The Tina Fey Thread

Tina Fey is a CUNT and I’ve never liked her. The only thing of value she’s created is Mean Girls, just the movie.

Fey is probably an unpleasant person but that's par for the course in showbiz. I doubt she's worse than most in Hollywood. Tina reminds me uncannily of a woman I knew years ago. Dry deadpan humor, clever but nasty. Pretended to be self conscious about her supposed lack of femininity ( she was attractive but slightly tomboyish) but wanted to be an actress. Desperate not to appear overly " girlish" in her affect.

I think Fey is a very good and perceptive writer but not a gifted actress. She's too cold.30 rock was excellent pop culture satire that still holds up fairly well.She did play up the self deprecation in a way that was rather absurd. The lemon character would always be decently dressed and put together but she would act like the character was some sort of slob. But really there are many professional women who look and dress like her character did.

I’m always confused by Tina. Loved 30 rock and to a lesser degree a lot of her stuff from SNL. But then you have things like Baby Mama which was one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. . .

She’s quite the success story .

I thought the last thread we had like this the general feeling was behind the scenes and in private she was actually pretty great to deal with.

Jane Krakowski adores her

Tina just acted in Baby Mama. She didn’t write the script or direct. Tina Fey only seems to stick the landing as an actress in unabashedly surreal and self-referencing Tina Fey ecosystems like 30 Rock - in anything else she can’t seem to let go of an overwhelming sense of snarky guardedness, which I suspect is kind of her essence as a person.

Amy Poehler has a similar problem, but whereas Tina is cold, everything Poehler does has an undercurrent of barely sublimated rage and frustration.

I cannot stand her.

I think she's tremendous.

Is she several inches taller than her husband?

Don't find her vaguely amusing. Bitchy mean girl. Poehler too.

[quote]Amy Poehler has a similar problem, but whereas Tina is cold, everything Poehler does has an undercurrent of barely sublimated rage and frustration.

Whatever you think of them, whatever you're like, that is a perfect summation of how the project.

Bossypants is probably the only memoir I’ve read twice. Sad to hear she’s a cunt, but I’d suppose you’d have to be to become a head writer on SNL.

Is she totally straight?

Yes, R14. One of the main takeaways I had reading Bossypants is that Tina Fey seems to be in love with her father and that informs most of her attitudes towards men. Also despite her marriage, she has an almost Datalounge-esque love for generically hunky white bread bros.

She's been super nice in my dealings with her. And her husband is one of the funniest humans I've ever met.

I didn't like Mean Girls. I love her for 30 Rock though. And there was some good stuff during her SNL tenure.

She always comes off to me as a someone who is a compulsive masturbator in her private time, focusing on risqué and bordering on perverse subject matters.

She seems cold on camera because half her face doesn’t really move. She was slashed by some stranger, or that’s the official explanation.

[...]

I think she comes across as guarded because she never fully bought into the fame machine, except for that one period when she lost weight and was trying to be a star. She seems to have her offscreen priorities straight in a way a lot of famous people don’t, Amy Poehler as well. Although Amy Poehler is interesting because she took a risk on partnering up with a hotter, shallower guy in Will Arnett and it kind of torpedoed her life.

I never believed the scar came from a random attack out in the open, but if Tina doesn’t want to go into more detail that’s her right.

I once knew someone who got a new cell phone, only to find out she had inherited Tina's old phone number, as she was constantly getting calls and messages for her.

R23 wow, anything juicy??

r24, Sorry, not that I know of.

Amy Poehler is a much better actress, even if Amy is a bitch behind the scenes, as some are saying, she's such a good actress, I can forgive her.

Tina isn't much of an actress, like Lens Dunham, Tina seems to be playing a version of herself.

When Tina is on talk shows, I find her smug and insufferable. She really thinks she some sort of comic genius. Tina needs to watch clips of the true comic geniuses of the 1950s and 1960s. Tina is no comedy genius or original in her approach to comedy.

