SNL 50: Tina Fey

Summary

Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist: SNL 50 Special Featuring Tina Fey

Episode Overview In the February 13, 2025 episode of NBC's "Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist," host Willie Geist engages in an insightful and humorous conversation with Tina Fey, a comedy icon renowned for her work on "Saturday Night Live" (SNL), "30 Rock," and the cult classic film "Mean Girls." Celebrating the 50th anniversary of SNL, this episode delves deep into Fey's illustrious career, her creative process behind the "Mean Girls" reboot, and her ongoing projects, including a dynamic tour with Amy Poehler.

---

Opening Remarks and Mean Girls Reboot

The episode opens with Willie Geist welcoming Tina Fey, setting a conversational and relaxed tone. The primary focus swiftly moves to the highly anticipated reboot of the beloved 2004 film "Mean Girls," marking its 20th anniversary.

Tina Fey on Reviving a Classic:

"It is a little odd, you know, and some days I feel like it was a minute ago. And some days I'm like, no, it was about 20 years ago I didn't have kids." [02:08]

Fey reflects on the passage of time and the surprising longevity of "Mean Girls" in popular culture, emphasizing how certain themes remain timeless despite societal changes.

Incorporating Modern Elements:

"We live in a world. In 2004, we'd never heard of Instagram or Twitter or Snapchat or TikTok or any of that stuff. So you did layer all of that into it." [04:02]

Fey discusses the integration of contemporary social media platforms into the new screenplay, highlighting the necessity to update the high school experience to resonate with today's youth.

Collaborative Adaptation Process:

"She probably shouldn't have said that or done that. And it's nice to. It's a real gift to get the opportunity to go back and update things." [02:42]

The conversation underscores the collaborative efforts in adapting the original movie into a screenplay that feels fresh and relevant, without merely replicating the original's charm.

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Navigating Social Media and Modern High School Dynamics

Tina Fey explores how the advent of social media has intensified high school relational dynamics compared to the early 2000s.

Impact of Social Media:

"It's brutal. I mean, obviously this is different than talking about like actual accountability for behavior, but when it's just like, you know, you did your hair and it came out real stupid." [12:10]

Fey emphasizes the harsher and more permanent nature of social interactions in the digital age, contrasting it with the more forgiving environments of the past.

Parenting in the Digital Era:

"My 18 year old, I feel like I'm letting her, I'm trusting her core values. And the 12 year old is so far off. We don't have any social media." [12:29]

She shares her approach to parenting amidst the challenges posed by social media, balancing trust and guidance for her teenage daughters.

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Tina Fey’s Early Career and Journey to SNL

The conversation transitions to Fey's formative years in comedy, tracing her roots from middle school to her pivotal move to Chicago.

Discovering Comedy:

"I wanted to write about comedians. And at that time, with no Internet, no YouTube, you could not even really a VCR to tape things..." [15:16]

Fey recounts her early fascination with comedy, sparked by limited resources like Joe Franklin's Encyclopedia of Comedians, and her determination to carve a niche in the field.

Move to Chicago and Second City:

"I moved to Chicago from Charlottesville, Virginia, where I went to college. I went to Chicago just because I thought, well, that's where the Second City is." [17:54]

Her relocation to Chicago was driven by her ambition to join the legendary improv group Second City, where she honed her skills and formed lasting professional relationships, including meeting Amy Poehler.

Breaking into SNL:

"And then SNL had come through the Second City scouting for performers and seen me and were, like, not interested. And I understandably, they were correct. And so I asked Adam if I could send a packet in as a writer, and he was like, for sure. And he's hired me, basically." [20:11]

Fey details her unconventional entry into SNL as a writer rather than a performer, credits Adam McKay for advocating on her behalf, and reflects on her initial apprehensions during the interview process with Lorne Michaels.

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Collaboration with Amy Poehler and Touring Success

A significant portion of the discussion highlights Fey's collaborative ventures with her long-time friend and colleague, Amy Poehler.

Dynamic Duo:

"We are touring now and it is just like we really just have such an ease and shorthand working with each other." [27:43]

Fey describes the seamless partnership she shares with Poehler, both on tour and in various projects, attributing their success to years of mutual understanding and shared comedic sensibilities.

The Restless Leg Tour:

"We are like rock stars... It's just a paid mom's weekend." [30:38]

The duo's "Restless Leg Tour" is portrayed as a fun and flexible venture, balancing performances across major cities with personal downtime, exemplifying their ability to maintain professionalism while enjoying their work.

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Upcoming Projects and Future Endeavors

As the episode nears its conclusion, Fey teases her future projects and ambitions.

Netflix Series Adaptation:

"Tracy Wakefield and Lang Fisher and I are going to adapt... the Four Seasons... as a series for Netflix." [34:23]

Fey reveals plans to adapt the classic film "The Four Seasons" into a Netflix series, signaling her continuous evolution in the entertainment industry.

Mean Girls Stage Program:

"Mean Girls, the stage program is going to London in the spring to come see us in London." [34:30]

She announces the international expansion of the "Mean Girls" stage adaptation, demonstrating the enduring global appeal of the franchise.

