← Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist
Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist
Tina Fey
00:34:02
Tina Fey sat down with Willie to talk about the return of “Mean Girls” 20-years later with a musical movie. She discusses writing, producing, and starring in both movies after becoming a comedy icon through writing for "SNL". (Original broadcast date January 14, 2024.)
Loading summary
Transcript231 lines
- [00:00]
Skechers Advertiser
Moms and dads. Do you wish you could know where your kids shoes are at all times? Now you can with Skecher's newest Apple AirTag compatible sneakers. Find My Skechers There's a clever hidden Airtag compartment under the shoe's insole. It's sleek, secure and your child can't feel or see it. Then you can check where your kids shoes are on the Find My app. Plus they're available for boys and girls. Get Find my sketchers@skechers.com, a Skechers store near you or wherever kids shoes are sold. Apple AirTags sold separately are your ulcerative colitis symptoms proving difficult to manage? Tremphya Guselcamab can help you manage the cycle of UC symptoms. At one year, many patients taking Tremphya achieved clinical remission and some patients also achieved endoscopic remission. Individual results may vary. Tremphya is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. Serious allergic reactions and increased risk of infections may occur. Before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tb. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu like symptoms or if you need a vaccine. Ask your doctor if Tremphaya can help you manage the cycle of UC symptoms. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit tremphyaradio.com.
- [01:21]
Willie Geist
Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down Podcast. My thanks as always for clicking and listening. I am thrilled to bring you my conversation this week with a true comedy icon, Tina Fey. You know, we've been doing Sunday Today on NBC for almost eight years. She has been near the top of our list of people we wanted to have on as a guest, and we found the perfect opportunity here with the new Mean Girls movie that is just out to sit down with Tina. We got together, appropriately, right near 30 Rockefeller Plaza in a room bathed in pink because on Wednesdays we wear pink. We conducted the interview on a Wednesday. That's a line from the classic 2004 movie Mean Girls. I'm not gonna bore you with Tina's entire life story because you already know it. Grew up outside Philly, obsessed with comedy, loved snl, dreamed of it. How was she gonna get there? And then one day she was sitting in an office with Lorne Michaels, being interviewed for the job in the place where she would become head writer and so much more. So she wrote, of course, Mean Girls, the 2004 movie that starred Lindsay Lohan, becomes this iconic movie still Quoted, still a touch for teenagers. And now she's out with the movie, musical version of it. In between. There was a Mean Girls musical on Broadway written along with her husband, Jeff Richmond, a great composer and musician who did the music for it. And this movie, the new one, kind of brings those two together, the original movie and the musical. So 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. Thanks for doing this, Tina.
- [03:06]
Tina Fey
Thank you.
- [03:07]
Willie Geist
Great to see you.
- [03:07]
Tina Fey
It's nice to see you.
- [03:08]
Willie Geist
We're very pink because it's Wednesday.
- [03:11]
Tina Fey
Thank you.
- [03:11]
Willie Geist
Right.
- [03:12]
Tina Fey
This will air on a Sunday, but just know this was filmed on a Wednesday.
- [03:14]
Willie Geist
Exactly. And on Wednesdays, some of us wear pink. I'm sorry, I didn't have anything.
- [03:19]
Tina Fey
You know what? We will add it in post. We'll make your shirt pink in post.
- [03:23]
Willie Geist
We can colorize it. It's so fun to be sitting here talking about this movie, which I absolutely love.
- [03:28]
Tina Fey
Thank you so much.
- [03:29]
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?
- [03:40]
Tina Fey
It is a little odd. You know, 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. 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.
- [04:00]
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?
- [04:15]
Tina Fey
Well, a couple different ways. You know, it was fun to take 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. Cause 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 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 so often with comedy. Comedy's such a living thing.
- [05:04]
Willie Geist
Thing.
- [05:05]
Tina Fey
And you write something that you go, oh, boy, that's. Yeah, that's a. 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.
- [05:17]
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.
- [05:34]
Tina Fey
It's super different. And even, you know, when I was writing the movie for 2004, I was thinking about 1988, because that was bringing my experience 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.
- [05:53]
Willie Geist
Right.
- [05:53]
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.
- [06:06]
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.
- [06:16]
Tina Fey
Yes.
