"RE-RELEASE: Tina Fey"
Episode
44 min
Read time
2 min
Topics
Career Growth, Marketing, Product & Tech Trends
AI-Generated Summary
Key Takeaways
- ✓Career entry strategy: Fey submitted a writer packet to SNL after being passed over as a performer, demonstrating how alternative pathways can lead to breakthrough opportunities when initial goals don't materialize as expected in competitive creative industries.
- ✓Collaboration preference: Fey identifies as someone who doesn't work well solo, choosing to co-anchor Weekend Update with Amy Poehler rather than alone, and noting that writing a book felt vulnerable without the safety net of a writer's room to share responsibility.
- ✓Television production pace: Fey prefers TV over film because television's faster pace and compressed shooting schedules create better conditions for comedy, while film's glacial seven-year development cycles and slow set work diminish comedic energy and spontaneity.
- ✓Modern comedy landscape: Breaking into comedy today requires building audiences directly through platforms like TikTok rather than traditional routes like Second City or Groundlings, as broadcast television holds less cultural relevance for younger generations and social media creates new pathways.
What It Covers
Tina Fey discusses her career path from Second City Chicago to SNL head writer and Weekend Update anchor, her approach to creating television comedy, work-life balance challenges, and her new show Girls5eva premiering on Peacock.
Key Questions Answered
- •Career entry strategy: Fey submitted a writer packet to SNL after being passed over as a performer, demonstrating how alternative pathways can lead to breakthrough opportunities when initial goals don't materialize as expected in competitive creative industries.
- •Collaboration preference: Fey identifies as someone who doesn't work well solo, choosing to co-anchor Weekend Update with Amy Poehler rather than alone, and noting that writing a book felt vulnerable without the safety net of a writer's room to share responsibility.
- •Television production pace: Fey prefers TV over film because television's faster pace and compressed shooting schedules create better conditions for comedy, while film's glacial seven-year development cycles and slow set work diminish comedic energy and spontaneity.
- •Modern comedy landscape: Breaking into comedy today requires building audiences directly through platforms like TikTok rather than traditional routes like Second City or Groundlings, as broadcast television holds less cultural relevance for younger generations and social media creates new pathways.
Notable Moment
Fey reveals she cast her daughter in Girls5eva after making her audition against other child actors, then had to tell her she didn't book the role, only to hire her later when the other child couldn't travel during pandemic quarantine restrictions.
Episode Transcript
Sean, you'll never guess what we're gonna do today. Are we gonna record an episode? Did I just guess it right? Well, first man, how many times? Baby steps. First thing we're gonna do is we're gonna welcome our audience, and we're gonna say Oh, welcome to SmartLess. To SmartLess. Try to do it in time. Okay. Sorry. One more time. One, two, three. I'm three. No. The moment's gone. Welcome to SmartLessons. Smart. Bless. Smart. Speaking of hydrating, did you do you run six miles yet today, Bevan? No. No. It'll be after this. I didn't think so. Just looking at you, I didn't think so. I'm holding a little water right now. Yeah. It's gonna be after this session. So I got real tight. I got a heart out in, fifty five minutes. I was on my I was boxing today. I did my you know, I'm doing this this thing boxing at home. I mean, I I know. Listen. It's a tough guy thing, obviously. You box at home? Like, in your garage? Yeah. Like, just with boxes. Like, I'm just putting boxes together. Oh, okay. Beautiful. What did you think I meant? Just Do you don't really have you're not one of those dorks with a with a Heavy bag. A heavy bag hanging in your garage. Are you? That's gross. You are do you really have one? It's it's not hanging. It's on a stand. I got one of these things. He's on the ground. He just tackles it. Thoreau talked me into it. And then you look at Thoreau's arms. He's on the cover of Esquire, Justin Thoreau. Thank you. Did it Jesus Christ. Why haven't we had Justin on the show yet? Because we wanna talk about him more. We we haven't talked about him enough on the show to then have him on. I would like I met him, like, once or twice. Such a nice guy, but I don't know him like you guys do. I would love him. Okay. Well, Will, which one of us are they can't really be surprised. One of us has gotta Well, one of us is gonna get on it, and the other one's gonna be surprised that the other one did it it first. Look. Anyway, we gotta get to our guest. Okay. Our guest is an incredible writer performer, started as a performer, became a writer, then started becoming a performer again. And the second I mentioned, one of the things you're gonna be like, I know exactly who this is. We've talked a lot over the episodes with people who've been on SNL. We haven't had anybody who's been on the anchor desk. This person was, on the anchor desk for many years. Tina. Tina. Tina. Tina. She wrote Mean Girls. She wrote everything. She did everything. It's Tina. Tina. Hi, my three buddies. How are you? Oh, look at our knees outside. You can say anything and then not know that …
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“Breaking into comedy today requires building audiences directly through platforms like TikTok rather than traditional routes like Second City or Groundlings”
“her new show Girls5eva premiering on Peacock”
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