Humorous Side Projects:

"Amy keeps yelling. She's like, why do you not have a line of glasses? Why do you not sell glasses?" [34:55]

Fey jokes about potential side ventures, showcasing her trademark humor and the playful dynamic with Poehler.

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Conclusion

The episode wraps up with Willie Geist expressing his appreciation for Tina Fey's candidness and engaging storytelling. Fey's reflections offer a blend of humor, nostalgia, and insightful commentary on the evolution of comedy and high school dynamics over the past two decades. Her ability to adapt and remain relevant in the ever-changing landscape of entertainment underscores her status as a beloved and influential figure in comedy.

Final Remarks:

"Thank you, Tina. Fun to talk to you." [35:17]

Willie Geist signs off the episode, inviting listeners to tune in for future conversations and reinforcing the podcast's commitment to delivering in-depth profiles of cultural icons.

---

Notable Quotes:

• Tina Fey on Humor and High School:

  "The core idea of sort of not taking other people down just to make yourself feel better... it's still like, don't look at me, look at them." [11:02]

• On Comedy Education for Her Children:

  "We're not. We're gonna watch things that are funny." [34:14]

• Reflecting on 30 Rock's Legacy:

  "Nobody in my house watches it. We don't watch it." [33:15]

Timestamp Highlights:

• 02:08: Tina Fey discusses the time elapsed since the original "Mean Girls."
• 04:02: Incorporation of modern social media into the reboot.
• 12:10: Impact of social media on high school dynamics.
• 15:16: Tina Fey's early interest in comedy.
• 20:11: Breaking into SNL as a writer.
• 27:43: Collaboration with Amy Poehler on tour.
• 34:23: Upcoming Netflix series adaptation.
• 35:17: Conclusion and final appreciation.

---

This comprehensive summary captures the essence of Tina Fey's interview on "Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist," highlighting her journey, creative endeavors, and enduring impact on comedy and popular culture.

Transcript

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[Willie Geist]

Hey guys, Willie Geist.

[Tina Fey]

Here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down Podcast. My thanks as always for clicking and listening along. I am thrilled to bring you my conversation this week with a true comedy icon, Tina Fey. I'm just getting out of the way here. You don't need a big wind up. You know Tina Fey. You love Tina Fey. So sit back, relax and enjoy Tina right now on the Sunday Sit Down Podcast.

[Willie Geist]

Thanks for doing this, Tina.

[Tina Fey]

Thank you.

[Willie Geist]

Great to see you.

[Tina Fey]

It's nice to see you.

[Willie Geist]

We're very pink because it's Wednesday.

[Tina Fey]

Thank you.

[Willie Geist]

Right.

[Tina Fey]

This will air on a Sunday, but just know this was filmed on a Wednesday.

[Willie Geist]

Exactly. And on Wednesdays some of us wear pink. I'm sorry, you know, I didn't have anything.

[Tina Fey]

You know what, we will add it in post, make your shirt pink and.

[Willie Geist]

Post you can colorize that. It's so fun to be sitting here talking to you about this movie, which I absolutely love.

[Tina Fey]

Thank you so much.

[Willie Geist]

It's so good. People are gonna just be obsessed with it as they were with the original. Is it odd for you to be sitting here 20 years later talking about this idea you had all those years ago?

[Tina Fey]

It is a little odd, you know, and some days I feel like it was a minute ago. And some days I'm like, no, it was about 20 years ago I didn't have kids. And now I have kids that are very large. So it makes sense. It's been about 20 years. But I definitely didn't think when we were making it the first time that we would still be talking about it now.

[Willie Geist]

So for people who love the original, it's that. But it also adds the beauty of the musical, which was so popular here on Broadway for a couple of years. So how did you approach writing this screenplay? Obviously, the music adds a different layer to it, but differently than 2004?

[Tina Fey]

Well, a couple different ways. It was fun to take the. The stuff we learned from the musical and kind of the tentpole songs of the musical and bring them back into a cinematic form where you can play things in a close up, you can have like visual jokes and you can cut different places fast. Because so much of learning to write, to adapt the original movie for the musical was technical. It's like, okay, movies are three acts, musicals are two acts. We need something here because the girls have to change their outfits. It's a very practical process. And then it's like, now we can take all the things we wanted to do and move faster. And, you know, it definitely doesn't feel like a filmed Broadway show. It feels like a movie, for sure. Yeah. And it's also nice to get the chance. You know, so often with comedy, comedy's such a living thing. And you write something that you go, oh, boy. Yeah, that's a problem now. She probably shouldn't have said that or done that. And it's nice to. It's a real gift to get the opportunity to go back and update things.

[Willie Geist]

And tweak things and that's all in there. The music is one thing that's different, but also we live in a world. In 2004, we'd never heard of Instagram or Twitter or Snapchat or TikTok or any of that stuff. So you did layer all of that into it. Because the high school experience clearly is much different now than it was 20 years ago.