- [06:17]
Willie Geist
Or your daughters on what it's like to be a teenager or about to be a teenager right now. Yes.
- [06:21]
Tina Fey
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 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.
- [06:42]
Willie Geist
So you're sitting there saying, should this burn book be a burn book? Should it be something else?
- [06:46]
Tina Fey
Right. 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.
- [07:03]
Willie Geist
Wow, a studio executive. It's amazing. Kind of hit her with a little back end, maybe.
- [07:08]
Tina Fey
Yeah, a little. Some points. Half a point.
- [07:11]
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?
- [07:21]
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 Lacy and Amanda are sort of 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 parts 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, 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, like, 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 it's okay. Yes, I think it's okay that we're back in the same universe.
- [08:46]
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?
- [09:02]
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?
- [09:23]
Willie Geist
You're asking the wrong guy. I don't know. A lot. Animated different spider men through the years.
- [09:28]
Tina Fey
I believe the plural is spider mansion.
- [09:31]
Willie Geist
Oh, is that what it is?
- [09:31]
Tina Fey
No. I don't know. Like, lego.
- [09:35]
Willie Geist
But even. Even the terminology. Right. That people use mean girls as shorthand.
- [09:40]
Tina Fey
Yeah.
- [09:40]
Willie Geist
And it means something to people.
- [09:41]
Tina Fey
Yeah. You see it in, like, articles about Congress, and you're like, oh, okay, sure. Yeah. It's weird.
- [09:49]
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.
- [10:00]
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.
- [10:07]
Willie Geist
Yeah. 2000.
- [10:09]
Tina Fey
Ish. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, well, 2003. Right. So I don't remember anything. Maybe Amy by then.
- [10:17]
Willie Geist
Yeah.
- [10:18]
Tina Fey
There's no way of knowing.
- [10:20]
Willie Geist
How will we ever know?
- [10:22]
Tina Fey
And. 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. That these young kids were doing were sort of insidious and genius in their own way. So I went to Lauren 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 so smart. Cause 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.
- [11:14]
Willie Geist
Yeah.
- [11:14]
Tina Fey
I think the actual thing he said to me was, like, it's okay to work in bright sunlight.
- [11:19]
Willie Geist
Hmm.
- [11:20]
Tina Fey
It doesn't make a movie better necessarily to make it, like, tiny.
- [11:24]
Willie Geist
Right.
- [11:25]
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. Yeah, 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 update, 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.
- [11:58]
Willie Geist
Oh, wow.
- [11:58]
Tina Fey
For a minute. But I did fly sometimes.
- [12:00]
Willie Geist
But you make it sound like you hitched a ride up to Toronto.
- [12:04]
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 so weird.
- [12:08]
Willie Geist
Oh, see, it was a mobile trailer.
- [12:09]
Tina Fey
It was a mobile trail.
- [12:10]
Willie Geist
And they deliver you the set. Wow, that's amazing.
- [12:12]
Tina Fey
Yeah. I could have just gone to bed and flown to Toronto. What was wrong with me?
- [12:16]
Willie Geist
In hindsight. In hindsight, it is amazing, though. I mean, obviously this film is different and high school is different with the themes. And you, you know, 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.
- [12:34]
Tina Fey
Yeah, the core idea of sort of, you know, not taking other people down just to make yourself feel better. Which, boy. I mean, that behavior, the original movie did not fix anything. You know, that behavior has only gotten worse. And, you know, the idea. And I think now, like, in the 90s and early 2000s, we would couch it in humor. And now I think people couch it in righteousness. Like, they. 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. Like, you know, it's just that panic of, like, don't look at me. I don't want to. You make a mistake. I don't know who I am yet. It's a young person's panic, you know, And I think the mistake of, like, sort of acting like someone you're not to fit in or to feel better, like, those are mistakes we all continue to make.
- [13:27]
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.
- [13:34]
Tina Fey
Absolutely.
- [13:35]
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.
- [13:43]
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.
- [13:58]
Willie Geist
Yeah. How do you manage that with your girls? The social media part of it?
- [14:02]
Tina Fey
I mean, I don't, my daughter, you know, 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.
- [14:14]
Willie Geist
Oh, good for you.
- [14:15]
Tina Fey
You can't. A 12.
