Lily Tomlin

Lily Tomlin takes on General Motors nearly 40 years ago

Nearly 40 years ago, Lily Tomlin replaced Judy Carney on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, the NBC Comedy Series. Tomlin portrayed many iconic characters during her four-year tenure on the program, including switchboard telephone operator Ernestine Tomlin. In one of her most well-remembered skits, Ernestine, in her nosy demeanor, nasal voice and condescending tone, calls General Motors. As she did in all of her Ernestine skits, she snorts, laughs at her own jokes and when the person on the other end of the line answers, she says: “Is this the party to whom I am speaking?” In her less than four-minute skit poking fun at General Motors, Tomlin takes on the automobile manufacturer with hilarious puns and comedic barbs. Her lines

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