The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe

This filmed version of Lily Tomlin's successful one-woman performance piece is sometimes classified as a "documentary." However, it is one hundred percent from the show and contains nothing but that show, so it could also be classified simply as a comedy/satire. In any case, it features classic characters limned by this versatile performer, whose uncanny sketches predated those by Whoopi Goldberg, Tracy Ullman or Sandra Bernhard -- all of whom walk in her footsteps. One of the repeating themes of the show is the avuncular advice of a delightfully addled bag lady who offers her services to help non-Earth aliens understand what they are seeing on this planet. All the skits tie together under the general theme of making fun of high-toned New Age rhetoric, which is a system of beliefs that proves inadequate to address the fundamental woes of everyday life.