[Tina Fey]

It's super different. And even when I was writing the movie for 2004, I was thinking about 1988 because that was bringing my experience to. To that movie. So now it's really updated. And I've always. I think our directors, Art and Sam did an amazing job of incorporating social media into the movie without letting it take over.

[Willie Geist]

Right.

[Tina Fey]

Because I think young audiences too, they're like, yeah, we get it. We live it. You don't have to. You don't have to explain it to us too much, but they were able to mine it for jokes. And I think that, yeah, I think it's. They tap it nicely in the movie.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah, it's not overwrought for sure. It's there as a part of the movie. What's nice, too, is you have consultants inside your own home, whether it's your husband on the music.

[Tina Fey]

Yes.

[Willie Geist]

Or your daughters on what it's like to be a teenager or about to be a teenager.

[Tina Fey]

Yes. Yeah. I have pre and post teens in my house. I have 18 and 12 in my house. And I try not to bother them too much, but I do run things by them occasionally, and I do get clear answers of, like, no, that's corny. Or, like, yeah, that's okay. Interesting, you know, and they both are very smart comedy fans and film fans, so I do trust them.

[Willie Geist]

So you're sitting there saying, should this burn book be a burn book? Should it be something else? Right.

[Tina Fey]

So at one point, the directors early on were like, maybe the burn book should be, like, a private Instagram page. And I was like, I don't think so, but let me check. And they were like, no, it should be a book. And at one point, my one daughter was like, don't let those millennials overthink it.

[Willie Geist]

Wow, a studio executive. It's amazing. Could have hit her with a little back end, maybe.

[Tina Fey]

Yeah. Some points. Half a point.

[Willie Geist]

Was there any hesitation about going back to something that has become such a classic, that is so iconic, to tempt fate in some way and mess with it?

[Tina Fey]

Well, first of all, that's so nice of you to say. And I do think so much of what people respond to in the original movie are the performances, you know, and, like, Rachel and Lindsay and Lacey and Amanda are so good, and it's all. And it's no surprise to me that they went on to such amazing careers, all of them, after that. And I think they took their part so seriously and played them so committedly that I think that's so much to do with why the original movie works. So when we first were adapting for Broadway, it was like, wow, can other people play these parts? And then it became clear that, like, yes, they can. And audiences are excited to see other people do it and to see people who don't necessarily even look like the people you saw the first time. You know, the longer the Broadway show ran and then we went on tour, it was really kind of thrilling to see different people bring different things to those parts. And so once that band aid was kind of ripped off, the other thing with the musical is I did realize in the five years that we were developing the musical, that millennials especially, they feel real ownership of the movie. And they were sort of like, you can't we own this? And I was sort of like, well, no, it's my thing. But they're like, no, it's our thing. And I was like, okay, fair enough. We'll share it. And I'll be very careful. I'll work very carefully. But I think. I think it's okay. Yes, I think it's okay that we're back in the same universe.

[Willie Geist]

Is it wild to you to hear that? That this 20 years later, it really is a touchstone for so many people. And the term mean girls has become part of the lexicon, and people identify groups in the lunchroom at high school. Like, that is what high school is in America. Does that blow your mind?

[Tina Fey]

It is so weird. It is so weird. Yes. That. How kind of how sticky those characters ended up being. Again, I think it's a lot to do with those women. Yeah, it's weird. But I believe if we can have 12 Spider Mans. I'm not actually counting. How many spider Mans are we up to?

[Willie Geist]

You're asking the wrong guy.

[Tina Fey]

I don't know.

[Willie Geist]

A lot animated different spider men through the years.

[Tina Fey]

I believe the plural is spider mans.

[Willie Geist]

Oh, is that what it is? No.

[Tina Fey]

I don't know. Like Lego.

[Willie Geist]

But even the terminology, right, that people use mean girls as shorthand. Yeah. You know, it means something to people.

[Tina Fey]

Yeah. You see it in, like, articles about Congress. Oh, okay. Sure. Yeah. It's weird.

[Willie Geist]

And is it true that when you were first making it, there was no guarantee that, number one, it would be made? You thought, okay, this is a cool concept, or forget being this iconic film that it's becoming.

[Tina Fey]

Yeah, for sure. I was, you know, a writer at SNL at the time, and I guess maybe I was. I guess I was doing Update with Jimmy. Right. Maybe.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah. 2000.

[Tina Fey]

Ish. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And. Well, 2003. Right. So I don't remember anything. May have been Amy by then. Yeah, there's no way of knowing. How will we ever know? And I just had seen this article in the New York Times about this book called Queen Bees and Wannabes, which is a nonfiction sociology book about relational aggression, which is what they call it when girls mess with each other. You know, boys maybe, like, fight it out, punch it out, whatever, and then they're done with it. But girls, they've sort of realized, find ways to torture each other that are just behavioral. And I thought it was fascinating and I thought it was funny inherently, because some of the things that these young kids were doing were sort of insidious and genius in their own way. So I went to Lorne and said, I think there's A movie here. And he said, you know, could they have cool cars and good outfits and stuff? And I was like, yep, we can do it. You know, Which I get his instinct is because his thing was, like, make a movie. Movie. Like, you don't have to make a tiny little gritty movie. You can make a movie.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah.