- [14:15]
Willie Geist
No, 12's too soon. Yeah, no, good for you. That's a good, I mean that's the way to do it. And then let them figure it. Hopefully you've created a person who when it's time to have it, can handle it.
- [14:25]
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.
- [14:35]
Willie Geist
You're still on tv. But go ahead.
- [14:36]
Tina Fey
I'm still, I'm on TV right now. Hi, I'm on tv.
- [14:41]
Willie Geist
And you're about to be on TV again. But that's our next interview.
- [14:43]
Tina Fey
Oh, yeah, maybe. Yeah.
- [14:44]
Willie Geist
That's very exciting.
- [14:45]
Tina Fey
Thank you.
- [14:46]
Willie Geist
Hey guys, thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit down podcast. Stick around to hear more from Tina Fey right after the break.
- [14:56]
Skechers Advertiser
Moms and dads, do you wish you could know where your kids shoes are at all times? Now you can with Skecher's newest Apple Airtag compatible sneakers. Find my Skechers. There's a clever hidden Airtag compartment under the shoe's insole. It's sleek, secure, and your child can't feel or see it. Then you can check where your kids shoes are on the Find My app. Plus they're available for boys and girls. Get Find my sketchers@skechers.com, a Skechers store near you or wherever kids shoes are sold. Apple airtags sold separately.
- [15:26]
Willie Geist
This is a vacation with Chase Sapphire Reserve. The butler who knows your name. This is the robe, the view, the steam from your morning coffee. This is the complimentary breakfast on the balcony, the beach with no one else on it. This is the Edit, a collection of handpicked luxury hotels you can access with Chase Sapphire Reserve and a $500 Edit credit that gets you closer to all of it. Chase Sapphire Reserve the most rewarding card.
- [15:50]
Tina Fey
Learn more@chase.com Sapphire Reserve cards issued by.
- [15:53]
Willie Geist
JP Morgan, Chase bank and a member FDIC subject to credit approval. Peacemaker is back on Peacemaker, the Official Podcast with James Gunn. Hear exclusive season two insights and break down every new episode after it airs on Max. James Gunn and co hosts Jennifer Holland and Steve Agee share outrageous behind the scenes stories, answer fan questions and more. You'll also hear from special guests like Peacemaker himself on his favorite moments throughout the season. Listen or watch Peacemaker the official podcast with James Gunn on HBO Max, the HBO Max and DC YouTube channels, or wherever you get your podcasts. Stream Peacemaker on HBO Max. Welcome back. Now more of my conversation with Tina Fey. So, okay, so you mentioned your high school years, how it influenced the original. I wanna go back briefly a little before high school to find the roots of your.
- [16:42]
Tina Fey
The roots of comedy.
- [16:43]
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? And 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?
- [17:03]
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 a 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 gonna read about Fanny Brice. Let's do this. I just wanted whatever material and that was all I could find.
- [17:43]
Willie Geist
You couldn't even watch snl, right? It was on too late. There's no dvr. Eventually you probably did.
- [17:48]
Tina Fey
I think 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.
- [18:07]
Willie Geist
Right.
- [18:09]
Tina Fey
But I feel like I saw it.
- [18:11]
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?
- [18:16]
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 I 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?
- [18:42]
Willie Geist
Yeah, that's early 80s.
- [18:43]
Tina Fey
So I was 10 or 11. But I definitely might have, 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.
- [19:03]
Willie Geist
The 1am wrestling circuit.
- [19:04]
Tina Fey
The 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.
- [19:21]
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 can be funny and be a comedian. So you move to Chicago, land your dream job at the front desk at the ymca.
- [19:35]
Tina Fey
That's right.
- [19:36]
Willie Geist
Right. But then, of course, Second City is there. Is that what brought you to Chicago?
- [19:41]
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. Wow. 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.
- [20:44]
Willie Geist
Isn't that amazing? But you loved it so much. You didn't care.
- [20:47]
Tina Fey
I loved it. And it was. You got to, you know, 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, like, I think things move so fast, you know, if you go straight to New York or to laugh. 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.
- [21:20]
Willie Geist
Well, part of the cooking then, I guess, was Adam McKay, who was here at SNL and had been at Second City.
- [21:26]
Tina Fey
Yeah.