She has all the hoity toitness of those Mainline Philly bitches who think their shit don’t stink. You can take the girl out of the Mainline, but you can’t take the Mainline out of the girl.

I didn’t care for Amy Poehler before, but her autobiography made me despise her.

Tina gets a lot of criticism in online women's spaces for being "Not Like Other Girls"—i.e., being a self-loathing woman as a result of having grown up plain and uncool. NLOGs see themselves as adorably quirky snowflakes, dislike/mistrust/betray other women, and have mainly male friends.

I don't get a pleasant vibe from her.

I did like BossyPants . She told a story of her immigrant family (Greek?) buying Rum Cake from the bakery for birthdays as a status symbol that they could afford it and the kids hating it. Same in my immigrant Italian family. As a kid i hated those rum cakes, no 6 year old wants a rum cake.

I'll always love that 30 Rock episode where dumb bro Jon Hamm gets a waiver for being pretty.

Wonder if she had tard channing slam her dried up puss for that crappy movie she made about being a reporter.

Hate that Amy is a mega cunt since I love leslie knope a ton.

"I didn’t care for Amy Poehler before, but her autobiography made me despise her."

What's the deal, R28?

I love a good bitch from hell takedown, but sorry, this isn't cutting it. I'm very skeptical of vague claims of someone being awful--especially women. Unless I missed something I haven't seen any actual accounts of Tina (or Amy) actually being a bitch, just insistence that they are.

r35, you are one level-headed bitch!

I can just see general assertiveness and ambition being interpreted as "being a bitch". Plus, she was often the boss and thus you have to literally be the boss and not everyone will always like everything you do. Yes, I get that it's not ALWAYS sexism and women can actually be bitches, but still.

Even if she is "cold" or kinda a bitch, she would be nothing out of the ordinary for Hollywood, as others have stated. Plus she hasn't done anything truly evil like sexually assault or abuse people. So even if there is a bitch element, why would I care? She gave me some good SNL and 30 Rock.

I'm just here for the word "coozitude" :D

I re-watched all of 30 Rock during COVID and still think it’s fantastic. I don’t care if she’s just laying aversion of herself, it’s worthy doing because the end result is great.

Alec Baldwin may be a jackass, but he’s perfect in 30 Rock. It’s almost like his real life is a desperate attempt NOT to be Jack Donaghey. But Jack is actually more likable than Alec.

As already pointed out, Fey’s supposed sloppiness is sort of silly, but I don’t find the contradiction between her physical presentation and the character’s supposed traits distracting.

Love 30 Rock too. Rewatched it at the end of last year and likewise thought it was great.

I think she's a talented writer and a limited actress, but that's okay. Mean Girls is still funny nearly 20 years later. Bossypants was a good, quick read.

And women's forums are always going to snark about successful women.

I used to think that she and Amy shaded out Rachel Dratch. I thought that was mean because at one point they were sort of a trio. Amy, Rachel and Tina.

Then it was all Amy and Tina.

But I don’t know the whole story and Rachel has ended up with a decent career. But at first, they went to the top and Rachel was not doing much.

They work really well as a trio and I would love to see them together again. Mya was always in the mix too. But she seemed to go her own way.

What about Kristin Wig? Does Tina get along with her? Different types of humor there.

Kristin could be a whole separate thread. She is an interesting broad. She came out of nowhere and I always wonder what she had been doing before SNL. Now I wonder what she does after. Doesn’t seem to put much out.

30 Rock isn’t just the funniest sitcom of the 21st century; it spawned a series of funny shows created either by Fey/Carlock of writers they hired for 30 Rock: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Girls5Eva, Saved By The Bell, Great News, and Mr. Mayor are all very funny.

R39 Liz Lemon: Why are you wearing a tux? / Jack: It's after 6 o'clock, Lemon. What am I, a farmer?

R42 I thought Tina always went out of her way to hire Rachel. She’s spoken very kindly about Rachel and her talent as a comic actress. I can’t remember if it was a panel or a print interview, but I remember her singling out Rachel specifically.

great speech Tina!

another good one.