[Tina Fey]

I think the actual thing he said to me was, like, it's okay to work in bright sunlight. It doesn't make a movie better necessarily to make it, like, tiny.

[Willie Geist]

Right.

[Tina Fey]

Which I thought was really good advice. And so we started making the movie. And back then, like, I always felt when we made 30 Rock, it was just. Then it was like, someone's gonna let us make it, and then we'll have a tape of it. And even if they don't put it, like, we'll have a tape of it. It was just that, like, well, they're gonna let us make it. And so that was as far as we got. We shot the original movie in Toronto. And at the time, sometimes I would do updates, get into, like, a truck that had a bed in the back, and they would drive me to Toronto. I think I was a little afraid to fly at that time for a minute, but I did fly. Sometimes you make it sound like you.

[Willie Geist]

Hitched a ride up to Toronto.

[Tina Fey]

It was a guy driving a camper, and I would sleep, and then I'd get up and go to set. It was.

[Willie Geist]

It was a mobile trailer. It was a mobile trailer and delivered a set.

[Tina Fey]

Wow.

[Willie Geist]

That's amazing.

[Tina Fey]

Yeah. I could have just gone to bed and flown to Toronto. What was wrong with me?

[Willie Geist]

In hindsight. In hindsight, it is amazing, though. I mean, obviously this film is different and high school's different with the themes, and you talk about diversity and sexuality in a different way than you did 20 years ago, but the core idea of what it feels like to be in high school has been there forever and is still there today.

[Tina Fey]

Yeah. The core idea of sort of not taking other people down just to make yourself feel better. Which. Boy. I mean, that behavior, the original movie did not fix anything. That behavior has only gotten worse. And the idea. And I think now, in the 90s and early 2000s, we would couch it in humor, and now I think people couch it in righteousness. They take people down and make themselves feel better, being like, here's why you're a problem. But it's still the same thing. It's still like, don't look at me, look at them. It's that panic of, don't look at me. I don't want to make a mistake. I don't know who I am yet. It's a young person's panic. And I think the mistake of acting like someone you're not to fit in or to feel better, those are mistakes we all continue to make.

[Willie Geist]

And the mistakes of high school now are memorialized on social media in a way you and I didn't have to worry about. Oh, my gosh, we could work it out a little bit.

[Tina Fey]

Absolutely.

[Willie Geist]

Be a jerk once in a while and correct that. And now with social media, as you know with your girls and I know with my teenagers, it's brutal.

[Tina Fey]

Yeah, it's brutal. I mean, obviously this is different than talking about like actual accountability for behavior, but when it's just like, you know, you did your hair and it came out real stupid. No one had a picture of it. Just the low stakes thing or like, you know.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah. How do you manage that with your girls? The social media part of it?

[Tina Fey]

I mean, I don't, my 18 year old, I feel like I'm letting her, I'm trusting her core values. And the 12 year old is so far off. We don't have any social media.

[Willie Geist]

Oh, good for you.

[Tina Fey]

You can't. A 12.

[Willie Geist]

No, 12's too soon.

[Tina Fey]

No.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah, good for you. That's a good. I mean, that's the way to do it and let them figure it. Hopefully you've created a person who when it's time to have it, can handle it.

[Tina Fey]

Can handle it. Hopefully. Yeah. You know, and then as they must have the extra weird layer of, you know, having a mom who used to be on TV cause that nobody wants that either.

[Willie Geist]

You're still on tv.

[Tina Fey]

But I'm still, I'm on TV right now. Hi, I'm on tv.

[Willie Geist]

And you're about to be on TV again. But that's a, that's our next interview.

[Tina Fey]

Oh, yeah, maybe. Yeah.

[Willie Geist]

That's very exciting. Thank you.

[Tina Fey]

Hey, guys, thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit down podcast. Stick around to hear more from Tina Fey right after the break.

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[Tina Fey]

Welcome back. Now more of my conversation with Tina Fey.

[Willie Geist]

So, okay, so you mentioned your high school years, how it influenced the original. I want to go back briefly a little before high school to find the roots of your.

[Tina Fey]

The roots of comedy.

[Willie Geist]

Your comedy. When I was reading about you, it seemed like, I don't know, in fourth or fifth grade, you knew that this was it. And I was wondering, like, when did she, when did she start to know? It was probably when I read that you were reading Joe Franklin books about comedy stars. And I was like, wow, at 11 years old?

[Tina Fey]

Yeah, I think I was in middle school. I think it was an eighth grade project. You could do an independent project. And I wanted to write about comedians. And at that time, with no Internet, no YouTube, you could not even really a VCR to tape things, all I could find was Joe Franklin's Encyclopedia of Comedians, the only book that I could find. And it was stuff. It was about things. It was about like vaudeville, you know, it was like, Joey, oh, God, Joey Brown and all these people that. I was like, okay, I'm going to read about Fanny Brice. Let's do this. I just wanted whatever material and that was all I could find.

[Willie Geist]

And you couldn't even watch snl, right? It was on too late. There's no dvr.