- [21:27]
Willie Geist
Said send in some stuff.
- [21:28]
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, you know, he's hired me, basically, and then.
- [21:59]
Willie Geist
So did you do the interview, not the audition? Is that true?
- [22:02]
Tina Fey
Yes. I never did one of those.
- [22:03]
Willie Geist
You didn't have to do the thing.
- [22:04]
Tina Fey
One of those terrifying auditions, right? Yeah.
- [22:06]
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 working here or not.
- [22:15]
Tina Fey
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 name plate that says Lorne Michaels. And there's the guy from tv. And he just. He 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.
- [22:56]
Willie Geist
You somehow gave the wrong answer.
- [22:58]
Tina Fey
I gave the wrong answer to Your hometown. To my hometown. But I. But I. No, I was right.
- [23:02]
Willie Geist
You were right. Yeah.
- [23:03]
Tina Fey
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.
- [23:16]
Willie Geist
Right.
- [23:17]
Tina Fey
And I called her, and I was, like, at 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.
- [23:42]
Willie Geist
Right. And she's rooting for you.
- [23:44]
Tina Fey
She's. Oh, of course.
- [23:45]
Willie Geist
You got in the door.
- [23:46]
Tina Fey
Absolutely.
- [23:46]
Willie Geist
Yeah.
- [23:47]
Tina Fey
And then I pulled her over.
- [23:49]
Willie Geist
Yes.
- [23:50]
Tina Fey
I was like, I know you have ucb, but please, please come talk to Lauren.
- [23:55]
Willie Geist
Thank God you did.
- [23:56]
Tina Fey
Yeah.
- [23:56]
Willie Geist
I mean, people view you as this sort of legend of snl, but the early.
- [24:00]
Tina Fey
Yeah, that's what it is. I'm gonna ask my kids.
- [24:04]
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 the air and, you know.
- [24:16]
Tina Fey
You live or die by what you get on the air. I had a. 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.
- [24:26]
Willie Geist
Yeah.
- [24:27]
Tina Fey
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. But. And the women really. We sort of really found each other, you know, and we would all kind of stick together. And. And anytime three or more of us were sitting together, people would be like, oh, what is this? Some kind of meeting goes? Having some kind of ladies meeting? No, people would just be so nervous. They'd be like, more and more and more of them.
- [25:05]
Willie Geist
They're plotting against us.
- [25:06]
Tina Fey
They're plotting against us. What are they doing? So funny.
- [25:09]
Willie Geist
Do you remember your first sketch? The one that got on the air?
- [25:13]
Tina Fey
I want to say I might know, but I'm just saying, 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?
- [25:21]
Willie Geist
Oh, it might be that. Or maybe the first live might have been Chris Farley, Sally Jesse.
- [25:26]
Tina Fey
Oh, was he. Oh, my gosh. When he was hosting?
- [25:29]
Willie Geist
I think so.
- [25:29]
Tina Fey
That might have been. So that was like December.
- [25:31]
Willie Geist
Okay.
- [25:32]
Tina Fey
That's the first year. And was he a baby or something? He was a good giant baby. I completely forgot about that.
- [25:37]
Willie Geist
I think. Don't quote me.
- [25:39]
Tina Fey
No, I think I was 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, yeah, my God, I forgot about that. It might be that he's in like a bay. He's in, like a baby outfit.
- [25:57]
Willie Geist
Yeah, it was very odd.
- [25:58]
Tina Fey
And God bless him. God bless him for committing.
- [26:02]
Willie Geist
So at what point then, Tina, do you make the leap on camera or are you encouraged to make the leap?
- [26:08]
Tina Fey
Yeah, a few years in, you know, 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 traditional Lauren was like, looking no further than 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. Cause I was one of the head writers at the time. And they went out to dinner to have. They did all these tests. A lot of 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, being 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. It's 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, like, ooh, now that's cold. Wow, that was cold. But then it all ended up working out new things. Yeah.
- [27:33]
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?
- [27:39]
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.
- [27:57]
Willie Geist
But the things you're good at, you're really good at. Yeah.
- [28:01]
Tina Fey
And as soon as we find them, we're gonna get started.
- [28:05]
Willie Geist
Stick around for more of my conversation with Tina Fey right after a quick break.
