"All performers have "an act." The best ones -- a select group that includes Lily Tomlin -- have the ability to make their act seem ... well, not like "an act" at all."

" Tomlin presented "An Evening of Classic Lily Tomlin" Sunday night at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center. And while much of the evening was obviously tightly scripted, the feeling one had after spending two hours in Tomlin's company was that every joke, every vignette, was spontaneous."

" That's a testament to Tomlin's naturalness as a performer -- her personality on stage is so engaging and direct, so apparently without artifice. But it also points to the quality of her material -- much of it written by Jane Wagner -- which treats topics that are both delightfully silly and deadly serious with disarming yet penetrating wit."

" She began the evening with some pointedly local humor: wondering if, having heard about "Vision 2025," Tulsans had not heard of lasik surgery; mentioning that, when Dr. Phil played football at the University of Tulsa, the "Golden Hurricane was only Category One;" that Mayor Kathy Taylor and her rental-car mogul husband did not have a pre-nuptial agreement, but "he did insist on collision insurance.""

"got into the act, carrying on a one-sided conversation with Sen. Tom Coburn, threatening to release some 96 hours of incriminating taped conversations until Coburn came through with a generous donation to the arts."

" "Privileged information? Oh, that is so cute!" Ernestine said. "Senator, haven't you read the Patriot Act?""

" Then came Trudy the Bag Lady, pointing out that "reality is the leading cause of stress for those in touch with it." Judith Beasley, the oh-so-proper housewife extolled the joys of a device called "Good Vibrations."

" The 6-year-old Edith Ann related her adventures among her peers -- "I am not bossy -- it's just my ideas are better" and how she cleverly talked her way out of trouble when she was discovered in the store with an empty box of animal crackers."

" And there was the always impressive "Dracula's Daughter" bit, where Tomlin plays four very different characters -- Marie and Lud, their screaming daughter and a visiting insurance salesman
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