[Tina Fey]

Eventually you probably did, I think, you know, my brother used to act out. My brother was eight years older than me and he would watch it and then act it out for me the next day. And then I think I did start staying up late. I feel like I have memories of SNL that I couldn't possibly really have of staying up seeing those early things. Like, I don't know how I remember Wolverines because I was five.

[Willie Geist]

Right.

[Tina Fey]

But I feel like I saw it.

[Willie Geist]

But you knew at an early age, comedy is my thing. Was that part of high school and the way you felt you fit in there.

[Tina Fey]

Yeah, for sure. I mean, SNL was such a big deal that, you know, everyone, I think everyone attaches to whatever cast of SNL was the first ones that you stayed up for. And I'm so lucky because it was like Jan Hooks and Phil Hartman and it was, you know, it was like Dana Carvey. I think also maybe staying. Started staying up a little bit in the kind of that Marty Short, Eddie Murphy, like, even though I was. That's 1980 though, right? 81, yeah.

[Willie Geist]

That's early 80s.

[Tina Fey]

So I was 10 or 11, but I definitely, you know, synchronized swimming. I know that. All that stuff. And then at some point, SCTV used to come on after snl, three weeks out of four. And then the fourth week it would be wrestling and we'd be like, so sad when it was wrestling.

[Willie Geist]

The 1am Wrestling circuit.

[Tina Fey]

1Am Wrestling circuit, yes. But yeah, SCTV was huge. Huge. Monty Python. I started watching Monty Python when I was really small, which makes. Doesn't make it because they would show it on pbs and Benny Hill. That's right, they would show Benny Hill on pbs.

[Willie Geist]

I remember that. I know, I know. And then so, you know, this is kind of your thing. You go to uva, you graduate, and you're like, I've got to go find where I can be funny and be a comedian. So you move to Chicago, land your dream job at the front desk at the ymca.

[Tina Fey]

That's right.

[Willie Geist]

But then, of course, Second City is there. Is that what brought you to Chicago?

[Tina Fey]

Yes, absolutely. I moved to Chicago from Charlottesville, Virginia, where I went to college. I went to Chicago just because I thought, well, that's where the Second City is. Which I probably knew from maybe the last four pages of Joe Franklin's book of comedians. It was probably like the future 1970. So I went there to try to take classes at the Second City and at a place called Improv Olympic. And that's where I met my wife, Amy Poehler. We were on a team together. That's where I met my friend Rachel Dratch. We all came up through Chicago and that was an amazing time. I guess. I was there for five years. And what a great city. Great place to live. I did theater there, too. Like little teeny, tiny theaters where the rule used to be like, well, we'll do the show if there are more people in the audience than in the show. And I was in this two woman play one time and we had the dilemma of like, well, there's only two people in the audience. Let's do it. And we just did this whole dramatic play for two people.

[Willie Geist]

Isn't that amazing? But you loved it so much, you didn't care.

[Tina Fey]

I loved it. And you got to take risks and learn, and it was so beneficial to live there and not. You weren't, like, trying to get your TV show made or. I think things move so fast if you go straight to New York or to la. And also, like, I was a dork. Like, I wasn't gonna book any. Like, I wasn't gonna book a commercial. I wasn't gonna ever get cast in, like, a TV pilot. It took a long time for me to cook, to figure out what it was that I could maybe offer to any professional institution of any kind.

[Willie Geist]

Well, part of the cooking then, I guess, was Adam McKay, who was here at SNL and had been at Second City.

[Tina Fey]

Yeah.

[Willie Geist]

Said send in some stuff.

[Tina Fey]

Yeah. Adam McKay was just a powerhouse at improv Olympic. Just one of the funniest improvisers you'd ever see in your life. And I knew him, and he had come, and he was already a head writer at snl. And I said, yeah, can I. And SNL had come through the Second City scouting for performers and seen me and were, like, not interested. And I understandably, they were correct. And so I asked Adam if I could send a packet in as a writer, and he was like, for sure. And he's hired me, basically.

[Willie Geist]

And then you do the interview, not the audition. Is that true?

[Tina Fey]

Yes. I never did one of those.

[Willie Geist]

You didn't have to do the thing.

[Tina Fey]

One of those terrifying auditions, right? Yeah.

[Willie Geist]

Everyone talks about an interview with Lorne. Seth talks about this, and he leaves, and he doesn't know if he has the job necessarily. Seth's like, I don't know if I'm.

[Tina Fey]

Working here or not. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And so many people in Chicago had gone through the process of almost getting SNL or whatever, and I think someone had given me the only piece of advice was like, whatever you do, like, don't finish his sentences. He doesn't like when people finish his sentences. So I went into the office and I was like, out of my body. And there's the nameplate that says Lorne Michaels, and there's the guy from tv, and he just sat down. He's like, so you're from. And I was like. And at the same time, I was like, Philadelphia. He was like, Chicago. I was like, or Chicago. And I was just like. And I just thought, like, just floated out of my body, just turned into a puff. Of smoke.

[Willie Geist]

You somehow gave the wrong answer.

