Added: 4 years ago
From: philsdendotcom
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  • This is classic! LMAO

  • "Pri-privileged information? *Snort* Oh, Mr. Beetle, that's so cute!"

    ROFL

  • I miss these type of comics. Lily your the greatest.

  • @anatoliachtzein: the extended sketch is available on YouTube. Just search for Lily Tomlin+Merv Griffin. It has Ernestine castigating "Mr. Veedle" (the author Gore Vidal) for having written the "filthy" Myra Breckenridge.

  • I think it's from late 1969 on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. It may have been the first appearance of Ernestine on that show.

  • great... what year is this from?

  • omfg i looked this up cause my gma kept saying this

  • I love this video, LOL! Sounds like the bill collectors of today.

    5 stars! I favorited this video.

  • I love her, she's amazing

  • Thanks for uploading but I believe there is still more to this sketch where Ms. Tomlin then continues, pulling a file on Mr. Veetle showing that he's made child support payments to (an illegitimate) son named "Bok Choy" in South Korea for the last 17 years - then "Mr. Veetle" FINALLY relents!

  • Lilly is cool.

  • I love the line, "You better lock up your liquor, he's a mean drunk."

  • hahahahah............

  • I just loved that

  • It's amazing how good Lily still looks today at 72! She still looks almost as young as she did here, in the early 70's!! O_O LOL

  • LOL!!! This reminds me too much of many collection calls I've received over the years! O_O Even though they didn't threaten me like THAT. LOL But they will still ornery about it! Still, this is pretty funny and Lily at her best! :)

  • what is up with the background sound

    extranious sounds?

  • Privileged information! "Oh Mr. Beetle that's so cute!" Timeless, absolutely timeless! *laffin* A large burly serviceman, ... lock up the liquor! Oh my, just perfect!

  • Omni What?? Whatever the telephone company was (1966?) it has a lot of competition today. (oil, pharmaceutical, and so on)

  • "Mr. Beetle, you are not dealing with just anyones fool, I am a highschool graduate."

    "Mr. Beetle, I wan't you to understand something, we are not subject to city, state, or federal regulations. We are omnipotent .. thats potent with an omni before it."

    "..and if you do not pay your bills in ten days, we will send a large burley man to rip the phone out of your wall"

    I can't get enough of this clip!

  • This phone company grew up to be Google.

  • One of the best ones was when Ernestine called up Richard Nixon and kept calling him "Mr. Milhous." She noted that "you have been living at your present address only one year, and we like to keep closer tabs on our transient customers." :-)

  • Ah Laugh-In. The one is still quite relevant. Wonder if Ernestine ever called Bob Newhart.

  • I don't get the omnipotent joke. Could someone explain it to me?

  • @sobefobik It means "all powerful, god-like"

  • @sobefobik she's being silly. I looked this up because I remember "one ringy dingy, two ringy dingy"s, so that kind of stuff just sticks with people.

  • I remember that this Laugh In sketch went on forever, with "Mr. Veedle" as the character. When the punchline was revealed (Vidal - Gore Vidal?) was revealed, I didn't get it but my parents did! Turns out that, later in life, I read a great novel by GV - "Burr" I recommend it to all of you out there!

  • I used to cuss out the phone company. I hated to deal with SBC Ameritech. Horrible Company to deal with! The operator used to hang up and I'd call back and swear. It was funny at the time!

  • I would love to find out if "Mr Veedal" is really Gore Vidol. It may have been an in joke if he had issues with the telephone company. I'll bet a lot of telephone operators out there could identify Lily Tomlin with their supervisor, especially with that nasal twang and the Joan Crawford hairdo.

  • @TheFrontrowkid Yes, "Mr. Veedal" was indeed supposed to be Gore Vidal. In later skits, "Mr. Veedal" corrects her pronunciation of his name. It went something like . . . "Vidal? As in Gore Vidal? Author of that trashy, pornographic novel, MYRA BRECKINRIDGE ? (snort!) Well, I'll bet your mother's proud of you." I haven't seen that last part posted on YouTube yet, but it may be out there. I'd love to see it, if it is.

  • Today, he would owe more like $2,300.

  • Interesting pic. I've only seen her with the frost-blond wig. - Naked Lady Gaga. C0000M - -

  • this video sucks

  • Classic!!!!!!!!!