How come she hasn't had any plastic surgery to get rid of that hideous scar?

[quote]I can just see general assertiveness and ambition being interpreted as "being a bitch". Plus, she was often the boss and thus you have to literally be the boss and not everyone will always like everything you do. Yes, I get that it's not ALWAYS sexism and women can actually be bitches, but still.

It's not about Tina being "assertive" and "ambitious", it's about her annoying smugness and her thinking she's some kind of comedic genius and a unique voice, she's neither.

Tina Fey, like so many others in showbiz, is merely lucky and was in the right place at the right time.

Why is the general public so easily duped?

R42, I believe that Tina and Rachel ("Dratch and Fey") were a duo in their early years. They were even going to work together again on 30 Rock. Dratch was going to play Jenna Maroney. But apparently the network forced the show to replace her with Jane Krakowski. (The reason had to do with looks.) Rachel was given a minor role at the beginning of the show.

Rachel Dratch is the Dawn French of 30 Rock.

R15, lmao

In the last few years every bit of Tina Fey's humor and writing comes across like real grandma humor and really forced at that. Like when old movie and vaudeville stars would be on sitcoms like "Here's Lucy", or some garbage trying to be hip and cool like the swingers and hepcats. It was always so cringe even though I suspected they were in on the joke, which somehow I suspect Tina is not.

Everything Douglas Carter Beane writes is painful like this as well. He wrote a musical where among the lead characters there was an Italian couple whose last name was "Stevenitti" (Steve and Eydie, get it! Hardy har!). There was also a Lillian Gish joke. Tina is quickly lapsing into this brand of "humor".

Worst kind of liberal even if you're liberal. She'd be a nightmare as your manager.

[quote]I never believed the scar came from a random attack out in the open

It's been years but I would swear I read an article or a blog post that had a copy of a newspaper article from the day it happened, mentioning the attack but no names listed.

As for someone who asked why she didn't get plastic surgery, I think she did, the scar was much worse when she was a little girl.

There was a thread a few months ago about the set of 30 Rock. The overall consensus was that Tina was pretty decent. I think one post described her as pleasant but not to be fucked with - which I can respect.

When I was in NY I had more than one occasion to interact with her and she was always kind and present, meaning she paid attention and was not fixed on herself. Kind is better than nice.

30 Rock was brilliant, Love the Harvey Weinstein jokes (it was obvious they all knew) and the Clinton sex plane jokes. I am glad to be watching it now as it was very predictive about so many things and totally irreverent. Today's cancel culture would hate it.

Everyone is so interested in her scar. I want to know why she married a dwarf.

Tina predicted that Alec would marry someone who faked their background.

She and her family live in an apartment that is Jason Beghe's childhood home.

She seems smart to me.

[quote] Everything Douglas Carter Beane writes is painful like this as well. He wrote a musical where among the lead characters there was an Italian couple whose last name was "Stevenitti"

Proof that I'm an eldergay: I laughed out loud at that.

Where exactly on her face is this scar? I've never seen it.

"She'd be a nightmare as your manager."

I'd love her as a manager. She's a no-bullshit-but-I-reward-good-work kind of person. And she doesn't expect you to kiss her ass at all. But God help the people who half-ass it on the job.

I admire her

all philadelphians back her up

Replacing Dratch with Krakowski was absolutely the right call, even if it was for shallow reasons at first.

r66 Yes. it's called show business, not show friends.

I think that wasn't so much the issue as the way she did it, and she ghosted her after. I think the etiquette on that is to either offer her another part in a little while, or use your connections to suggest her for something else. (Unless she's an unprofessional or impossible cunt, but I never heard that re; Dratch.)

Her humor was hard for me to get into. I thought Mean Girls was dumb but kind of fun the first time I saw it. The visual gags were...silly. I thought 30 Rock was dumb but fun and the visual gags were silly like a Bugs Bunny cartoon. I caught episodes occasionally but never sought them out. Then I finally watched Kimmie Schmidt and thought it was hilariously ridiculous. I went back to 30 Rock and related better to the humor and loved it. But still, her approach to humor is sort of a dramatic version of Joan River's comedy—just an automatic assault of punchlines. Sometimes I'm in the mood and sometimes I need a little more to think about.

