Lily Tomlin is more than a comedienne. Whereas Alice went "Through the Looking Glass" to find a topsy-turvy but delightful world, Lily breaks through the Tube to find there was nothing there but broken promises, shattered illusions and hollow dreams. (p. B1)

To a degree, Tomlin's comedy, so enlarged and enriched from that switchboard turn which put her on the American map, is the most intelligent humor to come from the Tube. Her characters are observed from almost a sociologist's or an analyst's chair. It is "Look Back in Disgust" time for the late '50s, the chaotic '60s, the puzzled '70s.

Her characters have learned about life at the Tube. That, as that awful phrase puts it, is where they were at. And remain. And it is from having gaped at the same Tube that Tomlin's richly appreciative audiences achieve their empathy. (pp. B1-B...