[Tina Fey]

I gave the wrong answer.

[Willie Geist]

To your hometown.

[Tina Fey]

To my hometown. But I was right.

[Willie Geist]

You were right.

[Tina Fey]

Yeah. But somehow. Yeah, somehow survived that interview. And then I remember I got the job. And I remember I called Polar because she was still in Chicago or. No, she had moved. She was here in New York. She had come to New York for ucb.

[Willie Geist]

Right.

[Tina Fey]

And I called her and I got the job, and I started crying, and she was like, what's the matter? I was like, I'm so overwhelmed. I have to move next week and I have to leave. My husband was my boyfriend in Chicago, blah, blah. And then she asked me, like, how much money I was gonna make. And it was, you know, like a start. A union, a writer's guild union, starting job. And I told her the amount, and I was crying. She just started live. She was like, ah. Cause it was the most money any of us had ever made at that time. It was like an adult job.

[Kristen Welker]

Right.

[Willie Geist]

And she's rooting for you.

[Tina Fey]

She's. Oh, of course.

[Willie Geist]

You got in the door.

[Tina Fey]

Absolutely.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah.

[Tina Fey]

And then I pulled her over.

[Willie Geist]

Yes.

[Tina Fey]

I was like, I know you have ucb, but please, please come talk to Lauren.

[Willie Geist]

Thank God you did.

[Tina Fey]

Yeah.

[Willie Geist]

I mean, people view you as this sort of legend of snl, but the early.

[Tina Fey]

Yeah, that's what it is. Ask my kids.

[Willie Geist]

But, like, for. As is the case with a lot of people, I think you can tell me the early years are not always the smoothest. When you're trying to find where you fit in there and getting things on.

[Tina Fey]

The air, it's hard. You know, you live or die by what you get on the air. I did pretty okay, though. I got things on pretty early. And I think whatever that Chicago kind of armor that I brought, where I was like, I'm tough. I'm from Chicago. Yeah. I just sort of deludedly wrapped myself in that. And I do think I could kind of just coming from that improv world, I could hang a little bit. Like, I wasn't really scared of anybody except maybe Norm. I was a little scared of Norm. Not that he never gave me any reason to be, but he was scary. And the women really. We sort of really found each other, you know, and we would all kind of stick together and hang out. And anytime three or more of us were sitting together, people would be like.

[Willie Geist]

Oh, what is this?

[Tina Fey]

Some kind of meeting goes to some kind of ladies meeting? People would just be so nervous. They'd be like, more and more and more of them.

[Willie Geist]

They're plotting against us.

[Tina Fey]

They're plotting against us. What are they doing? So funny.

[Willie Geist]

Do you remember your first sketch? The one that got on the air?

[Tina Fey]

I want to say I might know, but. You might know. Was it a thing? Was it I took a gay guy to prom? Was it like a little pre tape called I Took a gay guy to Prom?

[Willie Geist]

Oh, it might be that. Or what else did that? Maybe the first live might have been. Been Chris Farley, Sally Jesse.

[Tina Fey]

Oh, was he a. Oh, my gosh. When he was hosting?

[Willie Geist]

I think so.

[Tina Fey]

That might have been. So that was, like, December.

[Willie Geist]

Okay.

[Tina Fey]

That's of the first year. And was he a baby or something? He was a good giant baby. I completely forgot about that.

[Willie Geist]

I think. Don't quote me on that.

[Tina Fey]

No, I think that's definitely one of the first ones. I think I did a pre tape one, like, one of the first couple weeks that was like a documentary about girls who took gay boys to prom and didn't realize it. Talk about a throwback. Talk about something you wouldn't write anymore. But yeah. Oh, my God, I forgot about that. It might be that he's in, like, a baby outfit.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah, it was very odd. And God bless him.

[Tina Fey]

God bless him for committing.

[Willie Geist]

So at what point then, Tina, do you make the leap on camera, or are you encouraged to make the leap?

[Tina Fey]

Yeah, a few years in, I think Colin Quinn had been doing update, and I think it was turning over, and they were trying to figure out how to do who should do it next. And, like, sort of in the grand Conan O'Brien tradition, Lauren was, like, looking, like, no further than the. Who else is here in the office? And I got to test with Jimmy. I think I tested with Jimmy, and I don't know if Jimmy tested alone. It was a whole day of testing. But it was scary. But it wasn't as scary as the people who come in cold to do the real auditions. Because at least I had been in there. I knew everybody. I still had a job. If it didn't work out, I remember because I was one of the head writers at the time, and they went out to dinner to have. They did all these tests. Other people tested as well. People from outside tested. And that night they went to dinner to talk about it, and they called me up to be like, lauren wants you to come join the dinner. And I was like, oh, my God, I think I got it. So I go down to this dinner in, like, the Palm or something, and I walk in, and it was the biggest, most like, psychological twist the knife, SNL things. I got there. And it was not that I got it is that they were still truly discussing all the options and that they wanted me as head writer to sit there and help. And I was like, ooh, snl. That's cold.

[Willie Geist]

Wow.

[Tina Fey]

It was cold. But then it all ended up working out.

