With Tina Fey gone from Saturday Night Live, that show will surely need several new writers and performers to fill her talented gap. But viewers won’t be without her. She’s started a new show on NBC, the half-hour comedy 30 Rock which airs Wednesday nights at 8 PM. Fey keeps things close to home as the show deals with the writing staff of a fictional variety sketch show, The Girlie Show. Alec Baldwin plays a network exec who comes in to tinker with her baby. Tracy Morgan is a movie star hired to boost the show and Jane Krakowski is the insecure star who feels threatened by him.
Not to be confused with Studio 60 From the Sunset Strip, airing Mondays at 10 PM on NBC. That show also deals with the writers of a fictional variety sketch comedy show. Tina Fey ironed out the difference between her show and Aaron Sorkin’s, and talked about how she’s adjusting to a Wednesday Night pre-taped life.
Hollywood.com: Was Alec Baldwin a given since he’s done SNL so many times?
Tina Fey: Well, I wrote the part with Alec in mind. I sort of never dreamed that we would really get him and then miraculously we have gotten him so I’m very pleased. Yeah, I’ve seen Alec be so very, very funny over the years that he’s hosted and he has tremendous comedy skills.
HW: What profanities came to mind when you heard about Studio 60?
TF: I swear so much all the time it wouldn’t have even interrupted my constant flow of swearing that was probably happening over the quality of my lunch.
HW: Were you disconcerted?
TF: Well, it’s funny because I had friends coming up to me saying, “Oh, I’m so sorry you’re not going to get to do your show.” I said, “Well, I hadn’t really heard anything” and then really actually within the same day, Kevin Riley called me at home to assure me that we were still [on] because we were in preproduction for the pilot and he assured me that we were still going to shoot the pilot and that he believed in both shows, so I took him at his word. So far so good.
HW: Are you concerned by all the comparisons to that other show?
TF: Yes, the big concern to me that our show is so similar to Nip/Tuck. No, the great thing about doing the show is we’re so busy, we’re shooting five days a week, writing seven days a week sort of that there is no time to even worry about it. We’re barreling ahead.
HW: Are there any similarities?
TF: They are a different genre really. We’re a comedy and they basically are a drama. I think in tone they’re really different but yes, old people are going to be confused. Grandma is going to be confused. Look for Alec Baldwin. If you can find Alec Baldwin, you know you have us.
HW: How did you come up with The Girlie Show?
TF: One, I wanted it to seem like a show that my character had created that had sort of a feminine sensibility so that when Alec’s character and Tracy’s character invaded it, you could get the sense that it was this male presence coming in and taking over. And then I also sort of thought if you had a female driven star and that it was sort of like The Man Show, it seemed sort of like a sketch show title to me. And the fact that we have kind of hot lady dancers made it seem like it was a neo-feminist reappropriation of the Fly Girls.
HW: While working on SNL, did you set aside jokes or anecdotes for the show?
TF: Actually no. I will say one thing I’ve learned from working on Saturday Night Live it’s if you have a joke, you use it immediately. Because you always need something so no, you can’t really store anything away for the winter. You just have to hope that you’ll make more when the time comes.
HW: Will the higher-ups at GE think these characters are based on them?
TF: That will be interesting to see if some of the guys upstairs think that. I don’t really hang out with a lot of GE executives so there’s really no way for me to have based it on any of those guys.
HW: What would you say if they thought you had?
TF: I’m going to tell all of them yes, no matter who they are. I’m going to say yes, this is based on you. Then they’ll keep watching.
HW: Were you worried about leaving the stability of SNL to start a new show?
TF: Well, obviously it’s a risk. There are so many new shows on TV and you never know what’s going to happen, but it times out well because it was an appropriate time for me to leave SNL anyway. I felt like a senior who it was time to graduate, so I think it’s great. This is a great venture and I hope that we do it for a long time. If we don’t, I will go home and see my kids. I feel really good about it because I feel like it’s all sort of a win-win situation.
HW: Does your husband complain about your relationship with Lorne Michaels?
TF: No, he’s cool with that. My husband works for Lorne also. My husband works at Saturday Night Live and at 30 Rock, so what he is complaining about is the fact that he’s more overstretched than I am right now.
HW: So you’re the jealous one?
TF: I am very jealous of my husband’s relationship with Lorne.
HW: Is this more frantic than SNL?
TF: Well, weirdly enough, it’s a little bit more taxing because at Saturday Night Live, you would sort of stroll in in the afternoon and you might stay late at night, but you could come at three or four in the afternoon. Also, SNL is 20 shows a year spread out over 40 weeks and this is pretty intense. It’s film days so it’s like a 5:30 a.m. pick-up, getting home at eight or nine and then having some writing, some pages to look at. I’m enjoying it but it’s actually work.
HW: Are you biting not only the hand that fed you, but your own hand, making fun of your mistakes?
TF: No, I really don’t think we will because that’s sort of the thing I learned from the pilot is I think also in the pilot is okay but I feel like maybe less writing about writing. It doesn’t interest me as much. If it feels like I’m poking fun at SNL, at least it’s my own family so hopefully no one will get mad about it. But it’s interesting because we’ve tried to make up a fake sketch to be within a show, it’s inherently reductive. It feels like you have to make up something that sounds like the name of a sketch but it sort of just shrinks everything. I think we probably won’t do it as much.
HW: Why in this moment did two shows decide to focus on SNL-type shows?
TF: I think it’s just an insane coincidence. For me certainly it’s coming out of a world, a very specific workplace and Kevin Riley encouraging me to write about my own life. I don’t know if he rues the day that he encouraged me to do that but for me it’s just the world that I know. I’m just trying to bring to live the people and situations that I’ve been in.
HW: Why has it taken so long?
TF: Well, there have been other shows. Obviously, there’s Larry Sanders which is the late night world, talk show but I think Barry Levinson years ago did a pilot, I’ve never seen it, but it was a similar kind of premise. I don’t know. There definitely have been other attempts.
HW: Do you miss SNL?
TF: It’s funny, we’re shooting in Rockefeller Plaza today and I feel a little homesick today because it’s so beautiful here and it’s a gorgeous day and it’s a beautiful Landmark building and everyone else at SNL is starting work today. So it’s a little weird.
HW: Did you ever consider doing both shows?
TF: There was a window of time a couple years ago when we were all in the planning stages and we thought, “Then I’ll just come in on Saturday and do Update.” And I think if I didn’t have my daughter, I would be stupid enough to be trying to do that. But having a kid is an instant perspective and priority, adjustment.
HW: How tough is it to balance doing this show with being a new mom?
TF: It’s tough. I think every working mom probably feels the same thing which is you go through big chunks of time where you’re just going, “This is impossible. Oh, this is impossible.” And then you just keep going and keep going and you sort of do the impossible.
HW: You wrote a hit movie a few years ago, will films be on the back burner for now?
TF: Thank you, first of all. I am currently between a second and a third draft of a movie for Paramount and definitely will slow things down, but I definitely hope to try to keep doing both.
