Saturday Night Live

Badass Writer of the Week: Tina Fey

Liz Lemon, Tina Fey’s “30 Rock” alter ego, not talking to Oprah.

Liz Lemon, Tina Fey’s “30 Rock” alter ego, not talking to Oprah.

“Be yourself. No one else can be you.”—Tina Fey

By Sean Tuohy

Tina Fey is our queen. 

We’ve all known it for a while, but now it’s time to accept it in our hearts;  Fey is here to reign over us.

A “Star Wars” nerd, a writer and author, and a hell of a comedian, Fey has proved beyond a doubt she has serious chops. She was the first female head writer on “Saturday Night Live,” she landed her own primetime television series on NBC (which became a beloved classic), starred in blockbuster films, and wrote a best-selling memoir.

The Bossypants scribe was born to be a comedy writer. At an early age, she soaked in late night sketch television, “Ghostbusters,” and cartoons. After college, Fey made her way out to Chicago to become part of The Second City comedy troupe. Making it to that comedy club is like being tapped to lead SEAL Team Six. Fey then moved on to the mecca of sketch comedy: “Saturday Night Live.”

Fey started out as a behind-the-scenes writer, never planning to make her way on screen. Producers quickly saw that Fey was meant for the camera and she became a regular player.  In 2004, she became the first female head writer of “SNL” and wrote and produced the iconic “Mean Girls.” Fey also created backstories for all of the characters in the movie, none of which were presented to audiences, just in case an actor had a question. 

Let’s be honest who doesn’t love “Mean Girls?” Right, Dan? Dan… (Daniel Ford: I’ve sadly never seen it, but I date someone that can recite lines from the film with ease.)

Two years later, Fey gifted“30 Rock” to the world. A show within a show! Fey played overworked Liz Lemon who tried each week to produce a live sketch show while trying to have a love life and be a nerd at the same time.

She also gave us tools something to say whenever we want to quit whatever soul-sucking job we're suffer through in order to pay rent, buy food, etc.: #shutitdown

Fey also wrote a hilarious memoir titled Bossypants in 2011. The book dominated The New York Times best-seller list for weeks and has sold more than one million copies in the United States. Her childhood was scarring, but charming and filled with angst, confusion, bad haircuts, and sweating, proving yet again that there is hope for us mere mortals.

After “30 Rock” ended, Fey starred in several blockbuster comedies including “Admission,” ”Muppets Most Wanted,” and “This Is Where I Leave You.” However, she returned to the small screen in 2015 as writer and producer of “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmit,” which has garnered high ratings and much love from critics and viewers alike. The show has also burrowed its theme song deep into our brains.    

There appears to be no limit to what Fey can do, but I’m really hoping she ends up starring as a Jedi in the new “Star Wars” films. 

BADASS WRITERS OF THE WEEK ARCHIVE

Badass Writer of the Week: Conan O'Brien

Conan O'Brien

Conan O'Brien

By Sean Tuohy and Daniel Ford

Tall, lanky, self-deprecating, and the red-haired beacon of late night, Conan O'Brien is a household name for his whacky off-the-wall TBS comedy show.

O’Brien has been making late night stoners pee their pants and given college co-eds something to be pretentious about for nearly 20 years, but started out as a humble comedy writer. He was born in Boston to a lawyer and a doctor and went to Harvard like any good lad with a proper, erudite upbringing. But instead of rubbing elbows and earning gentleman Cs, the red-headed prankster made a name for himself by pulling off several high-profile pranks, including stealing Burt Ward's Robin costume, and becoming the head writer for National Lampoon.

After college, O'Brien received his first writing gig on a little show that’s about to celebrate its 40th anniversary. It was at “Saturday Night Live” that O'Brien's love for comedy and writing came together. O'Brien was even showcased in a couple of skits early on in his career. He was naked in one of them!

His work on “SNL” landed him a job on a new cartoon show. Oh, you want to know which show? “The Simpsons.” Yeah, the show that FXX is currently broadcasting all 552 (!) episodes of and that is showing no signs of being culturally irrelevant anytime soon. It was with everyone’s favorite yellow-skinned family that O’Brien would stamp his presence on pop culture forever.

"Marge vs. the Monorail" premiered during the show’s fourth season and featured with a slick con man selling the town of Springfield on the idea of building a monorail. How did he do this? Singing and dancing! Who wrote it? Sean did. Wait, that’s not the right answer. That’s what Sean tells his dinner guests. It was Conan O’Brien of course!

And the rest is history....

What? It's not. Shit. Okay, well, um, I guess we'll skip through the rest of this. O'Brien became the host of the "Late Night" after David Lettermen left for CBS to torture Jay Leno. He did this job for 16 years (Oh, yeah, Louis CK worked on the show as a writer. Even more badassery for your buck!)

He then became the host of "The Tonight Show" until Jay Leno pulled a reverse Fredo and convinced NBC his chin could continue dryly reading jokes for another billion years, and sent our fair-skinned badass packing.

Smart and talented people don’t stay down long though. O’Brien licked his wounds, formed Team Coco, started a new late night show on TBS, and won Twitter.

I hope I never discover a genie when I’m really hungry, tired, or unhappy with my cell phone reception.
— Conan O'Brien (@ConanOBrien) August 27, 2014
"Nothing like that's ever been attempted before, and probably never will be again." - #Conan#Scrapisodehttp://t.co/yA8D8hdyFI
— Team Coco (@TeamCoco) August 22, 2014

There! Done!

BADASS WRITERS OF THE WEEK ARCHIVE