [Laughs.]
Do you know enough Spanish to get you by though? It seems like everyone knows some Spanish. No! And I studied it for two years. I studied French for two years too! I had a good accent though because I was just a natural actor. The teacher never heard a good accent in her life so she would pass me just because I had a good accent, I swear! [Laughs.]
Well lucky you. I think I got a D-. Ok so for the record, what would Lily Tomlin like as a last meal request? I don’t think I could eat! If I knew I was going to be executed, I couldn’t eat. It’d just be like, oh no. I’m not hungry this morning. [Laughs.]
I feel like nobody ever says that! Not even me. I’m going prime rib. Yeah! They’re all just like, I’ll have a big turkey dinner with all of the fixings! Not me.
That’s actually really realistic probably. Well since you dropped some great gems on me and I’m greedy, please drop something on me that you live by. Altman gave me some advice when I was struggling with a cinematographer or something on some film. Anyway, you have to fight for your craft but let some things slide by. And that’s one thing you find when you get older, most things just pass right by and everyone goes on living and doing what they are doing. But sometimes, you have to fight for your art. That’s all there is to it and in that moment, it’s the most important thing in the world. But please remember to be reasonable.
Get your tickets now for “An Evening of Classic Lily Tomlin” at Segerstrom Center for the Arts this Saturday, Oct, 22nd by going to SCFTA.org. Follow the fun on Twitter @LilyTomlin and for everything Lily, check out her website LilyTomlin.com. Segerstrom Center for the Arts is located at 600 Town Center Drive Costa Mesa, CA 92626. (714) 556-2787
Ali Lerman knows much about comedy, basketball, and celebrating Wu-Tang Wednesday. She’s been writing for sixteen years and still calls her mom with grammatical questions.