  • omnipotent...that's potent with an omni in front of it! priceless.

  • This skit was one of her best.

  • I remember watching her on Sesame Street and I believe Muppets as well when I was very little; I'm 20 next month, and still love this lady ;]

  • Privilaged information? Oh, Mr Beadle, you're so cute!

  • She gave the UFA a sense of humour.

  • Is 70s SNL????

  • @LucoLuchi

    No this was from Rowan and Martin's Laugh In late 60's

  • LUV IT!!!!!!!!! ITS CLASSIC SNL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • "We are not subject to city, state or federal regulations. WE are OMNIPITANT! That's Potent with an Omni in front of it" :-D

  • I'm in tears..lol Losing your service and the possible use of one eye.  R U Serious?? Only the phone company. And they are still powerful to this day.

  • I love it. She did so well in that character.

  • The more things change the more they stay the same?

  • My mother used to say "Is this the person to whom I'm speaking?" all the time...

  • 23.60 cents... goddamn that was the days when things were inexpensive.

  • @fourstar7 most likely 23.60 was a scripted low price to make the skit more absurd. This aired before the bell breakup. When LD calls for the working populace where reserved for family emergencies. Not much frivolous reaching out to touch someone.

  • Id like to see what happens if Al Bundy Called her

  • I never liked this character.

    It's too close to the real Verizon, MCI and AT&T Customer Service etiquette.

    ...and personality.

  • @TheBlackWhiteDog Amen! LOL!!

  • @tall32guy Fuckin Cavalier and Verizon too..

  • haha

    

  • Mr. "Viddle" is in reality GORE VIDAL, writer of that dirty, dirty book, MYRA BRECKENRIDGE.

  • I love Ernestine. She is one of my role models. I do a great impersonation of her and people think I am her when I am on the phone.

  • Still relevant today

  • "You are not dealing with just anyone's fool -- I am a high-school graduate!"

  • Ahhh they left out a part. She has a dirty tape of him and her together lol. I can still hear her say òh Mr. Vittal, blackmail is such an ugly word. We like to call it a visious threat.`` I love this skit lol.

  • Lily's the ballz!!!!

  • unfortunately, i wasn't alive when this show was on the air but i absolutely luv this show and especially lily tomlin! she's always been my hero!

  • So cool...My mom was a telephone operator way back in the day...and we used to listen to Lily tomlin doing Earnestine on moms old vinyl...such awesome memories ! and still soo funny....thanks for the laughs Lily tomlin !!

  • LOLZ

  • Memories of 'Ma Bell" before the break up. Where can I get a dial phone to hang on the wall?

  • What she joked about in the past is reality 50 years later

  • "Om-ni-pi-tent. That's 'potent' with an 'omni' in front of it." XDD

    I am officially pronouncing that word exactly like that from now on.

  • "You will lose service and possibly the use of one eye!" lol!!!

  • We don't care and we don't have to! Because we are the phone company!

  • ''i suggest u lock up the liqour.. hes a mean drunk'' LMAOOOO

  • My mom use to imitate Lily doing this character..

  • I love Lily Tomlin..she brought me biG smiles...and, she was born fifty miles from me in Paducah, Kentucky...love her..

  • A real classic. As funny today as when I first saw it. Can I get the audio for a ring tone. Just the part, "One ringy dingy, Two ringy dingy, " Maybe it could be extended for a ringtone to last 45 sec or however long a ringtone is suppose to last. Maybe she could get louder or lose her temper. I would really love that.

  • I am not a big fan of the family guy because of that baby stewie. :(

  • Tomlin is hilarious!

  • Do they sell Laugh In DVD's? I would like to have some of those, and also The Carol Burnett Show too!

  • @alabamaflyer There are some best-of DVD's available. Look around on eBay and you should find them. I wouldn't mind having complete seasons of Laugh-In available, but I'm sure it would be a nightmare trying to get clearance for all the guest stars they had.

  • "Mr Beetle you're dealing with the telephone company!" LOL

  • As a kid I loved those sketches with Ernestine and the people she called, especially Burt Reynolds.  Well, Lilly Tomlin did that one on a record.

