WASHINGTON — This holiday weekend found Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin standing in front of an empty Capitol building, debating the environmental hazards of fresh-cut Christmas trees.

Ms. Fonda and Ms. Tomlin star in Netflix’s “Grace and Frankie,” where they play two women in their 70s whose husbands have run off together. The two women have been a buddy act since the 1980 film “9 to 5,” and on Friday they teamed up for Fire Drill Friday.

The weekly protest against congressional inaction on climate change began 12 weeks ago, billed as something of an adult “atta girl” celebrity cheering section for the youth climate strikes of Greta Thunberg. Ms. Fonda was told that Congress is rarely in session on Friday afternoons, but she stuck to the schedule because throughout the world, youth climate actions are also on Fridays.

And though Congress has almost never taken in one of Ms. Fonda’s curtain calls, her Fire Drill Fridays have become something of a place to see and be seen in Washington, a challenge to the adage that the nation’s capital is “Hollywood for ugly people.” Ms. Fonda, in fact, has been bringing Hollywood to Washington. One week it’s Ted Danson and the next brings Catherine Keener. I’ll see your Diane Lane and raise you a Sam Waterston. Oh, look, there’s Sally Field.