I LOVE 30 Rock and really dislike Kimmie Schmidt. Anyone else?

Her entire persona revolves around her wanting to be pretty enough to fuck Jon Hamm but not wanting to appear to be that girl, so she’s snarky instead.

[quote] And she doesn't expect you to kiss her ass at all

Yes, she’s does

Tina's husband really does appear to be a little person!

Tina is 5'5".

[Quote]Tina predicted that Alec would marry someone who faked their background.

Seriously?

I actually found Bossypants to be surprisingly boring and the way she discussed gay men made me think she stereotypes them (although many comedians do in their comedy).

I did enjoy her sardonic delivery in weekend update on SNL though, and generally consider her to be a sharp comedy writer, just not her autobiography, I guess.

That said, Great News was a really funny show and I was sad that it got canceled (Fey was a writer/producer I think, and appeared in a few episodes).

Main line, R27? What are you talking about? Tina is from Upper Darby, *hardly* the main line or any comparably upscale suburb. She’s one step up from Mare of Easttown, it doesn’t surprise me at all that she was attacked by a stranger.

She wrote Mean Girls, says it all

She’s marvelous

[quote] Amy Poehler has a similar problem, but whereas Tina is cold, everything Poehler does has an undercurrent of barely sublimated rage and frustration.

I remember some story on Amy or SNL where Jimmy Fallon told her she wasn't being nice, and apparently....the way it was described, Amy's eyes got an evil, dark look to them and she became enraged, shaking Jimmy and saying "I don't give a fuck what you think!"

R72 She is three inches taller (but likely has heels on in that photo)

He's 5'2"

[quote] 30 rock was excellent pop culture satire that still holds up fairly well.

I always say this in Tina Fey threads but I teach high school and I have several students who are big 30 Rock fans. I don't really care if she is a nice person or not, and in fact she seems pretty annoying. But I loved 30 Rock.

[quote] Joan River's comedy

[quote] Kimmie Schmidt

Double oh, dear

r50, it wasn't just looks. Her acting sucked. Watch these clips from of Dratch from the original pilot.

She's cool for young ladies who do improv and that's about it

R34, re Amy’s book it was not any one particular incident in the book, but just a general pervasive attitude of smarminess and cuntitude. Very unlikeable, but she clearly thought she was being hilarious and charming.

[quote]I LOVE 30 Rock and really dislike Kimmie Schmidt. Anyone else?

Opposite here. I watched two seasons of 30 Rock, really trying to enjoy it, and I just didn't see what the fuss was at all, beyond Jenna singing about her muffin top ("Number one in Israel!"). But with one exception, I really enjoyed Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

I also liked Mean Girls. But I've never really warmed to Fey. I did like though when her and Poehler were at some awards though, and pointed out that they were awarding George Clooney while his wife sitting next to him was so much more accomplished than he was, but: "Hollywood."

R67, she didn’t ghost her, she actually brought Rachel back for a number of guest parts in 30 Rock.

[quote] I remember some story on Amy or SNL where Jimmy Fallon told her she wasn't being nice, and apparently....the way it was described, Amy's eyes got an evil, dark look to them and she became enraged, shaking Jimmy and saying "I don't give a fuck what you think!"

This is from Fey’s book Bossypants and is not at all as you describe. Smarmy Fallon make a remark to Poehler about a sketch not working because the female character wasn’t “nice,” and Amy embarrassed him in front of the writers by making a joke about how stupid that was. Tina used this to talk about how much she loved Amy.

Love this sketch

I really get the sense in an earlier time both Tina and Amy would have been declared witches, tried and burned at the stake.

The 1970s ?

Loved her in 30 Rock…she was so-so on SNL.

