Just don't call me 'horseface!' Lily Tomlin jokes about mean critics as Jane Fonda honours her at the TCAs

Published: 16:46 GMT, 7 August 2016 | Updated: 16:52 GMT, 7 August 2016

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She might be smiling, but Lily Tomlin had a serious message for the audience at the Television Critics Association Awards on Saturday.

Don't call her 'horseface'.

'No one here, that I know of, has ever referred to me as "horse-faced,"' Tomlin told the audience, according to Deadline, after being presented with her career achievement award by Jane Fonda.

'There was a critic; he was a Broadway critic - he is no more - but he referred to me three times, as if 'Horseface' was my middle name.’

Grateful: Tomlin hailed TV critics for their class, recalling how one Broadway critic cruelly called her names

One for the scrapbook: Jane Fonda, 78, presented Lily Tomlin, 76, with a career achievement award Saturday in Beverly Hills, California as part of the 32nd annual Television Critics Association Awards.

Tomlin - a Hollywood lifer who's appeared on TV for decades on shows like Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, Murphy Brown, The West Wing and Desperate Housewives - laughed as she told the crowd she found TV critics to be a nicer bunch than some of their peers in entertainment journalism.

She was reunited with fellow Tinseltown legend Fonda in Beverly Hills, California at the bash at The Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Both ladies were impeccably dressed, as Fonda, 78, wore a violet blazer with matching pants, a gold necklace and a sparkling black top, while Tomlin, 76, played it more conservative in a black pantsuit with a black and silver necklace.

Emotional embrace: Fonda and Tomlin have been friends for more than 35 years

'A Special Bond': Fonda this year said of her longtime friendship with Tomlin: 'We have a good time and a history together'

Clear the mantle place: Tomlin will again be honored early next year, as she's slated to receive a lifetime achievement award from SAG

The friends of 35 years have shared the screen in productions such as the 1980 comedy classic Nine to Five and the current Netflix series Grace and Frankie.

More than 220 TV critics from the United States and Canada voted on the honorees.

Other big winners on the evening included The Mary Tyler Moore show, which captured the heritage award, and FX's The People Vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, which won program of the year, outstanding achievement in movies, miniseries and specials; and individual achievement in drama for star Sarah Paulson.

No slouch herself: Fonda has twice won the Academy Award for best actress - for 1978's Coming Home and 1972's Klute

Summer sale: Fonda last month made headlines when she decided to auction off her engagement ring and wedding gown from her 1991 wedding to media mogul Ted Turner

Not just for laughs: Tomlin was hailed as 'an extraordinary actress, as equally adept at narrative drama as in comedy roles' by SAG's president, Gabrielle Carteris

The presentation came on the heels of Thursday's announcement that the Screen Actors Guild will award Tomlin with a lifetime achievement award in their ceremony in Los Angeles slated for January 29, 2017.

Others who've captured the honors in recent years include Carol Burnett, Debbie Reynolds and Dick Van Dyke.

Multi-talented: Tomlin has also captured a Grammy award and multiple Emmy and Tony awards for her work

Tomlin was hailed as 'an extraordinary actress [who is] as equally adept at narrative drama as in comedy roles,' SAG president Gabrielle Carteris said. 'But it is through her many original characters that Lily's creative genius fully shines.

'She has an ability to create diverse and distinct characters that are at once familiar, eccentric, and oh so honest - in a way that illuminates life’s hidden corners,' Carteris said.

One of the country's most celebrated stars, Tomlin's past accolades Kennedy Center Honor in 2014, a Mark Twain Humor Prize in 2003, multiple Emmy awards, a Grammy and two Tony awards. She received her only Oscar nomination in 1976 for her work in the film Nashville.