- [28:12]
Skechers Advertiser
Moms and dads, do you wish you could know where your kids shoes are at all times? Now you can, with Skechers newest Apple Airtag compatible sneakers. Find my Skechers. There's a clever hidden Airtag compartment under the shoe's insole. It's sleek, secure, and your child can't feel or see it. Then you can check where your kids shoes are on the Find My app. Plus, they're available for boys and girls. Get Find my sketchers@skechers.com, a Skechers store near you or wherever kids shoes are sold. Apple Airtag sold separately.
- [28:43]
Willie Geist
Hi, I'm Dalvette Quince. One way to help manage type 2 diabetes is to regularly exercise. My exercise program can help get you into a routine that works for you. Keep in mind, managing blood sugar also takes the right diet. Hi, I'm celebrity chef Franklin Becker. Ever since I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, I've adapted my cooking style without sacrificing flavor. If you want to learn more tips about diet and exercise, visit mytype2transformation.com this week only on Meet the Press. As the US pushes for a Ukraine, Russia peace deal, Kristen Welker sits down exclusively with Vice President J.D. vance and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, plus Senator Adam Schiff. This week only on Meet the Press. Listen to the full episode now. Wherever you get, your podcast asks. Welcome back. Now to the rest of my conversation with Tina Fey. And then you did lure Amy over Jimmy leaves.
- [29:47]
Tina Fey
Yeah.
- [29:47]
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? And now we're sitting here on stage?
- [29:58]
Tina Fey
I know we were touring. You know, we were touring for Second City and, like, 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. You know, 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. 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 each other. You. What about this one? You know what? This one's not going to be worth it. Like, just. We. We just. It's such a muscle, you know, it's just. 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's. It was a great training.
- [30:47]
Willie Geist
And hosting the Golden Globes is very difficult.
- [30:50]
Tina Fey
I mean, it can't. It's not. But I don't know.
- [30:56]
Willie Geist
Yeah, I know.
- [30:57]
Tina Fey
It's like, whatever.
- [30:58]
Willie Geist
Yeah.
- [30:58]
Tina Fey
I mean, but it's. You have to kind of have a mix of, like, do the work, get people to help you write good jokes, get, you know, get your good joke writing friends to give it to you, and then do all that and then not care.
- [31:11]
Willie Geist
Right.
- [31:11]
Tina Fey
So it's a mix. It's the mix of caring but not looking like you're caring, that you also learn, you know, look at Jost and Che, like, who looks like they care less than Jost and Che? But they've been working on that all week, and that's why.
- [31:25]
Willie Geist
Right. That's right. Is the tour a blast? I mean, you guys are selling out. They're adding shows everywhere. I was just saying to you that the Beacon Theater here in New York, you're about to break a record for most shows by one act.
- [31:37]
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 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 very. It was a hard shoot. Like, we had to do it fast and all this stuff. And then, like, I think the 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 the. This shorthand with. 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.
- [32:36]
Willie Geist
Going to Portland this weekend.
- [32:37]
Tina Fey
This week 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.
- [32:46]
Willie Geist
I was telling you, you're like a rock star.
- [32:47]
Tina Fey
We are like rock star.
- [32:48]
Willie Geist
You're home during the week, and you do your shows on the weekend, and you're. All the antics on the plane, we're just talking about.
- [32:54]
Tina Fey
We're just impregnating people. And everywhere we go, we do. Because we get there. We do the show. It's such a paid mom's weekend. Because we go. Then 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.
- [33:24]
Willie Geist
Oh, my gosh. That's a dream, isn't it? It's a dream, right?
- [33:28]
Tina Fey
Yeah.
- [33:28]
Willie Geist
You don't feel obligated to do the thing after the dinner? Oh, my gosh, no.
- [33:32]
Tina Fey
No. Cause we're so psyched to be in a hotel room.
- [33:35]
Willie Geist
Willy away from your families.
- [33:39]
Tina Fey
Hate my family.
- [33:41]
Willie Geist
That's the clip we're gonna use for pr. Isolate it. Get it out. Get it out to tmz.
- [33:46]
Tina Fey
Okay.
- [33:47]
Willie Geist
Last thing.
- [33:47]
Tina Fey
Tina Fey claps back at her family.