[Willie Geist]

Me and Jimmy.

[Tina Fey]

Did it. Yeah.

[Willie Geist]

Was that something you wanted to do or did it feel like some wild idea that Lauren had and you weren't so sure about it?

[Tina Fey]

I was. No, I was psyched, I think, you know, cause everyone dreams of being on the show. And then it was the only way I ever could have possibly been on the show because I'm not. I don't do impressions. I'm not, you know, I don't have characters. I'm very limited. Very limited.

[Willie Geist]

But the things you're good at, you're really good at.

[Tina Fey]

Yeah. And as soon as we find them, we're gonna get started.

Stick around for more of my conversation with Tina Fey right after a quick break.

[MultiCare Representative]

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[Kristen Welker]

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[Tina Fey]

Usaa.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Every morning we choose how to begin our day. I think about the people at home. They tune in because they are curious. They care about their world and they care about each other.

[Kristen Welker]

There's always something new to learn, whether a news event or a new recipe. And when we step through the morning together, it makes the rest of the day better.

[Savannah Guthrie]

We come here to make the most of today. We are family. We are today.

[Kristen Welker]

Watch the Today show with Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin, weekdays at 7am on NBC.

[Tina Fey]

Welcome back now to the rest of my conversation with Tina Fey.

[Willie Geist]

And then you did lure Amy over Jimmy Leaves.

[Tina Fey]

Yeah.

[Willie Geist]

The two of you come together and it's magic. What did that feel like to be sitting with your old buddy? Did you pinch yourselves and say, can you believe we were doing these shows for two people? We're sitting here on the show.

[Tina Fey]

I know. We were touring. We were touring for Second City and doing shows in Waco, Texas for $75 a show. And now we get to do this. It was great. It was a joy. And it remains a comfort to this day. We're touring now and it is just like we really just have such an ease and shorthand working with each other. And we really came to realize that when we were doing the Golden Globes those years because we were like, update was such good training for that because we just knew, like, this joke. I think this one's good for you. What about this one? You know what? This one's not gonna be worth it. It's such a muscle, you know, it's just like weightlifting. It's joke lifting, where you're like, you just develop some skills of, like, how to pick them, how to. Who gets what, how many you need. You know, it was a great training.

[Willie Geist]

And hosting the Golden Globes is very difficult.

[Tina Fey]

I mean, it can't. It's not. But it. I don't know.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah, I know.

[Tina Fey]

It's like, whatever. I mean, but you have to kind of have a mix of, like, do the work, get people to help you write good jokes, get your good joke writing friends to give to you, and then do all that and then not care.

[Willie Geist]

Right.

[Tina Fey]

So it's the mix of caring but not looking like you're caring that you also learn. You know, look at Jostin Chef, like, who looks like they care less than Joseph J. But they've been working on that all week. And that's why it works, right?

[Willie Geist]

That's right. Is the tour a blast? I mean, you guys are selling out. They're adding shows everywhere. I was just saying that the Beacon Theater here in New York, you're about to break a record for most shows by one act.

[Tina Fey]

We maybe will. We maybe will if everyone just keeps buying tickets. Yeah, we've been having so much fun. We've been going all over the country, me and Amy Poehler. It's called the Restless Leg Tour. And it's. It started because we were just inspired by Steve Martin and Marty Short because they love each other so much, the way we love each other. They love just going on tour together. And they kept recommending it. They're like, you guys should do it. It's so fun. And so we put this tour together last spring. I was just finishing shooting the Mean Girls movie, which it was a hard shoot. Like, we had to do it fast and all this stuff. And then, like, I think three days after we finished, Amy and I did our first show, so it felt very snl, like, okay, here we go. What is the show? We have two days. Let's go. But we, you know, have this shorthand with each other. We are. We work well together. So we put the show up, and we've gone to so far, we've been to Washington D.C. chicago. Where have we been? Oh, my gosh, Cleveland.

[Willie Geist]

Going to Portland this week.

[Tina Fey]

We're going to Portland this month. We're going to Portland, Atlanta, Florida, San Francisco and Oakland. And then we come into New York and sit down for a little bit.

[Willie Geist]

I was telling you, you're like a rock star.

[Tina Fey]

We are like rock stars.

[Willie Geist]

You're home during the week, and you go do your shows on the weekend, and you're all the antics on the planet.

[Tina Fey]

We're just impregnating people. And everywhere we go, it is. We get there, we do the show. It's such a paid mom's weekend. Cause we go there, we're like, where should we. I hear there's some interesting vintage shopping. Whatever city we go to. And then we have, like, a nice lunch. Just like Rock and Chappelle. Right? And then we do our show. And then after the show, I say, I don't want to have a drink. Do you? And she goes, I don't want to have a drink either. I'll see you tomorrow. And then. Or like. Or sometimes, if it's a Saturday, we go to our room and we watch SNL from the hotel room.

[Willie Geist]

Oh, my gosh. That's a dream.

[Tina Fey]

It's a dream, right? Yeah.

[Willie Geist]

You don't feel obligated to do the thing after the dinner? Oh, my gosh, no.

