For Lily Tomlin, it’s all about world’s random craziness

TROY >> Lily Tomlin is at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall on Saturday. It’s billed as a one-woman show. However, the stage will be filled as several of the characters Tomlin has created over the years will make an appearance.

Overall, the famous actress-comedienne has created characters who have become icons to the general public. Indeed, many of Tomlin’s characters are so identifiable that they have assumed a reality independent from the woman who created them.

To name a few of the approximately 50 characters she has created, there is Ernestine, the abrupt cantankerous switchboard operator (one ringy-dingy, two ringy dingy). Edith Ann is the precocious 5 1/2 year old with a world-weary wisdom (And that’s the truth). More serious is Trudy the homeless lady who encounters extraterrestrials. There is Mrs. Judy Beasley the housewife who offers consumer advice and the prudish and prissy Tasteful Lady.

Tomlin wouldn’t commit to who would show up at the Troy Music Hall, but felt about a dozen of her friends would make an appearance.

One character she says who will not be there is the lounge lizard Tommy Valour. She saves him mostly for “tree-hugging, fund-raising events.” His favorite line to those groups is “Hug this,” (complete with a crotch grapping motion.) She started laughing at the memory of two older ladies being shocked at Tommy’s antics.

It’s not surprising that audiences accept the characters as real people. During the course of our telephone interview, Tomlin herself spoke of her creations as friends – not characters she inhabits.

She sounded particularly proud of Ernestine’s journey over the years. She was especially proud of Ernestine’s web-cam interview show that ran during the recent George W. Bush presidency. “She’d interview Cheney and Rumsfeld and put them on the carpet as only Ernestine could do,” she said.

Tomlin has strong political views but says her comedy just focuses on the “random craziness that exists in the world.” She sees comedy in everything. She tells the story of making her Broadway debut (She has won two Tony Awards) and her dream of a “Stage Door Johnny” bringing her flowers after the performance. “Right after we opened, I went outside and saw a man in the alley. I asked if he wanted my autograph. He answered, ‘I don’t want no f’n autograph.’ At that moment I realized he was taking a pee. So much for my Broadway dreams,” she laughed.

Another story tells how she learned the futility of trying to change the world. She recalls when as a young actress who found fame as a member of the cast on the ground-breaking television show, “Laugh-In,” (1970-73) she thought her comedy could have an impact on big business. “Through Ernestine I thought I would bring AT&T to their knees. Instead they offered me $50,000 to do a commercial. Lesson learned,” she says. (P.S. She turned them down.)

Tomlin says she is resigned to not being able to change the world. Instead, she now devotes herself to causes in which she might manage small but important changes by supporting causes in which she believes.

One is the cause of animal rights, especially the plight of elephants. To that end, she and her partner Jane Wagner created an award-winning HBO documentary, “An Apology to Elephants,” that stresses the majesty of this species that is on the edge of extinction. “They are a noble species that is being exploited. They deserve our help and our caring.”

WHAT: Lily Tomlin

WHERE: Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, 30 Second St., Troy

WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday

TICKETS: $34-$65. 273-0038