I think it's worth noting that the unused pilot footage from R82 is funnier than anything else currently on network television.

“Amy Poehler was new to SNL and we were all crowded into the seventeenth-floor writers' room, waiting for the Wednesday night read-through to start.

Amy was in the middle of some such nonsense with Seth Meyers across the table, and she did something vulgar as a joke. I can't remember what it was exactly, except it was dirty and loud and "unladylike".

Jimmy Fallon turned to her and in a faux-squeamish voice said, "Stop that! It's not cute! I don't like it."

Amy dropped what she was doing, went black in the eyes for a second, and wheeled around on him. "I don't fucking care if you like it." Jimmy was visibly startled. Amy went right back to enjoying her ridiculous bit.

With that exchange, a cosmic shift took place. Amy made it clear that she wasn't there to be cute. She wasn't there to play wives and girlfriends in the boys' scenes. She was there to do what she wanted to do and she did not fucking care if you like it.”

I can't stand Poehler or Fallon. But, I love that story of her ripping into him.

I've dealt with Amy Poehler in a professional capacity, and she was beyond cool, kind, and generous with people she didn't have to give the time of day to. Was really impressed by her.

That's always refreshing to hear, R95.

Tina and Amy's hilarious 2014 Golden Globes Monologue. Back when awards shows were fun, and they absolutely kill it.

Awkward humor always felt very white. I hope it stays in 2015.

^What do you mean to imply about white humor vis a vis "ethnic" comedy?

The Tina Fey style humor always felt very white. Sarcastic, small, absurd, awkward. For white people who read the New Yorker but don't get it.

Not nearly as good as The Black People Awards.

[quote]The Tina Fey style humor always felt very white. Sarcastic, small, absurd, awkward. For white people who read the New Yorker but don't get it.

OK. Thank you for trying and not-so-deftly avoiding the question about its contrast with black or ethnic humor, unless you're trying to bait via antonyms...

R102 you actually card the humor a race. I said Tina's awkward brand of humor feels white and I saw that as a white person. What are you asking now?

*called the humor...

Her Weekend Update editorial with the sheet cake was strange.

I can't find the clip, but there was a quick bit on SNL where they were showing different cast members preparing for the show in their dressing rooms and Tina Fey was shown shaving her face using an old-fashioned straight razor. It was her way of addressing the question of "where did she get that scar?". I like that she has a sense of humor about it in an industry that is so focused on women's looks.

[quote]I think the etiquette on that is to either offer her another part

She did, r67. She had a bunch of guest roles in 2006 and 2007, including the surreal Blue Man character.

As I said in the other thread, there seems to be some accusations that she's a cunt but without providing any specific examples and evidence - it's all just perception. Same here. A lot of you are saying she seems to be a cunt, but you can't actually describe anything she has said or done that is particularly cunty. Therefore, I don't believe it. Everyone who is difficult to work with in the entertainment industry is well documented and known at this point, if she was truly such a cunt there would be examples.

[quote]As I said in the other thread, there seems to be some accusations that she's a cunt but without providing any specific examples and evidence - it's all just perception.

Are you the same person in the Bridget Fonda thread who keeps asking WHERE the proof is that Bridget's husband Danny Elfman has been abusive to Bridget? You sure sound like it.

Give it a rest.

People who work in the industry, and have observed things, sure do know who the kind and decent celebrities are, they also know who the bitches and bastards are too. Most celebrities have inflated egos, they act as if they have cured some rare disease and can help the world. Celebrities are simply entertainers, these people need to get over themselves.

I actually blame the public for this holier-then-thou behaviour, the fans are the ones who make these people rich and famous, fans put them on pedestals.

Remember, celebrities entertain, that's all they do. Perhaps, if fans didn't grovel so much, some celebrities would see the reality of what they do for a living..

I’m going out on a limb and saying that Tina has good and bad days like everyone else. One rumor I heard on a gossip site was that she sometimes strays with male costars in some of her projects. But nothing concrete.

R69: same here. Love 30 Rock. Hated Kimmy.