[Tina Fey]

No. Because we're so psyched to be in a hotel room.

[Willie Geist]

Willy away from your family.

[Tina Fey]

Oh, hate my family.

[Willie Geist]

That's the clip we're gonna use for pr. Isolate it. Get it out. Get it out to tmz.

[Tina Fey]

Okay, last Tina Fey claps back at our family.

[Willie Geist]

Exactly. Last thing before I let you go. We're at the building that you helped to make so famous.

[Tina Fey]

Yep, that's me. That's why people know this building, because.

[Willie Geist]

When they hear 30 rock, they associate it with. With your show. What a leap that must have been for you to create a new show, to star in a new show and to have it succeed the way it did must have been so gratifying.

[Tina Fey]

Yeah, it was a crazy time. And I look back and I talk about a throwback now. Because, you know, my daughter was one. She was six months old when we did the pilot, and she was one that September that we started. And we worked so hard. We've worked so hard. And thank God it, like, paid off, because we really tried. And that's why you were asking me, your daughter's 18 and 12. I said, yeah, they're on either side of 30 Rock because I didn't dare try to have another kid. I just kept assuming we would get canceled, and then it just kept not getting canceled. And Alec would win a prize and be like, here we go. We're back. We're staying. We would win an Emmy or something. Be like, all right, they want to cancel us so bad, and they can't. So my kids are six and a half years apart.

[Willie Geist]

That's amazing. You needed the time. Yeah.

[Tina Fey]

You needed the time.

[Willie Geist]

Even during COVID my kids watched 30 Rock start to finish. Do you feel the endurance of that show? You still hear about it when you go out, people quoting it to you.

[Tina Fey]

I like it when people put things online that are like, did 30 Rock predict this? Because weirdly, there's a weird number of. Cause we had so many jokes. There was a weird number of jokes that seemed timely years later, but nobody in my house watches it. We don't watch it.

[Willie Geist]

What? Really?

[Tina Fey]

We don't watch it.

[Willie Geist]

Your girls haven't seen 30 Rock?

[Tina Fey]

Not really. Because here, this is what I tell people. Imagine if your mom. Think about. Your actual mom, made a show about things that she thought was funny. Would you watch that, Willie?

[Willie Geist]

I'd watch some of it.

[Tina Fey]

Would that. You'd be like, good job, mom. Great. I have homework.

[Willie Geist]

That's what I.

[Tina Fey]

So Amy says the same thing, though. She's like, no, my boys don't want to watch park, but my kids have seen park, all of Parks nine times.

[Willie Geist]

So it's about you, not the show.

[Tina Fey]

It's absolutely personal. And so I believe as long as their comedy education is good, they know the office, they know parks, they know SNL that I'm not in. It's all good.

[Willie Geist]

So they're not watching you as Sarah Palin and be like, that's awesome.

[Tina Fey]

No, they've never seen that. They don't know who that lady is, so they wouldn't get it.

[Willie Geist]

But they do. That aside, they have good comedy instincts.

[Tina Fey]

Which is all you can do. Their comedy schooling is what some people. The way they would treat the violin or whatever. I was like, we're not. We're gonna watch things that are funny.

[Willie Geist]

That's a good education for life. Okay, so Mean Girls comes out in a couple days. You're still on tour. What else is coming from Tina Fey? People always want to know.

[Tina Fey]

My friends Tracy Wakefield and Lang Fisher and I are going to adapt. There was a movie in the 70s called the or 1980 called the Four Seasons.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah. Alan Alda.

[Tina Fey]

Alan Alda.

[Willie Geist]

Carol Burnett.

[Tina Fey]

Carol Burnett. One of my favorite movies. And we are gonna adapt that as a series for Netflix that just got announced yesterday and we're getting started on that. So I'm very, very excited about that. Mean Girls, the stage program is going to London in the spring to come see us in London. And that's mostly it for now.

[Willie Geist]

You got like a beauty line? Anything else you want to plug?

[Tina Fey]

Amy keeps yelling. She's like, why do you not have a line of glasses? Why do you not sell glasses? And I go, it's too late. I can't. I can't sell glasses.

[Willie Geist]

You know what? She's kind of right about that. That's a layup.

[Tina Fey]

So get money, sell glasses.

[Willie Geist]

Amy, pull her.

[Tina Fey]

This is why the partnership works.

[Willie Geist]

Thank you, Tina.

[Tina Fey]

So much.

[Willie Geist]

Fun to talk to you.

[Tina Fey]

You too.

[Willie Geist]

Appreciate it.

[Tina Fey]

My big thanks again to Tina for a great conversation and my thanks to all of you for listening again this week. If you want to hear more of my conversations every week, be sure to click follow so you never miss an episode. And don't forget to tune in to Sunday Today every weekend on NBC. I'm Willie Geist. We'll see you right back here next. Next week on the Sunday Sit down podcast.

[MultiCare Representative]

For 140 years MultiCare has been in Washington prioritizing long term solutions, partnering with local communities and expanding access to care. Together, we're building a healthier future. Learn [e-mail].