Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin Answer 'Burning Questions,' Talk Arrests While Guest-Hosting Ellen

Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin are more than just "Grace and Frankie" co-stars; they're literal partners in crime.

And while guest-hosting "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" Friday, the actresses spoke about what it was like getting arrested (Fonda four times) for civil disobedience in late 2019 after drawing attention to the climate crisis with Fire Drill Friday protests in Washington, D.C.

"We're very excited to be hosting 'The Ellen Show,'" Fonda said to the elated audience, as Tomlin asked them all to "please be gentle. This is our first time hosting a day-time talk show."

"Isn't great that we're still having firsts?" Fonda, 82, noted, prompting Tomlin, 80, to say, "Well, because of you, I got arrested for the first time!" She added, "I learned a lot in the slammer," prompting Fonda to remind her she was "in there for two hours!"

"Well, the stories I could tell!" Lily replied, giving a shout-out to her cellmate, Skittles. "Hey, Skittles! Yo mama!"

In all seriousness, though, Jane said "nothing's better than being part of a movement to try to stop the climate crisis. We march, we chant, we make our voices heard, right? You should all try it!" After getting the audience all riled up with a chant -- "Hey hey, ho ho, Jane and Lily are hosting the show!" -- Ellen's "officers" escorted the women off stage.

Soon after returning to the stage, the ladies welcomed to the couches their on-screen ex-husbands, Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston, who also got arrested during the protests. As Sam made sure to note, "Martin only got arrested once. I got arrested twice!" Though, Martin has actually engaged in civil disobedience about "68" times.

When asked how his family reacted to the news, Waterson said, "They liked it very much. They were very proud of their grandfather." Waterson, a self-described Moderate, said two weeks after the D.C. protests, he took his talents to the Harvard-Yale football game. He and some students who were begging their respective universities to divest from fossil fuels "ran out on the field and got arrested again."

Sam said that while he and his fellow protesters were in the field waiting for authorities to figure out how to handle the situation, about three times as many people from the stands came pouring onto the field to join them.

"It was really inspiring in the way that I bet was true for you," he said to Jane, "that all these young people and all this young energy and all these people that really get it -- doing something about it, immediately about it."

Fonda was beaming.

She and Lily then took turns answering Ellen's famed "Burning Questions," and it was as adorable as it was hysterical.

Prompted to say three things they must do every day, the women came up with a combined answer: Pee, brush your teeth and take a dump. That last one was courtesy of Lily, who quickly apologized. "Pardon me for saying taking a dump! So crude," she said. "I actually don't. I'm like Queen Elizabeth."

Jane then asked her friend about the most rebellious thing she did as a teen. Lily explained she was quite the troublemaker and missed a cumulative year of high school. What was teenage Jane's most rebellious move? "I ate a beetle." Lily then one-upped her, saying, "I used to smoke in the mathematician's office and bang erasers to make smoke!"

The next question prompted the actresses to reveal something they've fought about.

"Thought about?" Lily asked Jane, who shouted back, "Fought! Get a hearing aid, God! I've been telling her for years to get a hearing aid."

"Well I didn't think they thought we fought about anything," Lily defended. "I thought they were saying what did we think about, and we don't really have anything to answer there, either."

Next question: What's your favorite body part of a man? Fonda knew right away: "Legs!" She then asked Tomlin, who's gay, about her favorite body part of a woman. "Oooh," she sighed. "Too numerous to mention."

When posed with what they'd want a movie about their lives to be called, Tomlin creatively said, "Lily."

The next question was: What's one thing that does not get better with age?

"Your taste in clothing, I guess," said Tomlin. Fonda felt "that was the worst answer" and instead offered "sex!" After giving it some thought, though, she took it back. Both women agreed that's only gotten better for them over the years.

As often happens with this game, the questions got friskier, and Fonda could barely get the next one out without bursting into laughter. "Where is the craziest place you've had sex?"

"In my ear!" Tomlin shouted excitedly, as both women cackled and tWitch slow-clapped.

The two were then prompted to "describe each other in one word," and of course, they didn't listen. Lily said Jane was "tenacious," "courageous," "fantastic," "top of the world," "fabulous" and "so giving to mankind and humankind," before Jane called Lily "brilliant," "funny" and "empathic."

When she asked her co-star to reveal the last lie she told, Lily replied, "That you were terrific!" Oh, and Jane's favorite curse word is "motherf--ker."

Got a story or a tip for us? Email TooFab editors at tips@toofab.com.