The Lily Tomlin Special (1975)

movie

(32)

Country: USA
Genres: Comedy
Release: 1975-07-25
Director: Jay Sandrich
Writers: Ann Elder , Christopher Guest , Lorne Michaels , Karyl Miller
Language: English
Stars: Betty Beaird , Anne Beesley , Shelley R. Bonus , Valri Bromfield , Christopher Guest , Sandy Helberg , Gordon Jump , Bert May , Roz Michaels , Laraine Newman , Laraine Newman
Runtime: 60 min
Awards: Won 1 Primetime Emmy. 2 wins & 1 nomination total
AKA: The Lily Tomlin Special , The Lily Tomlin Special (United States of America)
Plot: This was Lily Tomlin's 3rd TV special. She had previously done two specials for CBS and had moved over to ABC for this one. This is a very funny special. As was/is her style, Lily had no musical guest(s) on this show. She, her partner Jane Wagner and a select group of writers wrote sketches that were a departure from the usual variety show format. No dumb, cheesy jokes here. One of Lily's guests was Richard Dreyfuss but other than him there were no big names on this show. This was a very intelligent, expiremental and amusing special. One of the sketches had Lily as a woman who had a one night stand with a guy (Dreyfuss) and the next morning she wakes up and he buzzes her apartment and comes up to tell her he is in love with her and asks her to marry him and he had called his parents to come over and meet her. Lily's character was very stunned by this and it is a very comical sketch. The parents arrive and put the pressure on Lily to come over for dinner that night and Lily says she can't, then Dreyfuss puts more pressure on her and says " cmon TONIGHT" and Lily's character replies "I can't tonight, I've got a date". Very funny. There is also a sketch where Lily does her "Suzy Sorority" character at the sorority house that is a riot. A very young Laraine Newman is in this sketch as a fellow "valley girl" sorority sister. Very funny. Laraine Newman, of course, went on to "Saturday Night Live". I think the best part of the special is a parody of 1950's sitcoms called "Meet Lily". Lily plays a typical 50's housewife ( think "Father Knows Best" or "Donna Reed" ) who almost louses up her husbands chance of getting a raise by screwing up dinner when the boss comes over to their house. The whole sketch seems to be saying "silly housewife, what am I going to do with you?" I think it's possible Lily was trying to do a little send up of Lucy Ricardo too. Again, this special is not available to rent or buy, but it should be. I hope someone out there reads this. Lily Tomlin's TV specials from 1973-75 need to released on video/DVD. They are classic gems from a classic Emmy, Tony and Grammy winning comedienne. 10 stars!
IMDB:tt0364479