  • "Mister Veedle" was supposed to be Gore Vidal, I take it.

  • Yes. Ernestine also called William F. Buckley, whom she called "Mr. Fbuckley."

  • neat - thanks for connecting that!

  • she is so funny

  • I missed Judy Carne.

  • Far more wit was put into that clip than was put into the whole of the "Family Guy" show.

  • lol. hilarious!

  • One RingyDingy..Two RingyDingy - Are you there Miss Sweeney?

  • LMAO!!! Omnipitent!!! Hahaha!!!!

  • Wheeeeeee, Lily Tomlin! Love her so much. Laugh In was the funniest show ever. :)

  • i live in kansas i hear all kansas they are getting old

  • this is a classic lily is my favorite female comedian

  • Classic comedy!

  • This is great! im in a play right now and i need inspiration, cause im on the phone half the time, and this is just what i needed! my director was so smart, because he was the one that told me about this..... cool!

  • Comment removed

  • Now this is entertainment I sure the good old days they sure don't write like this anymore.....

  • Dude...I was just a baby when these were airing....This was hilarious...Oh comedy sure has changed to graphic & explicit. Sad! This was true talent!

  • A pure genius Lily Tomlin is!!!! I am 46 and Thank goodness all those shows are on dvd. 110 junk on tv and horribe music today! Love 60s and 1970s !!!

  • @heebieandjeebie Obviously you don't get outside mainstream music. Mainstream music in the 70's was horrible. In the way of TV, Boardwalk Empire, 30 Rock, Modern Family, Breaking Bad and Mad Men are hardly junk.

  • @michael918273645 so I was born in 1963. Today majority of music and tv shows are nothing but pure garbage! One mans opinion and I glad i grew up when again in my opinion ,when tv,movies and music were terrific! That is why Howard Johnsons offered over 50 flavors of icecream. Every one has there own taste! many of my friends feel the same way with crap these days!

  • @michael918273645 you include Elton John in that?

  • WHEN WHAT FREEZES OVER?

    LOL!!!!

    I love Lily!!

  • Lily rocked! Though I think she works for the cell phone companies I cancelled as well! Now it's just prepaid for me. It seems more expensive until you have a problem with a major carrier like I did.

  • Classic...LOL =) Ha ha !

  • The phone company customer service is still just as bad as when this sketch was filmed. There are just more of them.

  • "That's 'potent' with an 'omni' in front of it...." Brilliant.

  • they have a slot machine like this. I love it

  • "I advise you to lock up the liquor, he's a mean drunk". Hahahahahahaha! Love it.

  • lilly your a classic. always love to hear your comedy. much better then todays comedy.

  • go lily!...go ernestine!

    get that phone company!

    XOXO

  • *snort*

    LOL!!!!

    Brilliant!!

  • Is this the person to whom I am speaking?

  • Combine "exodus" and "international" and ".org"!

  • Anyone know where to get her Dorothy Ann?

  • you mean Edith Ann?

  • What a classy lady!! She truly was so funny in all her roles.

    Who she sleeps with has nothing to do with her wonderful career nor any ones business!! To even bring it up says so much about simple minds.

  • I really don't care about her personal life, only her performances. 95% of hers are superb.

  • SatinAnLace I could not agree more with you. Seems to me str8 people are more obsessed with sex than us gays. I for one never even think if a performer or anyone else is gay or str8. If their talented their talented... PERIOD......

  • Pretty funny osufan

  • osufan2, I'm straight, but don't care one way or another. But, I think you may be right. Personally, I think homophobia is just gay! lol

  • Maureen Dowd sounds like her!

  • She is supposed to be talking to Gore Vidal, but she is pronouncing his name as "Veedle"

  • WTF is that stupid puddytat shit at the beginning of the video?  Oh, I get it, it's an audio clip that you identify with personally. Sigh...

  • love her wig!

  • This is funny. I found out there's a slot machine with her on it.

  • So I guess this is kind of like SNL huh? Funny stuff.

  • This is what SNL was shooting for, and never hit.

  • I actually remember the first time Ernestine first appeared on "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In." My whole family laughed and laughed. Lily is the best!

  • she use to crack me up in the 70's. my exwife use to work for the phone co. used to use her lines.