Why is she always particularly cunty in her commercials, it makes me want to boycott things she selling?

I do so look forward to the hissing black queen in every thread, who deigns to tell us all the things wrong with white people and their humor.

You're such a joy, Precious.

The audience needs to recognize their own insecurities and inadequacies in the face of other people’s success instead of painting everyone with the same ego centric brush. Social media has shown that ‘regular’ people are not immune to inflated senses of self.

What chew talkin 'bout?

If Insecure and Abbott Elementary are any indication, awkward humor is hardly the sole province of white people. Black people can be awkward, sarcastic nerds, too, instead of always playing taciturn judges and long-suffering grandmothers or thugs and hookers.

I liked Insecure when I thought it was a heart wrenching drama, then it was in all the comedy awards categories, so I never went back to watching it. It made no sense to me as a comedy.

R116 you forgot IRS auditors.

R117 I thought the exact opposite! Insecure started out as a comedy in my opinion and then suddenly veered off and went into drama territory. I felt like they didn’t know what they wanted so they were inconsistent initially. In season two it felt more like a drama, and at that point, I stopped watching because they had marketed/advertised it as a comedy so I ended up disappointed.

R109 You are delusional and no we aren't the same person.

Tina is not straight

R109, R121 are mentally ill.

R121 do tell...

That's funny, R14 and R15. IIRC, Tina Fey said she lost her virginity at age 27 or so. Same thing with Lisa Kudrow. That is not the behavior of your typical heterosexual girl. Both of them have always pinged to high heaven to me, even long before I heard either of them talk about the virginity thing.

Oh, and let's not forget Tina Fey is a very good writer. She could be bullshitting us all the way in her book.

Finally, I know thee lesbian women who are completely in love with their fathers. I'm not sure how that works, but it's not uncommon.

^three

R67 show friends, ha. That’s a Jay Mohr line.

(quote)She has all the hoity toitness of those Mainline Philly bitches who think their shit don’t stink. You can take the girl out of the Mainline, but you can’t take the Mainline out of the girl.

She definitely is NOT from the Mainline, she is from Upper Darby, which is a much-maligned location in the Philly inner-ring suburbs.

Tina strikes me as one of those smart, bookish girls who really wanted to be the popular cute cheerleader. So her snark is self-defense and revenge.

Tina Fey gave us "bleurg," a term that I have heard used out loud only by one former colleague who was insufferable and disliked by everyone. Because of the association and because "bleurg" as a spoken word is hyper-annoying in and of itself, to Fey, I say BLEURG.

Oh, Upper Darby is full of foul deplorables.

Her dad is a deplorable. To a point that she mentioned in her book that her cop dad would warn of leaving her bike out because black kids would steal it.

Conservates hated her during the GWB years.

More sensitive liberal types criticized her during the Obama and Trump years (you have to understand that this kind of thing has been going on since at least the 1980s. Social media just accelerated it - especially Twitter in the 2010s).

Some people dislike her for more general reasons: Annoying, mean girl, phony, etc.

She married a dwarf. How desperate she must have been.

I've never found her funny. Bitchy yes, but funny bitchy - not so much.

There was always something off-putting about Tina, especially her smug attitude. She really is full of herself. She's definitely a person who believes their own hope.

Her stupid SNL sketch Colonel Lingus was supposedly soooo funny, seriously? That's teen level 'comedy'. Tina is no comic genius.

I also cannot stand when she's a guest on talk shows and every host grovels and kisses her ass, especially Seth Meyers, who seems to not take shit from anyone. He no longer works with her, so why continue to his her ass?

I never found her funny in the least, she sure can't act and as someone posted up thread she's like Lens Dungham, basically playing a version of herself.

Tina has a face you want to slap. I can't stand her smirk.

Own HYPE!

I love Seth Meyers for A Closer Look but most of his interviews are truly terrible because he mainly interviews people from SNL who aren't funny and he sucks up to them relentlessly. Lorne Thingy produces his show too so I suppose he has to.