What [Tomlin's] unique perspective has given us is a repertory of nearly 20 characters ranging from a cheeky adenoidal 5 1/2-year-old named Edith Ann to Sister Boogie Woman, a 77-year-old evangelist….

Tomlin respects her characters and fights vigorously for their integrity. (p. 39)

For Tomlin, an ardent feminist, any male/female nomenclature is suspect. Nonetheless, her body of work is for some women an antidote to that of the female practitioners of stand-up comedy—such as Phyllis Diller, Joan Rivers, Totie Fields—who have internalized "Take my wife … please," to regurgitate, "The last time I took off my makeup, my dog threw up."

None of Tomlin's women are male-defined, all spring from an economic and social place in society. They have no interest in idly putting down men; neither will they allow themselves to be skewered. (p. 90)

With her Edith Ann record "And That's the Truth" (Edith's spluttering tag on her...