  • Just as funny now as it was when it originally came out.....You have to love Lilt Tomlin, and who cares if she is a lesbian ( What difference does it make )

  • My what??????

  • Lesbians are fabulous!

  • is there a point to your nonsense yet?

  • there is no point to lonesomePageTurner's nonsense

  • I remember working those switchboards.....what fun!

  • lol, obviously pre-HIPAA

  • Classic! And her style is slammin'

  • Love it!!!! :-) Tomlin is always such a hoot!

  • 'she doesn't care if you think she is pretty, she's a lesbian, ...' and did see what you replied to.

    sorry what the fing shit? do you mean? yes - a legend in her own right. thanks for posting, this

  • She doesn't care if you think she's pretty, she's a lesbian, and besides that, who gives a **** if you think she's ugly? She a terrific comedienne...a legend!

  • when 'hell' freezes over, and yeah homeland security is right! me gave ma bell the boot and get along very well w the cell. send the mean drunk over here, i fix em up w devil woman, she teach him a thing or two!

    its all good fun!

  • Happy Birthday, Sept. 1st, Miss Lily!

  • fast foward 40 years the Telephone Company becomes the Department of Homeland Security...

    now that is SCARY 0-o

  • Strangely, the same people who decry what they consider to be free market monopolies are enthusiastic about government monopolies. They call a monopoly enforced by police power to be "protecting consumers."

  • Classic!

    ;)

  • i've loved lily's comedic routines since i was knee high to a chicken

  • Mmmm... chicken...

  • Perfectly describes AT&T today.

  • Ah, those were the days.

    Ma Bell.

    What memories....

    Young punks don't know what it was like. I know one that has never seen a rotary phone for real.

  • "Ah, those were the days.

    Ma Bell".

    Oh Yes. Do you remember party lines? My grandparents had a party line.

    My great Aunt Elsie's tel # was:

    KE 10928

    I think that KE stands for 'Kensington'.

    I had an aqua colored rotary phone when I was a teenager. :D I had a transistor radio too! ;D

  • My mother still has a rotary phone in the basement. Still works too.

    Aqua? Was it a princess phone?

  • My aqua phone was a regular rotary phone. My husband and I bought a 1960's ranch and the original owners left the burnt orange princess phone in the [Brady Bunch] basement --it still worked great. We replaced the olive green [state of the art] rotary wall phone in the kitchen...it was way too 70's.

    Too bad we didn't keep it, we'd may get top dollar today on Ebay. LOL!

  • she is the best, more ringy dingys pllllease!

  • shes great

  • I love Lily. I did her Fast Talker "Peeved" routine from her album in front of her once and she loved it. I also do Ernestine, Edith Ann, and Trudy the Bag Lady.

  • If anybody has Lily...For President? at all....post all the segments...there are so many Lily Tomlin rarities...it is so rare to find one.

  • Lol, she is fantasic!

  • Does anybody have the rare special, Lily...For President? It had a good number of guest stars, including Scott Baio.

  • The very moment I got a call that day in 1979 confirming my employment at "THE PHONE COMPANY", I thought to myself, "ERNESTINE, the OPERATOR, one ringy dingy!!" OH, little did I know what those next 28 years were going to be like!! Love to see Lily Tomlin, always dear to my heart!!

  • I worked for the telephone company for 11 years :) I still say Ernestine should've been our training videos. That was right at the time of the great BELL & AT&T break up. Now we're all together again, and let Ernestine reign supreme! Don't let Fattwat Patel's Call Centre in Bombay handle your accounts.

  • Nothing new under the sun, only nowadays they shoot silently through cyberspace and ruin your life while you sleeeeeep!!!!

  • we are omnipitent... thats potent with an omni in front of it...

    xD!!!

  • "we will send a tall, burly serviceman to come over to your house and rip it out of the wall...i advise you to lock up the liquor, he's a mean drunk.."

    ahahahahahhahha

  • I always thought she would say oh Vido will be right over to flip it in the wall jack for you.

  • Someone played her on the radio the other day. She was chastising Mr. Hoover of the FBI for eavesdropping on other people's phone calls (just like she is always doing). She told him it was a federal offence. She signed off by complimenting his vacuum cleaners.

  • shes so precious!!

    my favorite is when she says omnipotent