LOS ANGELES -- Cloris Leachman, at 84, has more testicular fortitude than I'll ever see.

I learned this Monday night, watching a woman whose landed her first film role nearly 20 years before I was born, strapping on a harness to try rock climbing during a Fox party at the Santa Monica Pier.

Already, she'd been jumping around in one of those rides where they strap you to a couple of bungee cords and let you bounce around -- another activity I wouldn't consider at half her age.

And Leachman had critics howling earlier in the day, during a press conference for her new Fox show Raising Hope, when she joked about a certain other, um, experienced showbiz icon: "I'm so sick of Betty White...I never liked her."

I say this only because watching her attempt this climbing thing -- she eventually gave up after realizing even she wasn't crazy enough to risk breaking a hip in front of 100 journalists -- was undoubtedly the coolest thing I saw in an night which included seeing Simpsons star Nancy Cartwright freak out a carnival worker by talking in Bart Simpson's voice and schmoozing with Glee's most excellent villainess, Jane Lynch.

Check out the photo, provided by BullzEye.com's Will Harris, and you'll see what I mean: