Lily Tomlin and Coco Peru share an extraordinary conversation at LA Gay & Lesbian Center event

It was one of those nights so special that anyone who was there will never forget it.

Thank God I was one of those folks in the audience last night for Coco Peru’s In Conversation with Lily Tomlin held, appropriately, at the Lily Tomlin Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center.

“My head is about to explode,” an excited Coco said before bringing Lily onstage for close to three hours of stories and clips from the great star’s 45-year career on television, in movies and on stage.

Jane Wagner, Lily’s personal and professional partner of nearly 40 years, was in the front row of the packed theater and as the evening progressed, you realize just how crucial she has been to this brilliant career that has resulted in eight Emmys, two Tonys, a Grammy and an Oscar nomination among many other accolades.

“I fell madly in love with her as I laid eyes on her,” Lily said of Jane. “So that was that.”

Tomlin’s genius shines through as she tells stories about her various movies and TV specials. The stories about her family are just as interesting including ones about her brother who once sawed the family’s sofa into three pieces so they could have a sectional. But he was never punished because he and Lily “dominated the home.”

She has an amazing memory, interesting insights and entertaining anecdotes about so many topics including remembering exactly how much she was paid ($750 a week) when she started on Laugh-In in December of 1969 (the show’s third season).

By the time she left the show, she was earning $2,250 a week and her characters of Ernestine and Edith Ann had become iconic.

Ernestine came about because Lily hated the telephone company and wanted to make fun of them: “Ernestine just loved herself.”

The character also had a repressed sexuality: “She was going to be a tough Bronx operator but she started squirming and snorting and it was so organically sexual.”

Lily was offered $500,000 to perform as Ernestine for AT&T ads but the offer – which she turned down – did not bring her joy: “I just started weeping. I felt completely a failure because the phone company thought they could buy Ernestine.”

Then she added, jokingly, that in hindsight: “I sure wish I had taken the money.”

In addition to Laugh-In, Tomlin’s various acclaimed series of TV specials – mostly from the 70s – were discussed with clips shown capturing her brilliance.

Then the conversation moved to her movie career which was kicked off in 1975 with an Oscar-nominated performance in Nashville. “It never occurred to me that I couldn’t be in movies,” she said of a time when TV stars were rarely able to cross over to films and movie stars never did television. She went on to star in The Incredible Shrinking Woman (which she and Wagner also produced), All of Me opposite Steve Martin, Flirting With Disaster, Big Business with Bette Midler, Short Cuts and, of course, her biggest box office hit 9 to 5 with Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton.

“There’s nothing that bonds you like a number one movie,” she said of she, Fonda and Parton who all remain friends. During the filming of 9 to 5, she never once say co-star Dolly Parton without her wig and to this day wonders what Dolly’s real hair looks like.

She also bonded with Meryl Streep when they played sisters in Robert Altman’s final film A Prairie Home Companion: “She’s very fun and likes to play,” she said of Streep. “There’s just no touching her. She’s out of sight.”

Lily’s stellar stage career was also given ample attention and I especially enjoyed the backstage anecdotes like when after a performance of her Broadway show Appearing Nightly, legendary actress Claudette Colbert came backstage to say hello: “She told me her real name was Lily.”

During the run of the Broadway smash Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe, she learned that Katherine Hepburn, Meryl Streep and Barbra Streisand had all been in the audience. When Hepburn came backstage, Lily was so flustered that she kissed Hepburn all over her face: “I don’t think that’s something you normally do to Katherine Hepburn but she tolerated it.”

There could not have been a better host for this evening with Miss Tomlin than Coco Peru who allowed Lily the freedom to share her stories but also get things flowing and covered a lot of ground. Coco was also amazingly prepared and knew the details of the movies, TV specials and stage performances which made for a richer experience for all  in attendance.

What a glorious night. Proceeds from the “Conversation” benefit the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center.