This Is a Recording is a comedy album released in 1971 by American actress-comedian Lily Tomlin.

[2] The album consists of comic sketches of Tomlin in her most famous character, Ernestine, the nosy, aggressive, and sharp-tongued telephone operator.

The album's tracks include monologues in which Ernestine tangles over the phone with Joan Crawford, Gore Vidal ("Mr. Veedle"), Martha Mitchell, and J. Edgar Hoover.

[3] Tomlin became the first woman to win this award for a solo recording (in 1962 Elaine May won for an album with Mike Nichols; in the years since only Whoopi Goldberg, Kathy Griffin, and Tiffany Haddish among female comedians have won the award.)

[4] In 2024, the album was selected to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, and/or aesthetically significant".