Tina Fey Talks 30 Rock

From: Lauren Barth   244 days 3 hours 15 minutes ago

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Tina Fey is probably the funniest woman in show biz. Her deadpan delivery, on-the-nose timing, and witty humor always make us laugh out loud. The nerdy-cool comedian, writer, actress, producer, and mom talked to us about the many hats she wears both on and off the set of her hit NBC sitcom 30 Rock.

What did you do during the strike that you wouldn’t have been able to do if you were working on 30 Rock?
Well I mostly – I stayed home with my daughter which was sort of the only blessing of the strike. It was – for me, it was a little bit like a maternity leave that I did not previously have. And then – well, as you know, occasionally doing my union duty on the picket line.

Are you going to be referencing the writer’s strike at all in the upcoming episodes?
We are not. We decided that the strike did not happen in our world because we sort of felt like for people viewing at home the real strike was a big enough pain and that they didn’t really want it to hear any more about the strike. We actually had – before there ever was a strike, we had [written] sort of a writers’ strike story that we may just save for, you know, later down the road because it didn’t have anything to do with the actual strike.

Pulling double duty, writing and acting on this show: Is it tough to write for yourself or is it tough to act with words you’ve written?
I feel like I’ve – the nice thing about having our whole writing staff writing the show is that I – in the past, I, thank God, had a tendency to under serve myself and skip over my parts, and work on it less. And the rest of the staff kind of takes great care of my character.

How hands-on were you in casting the show?
A lot of the parts of the people who are regulars, I wrote with people in mind. For example, Jack McBrayer who plays Kenneth is an old friend of mine from Chicago, so I really wanted him for that part and was very happy when no one objected. And Scott Adsit is an old friend of mine. I wrote that part with him in mind and we wrote with Alec [Baldwin] in mind, too. And we were very pleasantly surprised when he agreed to do it.

How much do you worry about ratings?
I don’t worry about them because I know that you can’t control them by worrying about them. You know, I feel like we do – we try to make the show as good as we can make it and then I try to do anything I can that’s helpful to just make people aware of the show. But beyond that, you can’t really – there’s nothing you can really do about them.

Tell us about the upcoming episode, MILF Island.
It is a Survivor-like show where, oh gosh – I think it’s 20 MILFs and 50 eighth grade boys are put on an island. And we actually sat down and tried to figure out the rules of MILF Island and were not entirely successful. It involves something where the boys vote the moms off if they don’t like them anymore. And then it involves physical challenges and that’s about all that we know.

Are there any actors you’d love to see Liz Lemon get involved with?
It’s funny because I - those are - for me, are my least favorite stories to do and so there’s a certain contingency in our writers’ room. They’re always pitching them and I’m always saying no - no more love times. So I don’t know what will be on the horizon for Liz. Maybe - you know who would be good? Peter Dinklage - that would be good. That guy is awesome.

Do you see yourself and your character as a nerd? And is nerd the new sexy?
I definitely am a nerd in life. I think Liz Lemon might be a bigger nerd than me. One of the writers put - in an upcoming episode, a flashback of her playing Dungeons and Dragons in college. And I said I never played Dungeons and Dragons in college. Liz Lemon is much more of geek than I ever was. But thank God there is a Geek magazine, or what would I be on the cover of? … I think some people will always like nerds. I think that goes back to Buddy Holly.

How many pairs of glasses do you own?
At home I probably have four or five that I can never find. And sometimes I bring ones home from the set and sort of half of the ones on the set have prescription in them and half of them don’t because they’re just props that we only need sometimes. And I had been wearing them around thinking that they were helping my vision.

Do you ever get to bring your daughter on set?
I do try to bring her sometimes and she likes to come. She likes to hang out in the makeup room … She likes to watch people get their makeup done and then when I come home, she goes "You got makeup? I like your makeup. Who did your eyes?" I think I have a very girlie girl on my hands … But at the same time, it is a busy workplace and I always feel mindful that not everyone gets to bring their kids. We actually at 30 Rock, we also try to do special days where we have parties where everyone can bring their kids. We had a really fun Halloween party for the kids and then we’re trying to have some sort of a spring party.

Is it hard leaving her home?
Well we’re back to work and it’s tough now because my daughter is old enough to say “No. You not go to work today. You not go outside.” So it’s hard for any working parent.