- [33:49]
Willie Geist
Exactly. Last thing. Before I let you go, we're at the building that you helped to make so famous with 30 Rock.
- [33:56]
Tina Fey
Yeah, that's me. That's why people Know this building because of me.
- [33:59]
Willie Geist
Well, when they hear 30 rock, they associate it 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.
- [34:13]
Tina Fey
Yeah, it was a crazy time. And I look back on it. Talk about a throwback now. Because, you know, my daughter was once. 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. Kept not getting canceled. And Alec, you know, 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.
- [35:01]
Willie Geist
That's amazing. You needed the time. Yeah.
- [35:03]
Tina Fey
You needed the time.
- [35:05]
Willie Geist
Even during COVID my kids watch 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.
- [35:17]
Tina Fey
I like it when people put things that are like, did 30 Rock predict this? Because weirdly, there's a weird number of. Because 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.
- [35:30]
Willie Geist
What? Really?
- [35:31]
Tina Fey
We don't watch it.
- [35:31]
Willie Geist
Wait, your girls haven't seen 30 Rock?
- [35:33]
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?
- [35:46]
Willie Geist
I'd watch some of it.
- [35:47]
Tina Fey
Would that. You'd be like, good job, Mom. Great. I have homework.
- [35:53]
Willie Geist
That's what I.
- [35:53]
Tina Fey
So Amy says the same thing, though. She's like, no, my boys don't want to watch Parks, but my kids have seen park. All of Parks nine times.
- [35:59]
Willie Geist
So it's about you, not the show.
- [36:00]
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.
- [36:11]
Willie Geist
So they're not watching, like, you as Sarah Palin and be like, that's awesome.
- [36:15]
Tina Fey
No, they've never seen that. But they don't know who that lady is, so they wouldn't get it.
- [36:18]
Willie Geist
But they do. That aside, they have good comedy instincts, which is all you can ask for.
- [36:22]
Tina Fey
Their comedy schooling is like, what some people. The way they would treat like the violin or whatever. I was like, we're not. We're gonna watch things that are funny.
- [36:29]
Willie Geist
That's a good education for life. Okay, so Mean Girls comes out in a couple days.
- [36:33]
Tina Fey
Yep.
- [36:34]
Willie Geist
You're still on tour. What else is coming from Tina Fey? People always wanna know.
- [36:38]
Tina Fey
My friends Tracy Wakefield and Lang Fisher and I are going to a D. There was a movie in the 70s called the or 1980 called the Four Seasons.
- [36:45]
Willie Geist
Yeah. Alan Aldo.
- [36:46]
Skechers Advertiser
Alan Alden.
- [36:46]
Willie Geist
Carol Burnett.
- [36:47]
Tina Fey
Carol Burnett. It's 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 that's. I'm very, very excited about that. Mean Girls, the stage program is going to London in the spring. Nice to come see us in London. And that's mostly it for now.
- [37:07]
Willie Geist
You got like a beauty line? Anything else you want to plug in?
- [37:10]
Tina Fey
Amy keeps yelling. She's like, why do you not have a line of glasses? Why do you not sell glasses? I go, it's too late. I can't. I can't sell glasses.
- [37:17]
Willie Geist
You know what? She's kind of right about that. That's a layup.
- [37:20]
Tina Fey
Don't get money, sell glasses.
- [37:25]
Willie Geist
Can you call her right again.
- [37:26]
Tina Fey
This is why the partnership works.
- [37:28]
Willie Geist
Thank you, Tina. So much. Fun to talk to you too.
- [37:30]
Tina Fey
You too.
- [37:31]
Willie Geist
Appreciate my big thanks again to Tina for a great conversation. You can see the new Mean Girls movie in theaters now. 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 week on the Sunday sit down podcast.
- [38:12]
Skechers Advertiser
Moms and dads, do you wish you could know where your kids shoes are at all times? Now you can with Skechers newest Apple airtag compatible sneakers. Find my Skechers. There's a clever hidden airtag compartment under the shoe's insole. It's sleek, secure, and your child can feel or see it. Then you can check where your kids shoes are on the find my app. Plus, they're available for boys and girls. Get Find my sketchers@skechers.com, a Skechers store near you or wherever kids shoes are sold. Apple AirTags sold separately.