(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Loading ...TINA Fey may not be known in the UK, but in America, she’s recognised as the woman who has everything.
The Golden Globe-winning comedienne is happily married to composer Jeff Richmond, has a two-year-old daughter Alice Zenobia, and her highly-successful career seems to be going only up. On top of that, she’s got the looks to boot.
Multi-talented Tina – she writes scripts, acts and produces – made history as the first female head writer on famed comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live, but left after 10 years to develop her own award-winning show, 30 Rock – loosely based on her experiences on the famous variety series.
The 38-year-old is also expanding into the big screen. She wrote and co-starred in Mean Girls, featuring Lindsay Lohan, and takes a break from writing in this summer’s Baby Mama, in which she stars alongside her ex-Saturday Night Live sidekick Amy Poehler.
In the film Tina plays Kate, an ambitious single businesswoman who finds an unlikely surrogate mother (Amy) to bear her a child.
She explains: “There’s a difference between wanting to prove that you could get pregnant and wanting to be a mother. Kate starts off as this achievement-oriented yuppie who wants to prove that she can get pregnant and then realises what she really wants is to be a mother which is a much more significant thing to want.
“The whole topic is fraught with so much. Then there’s the area of adoption, surrogacy, fertility clinics and the ways of the future to making babies, bringing questions about the ethics and repercussions.”
Following the success of pregnancy-focused comedies like Knocked Up and Juno, Tina says Baby Mama has arrived at the right time.
“I think this is such a loaded topic and an emotional topic. Hopefully, if people have been through something like this in any way, the film might be a relief for them and a way to find humour in the situation,” she says.
“I think the idea of wanting a family and wanting a baby in your life is a universal one, no matter how you arrive at it. But there’s something about big life milestone moments. Moments that are rites of passage always seem to lend themselves to comedy, whether it’s going to your prom, losing your virginity, getting married or having a baby.”
She quips: “We need more dying comedies, comedies about dying.”
Tina’s preparation for the role included remembering her own pre-motherhood feelings.
“It would be hard to imagine,” she readily admits about putting herself in Kate’s shoes.
“I personally got very lucky. I got a baby under the wire – that’s how I like to say it. I was 35 and I know I’m very, very lucky.
“I was able to remember the feelings of mid-30s baby lust that kind of overtakes you and surprises you, and then the fear that it’s not going to work out.”
However, she loves being a mum. “The baby is the only good part. The diapers are not great, the hours are dreadful, they really are. Babies are very cute.”
And Tina was able to give “tips” to co-star Amy, who coincidentally is currently expecting her first child.
“My tips for her were your butt is not big enough. Your butt gets so much bigger when you have a baby,” she says, laughing.
The comic duo met as drama improvisation students in Chicago in 1993, before they teamed up on Saturday Night Live.
“It’s great to work with Amy, because we’ve known each other and worked together so long and we’re very comfortable with improvising together.”
The movie also features Sigourney Weaver and Steve Martin, but Tina’s experience on Saturday Night Live helped her to be relaxed around them.
“It’s crazy!” she says. “We’re really lucky to have Steve and Sigourney.
“But, thankfully, working at Saturday Night Live you do get a little more accustomed to standing next to a giant movie star and find a way to just forget who they are and do the scene with them. It’s a great way to get used to it, otherwise the whole time you’d be freaked out that you’re looking at Ripley from Alien.”
Tina, a rarity in the male-dominated industry, was exposed to comedy at an early age when her parents took her to see Monty Python or Marx Brothers films.
“Then, seeing Saturday Night Live and a show called SCTV (Canadian sketch show, Second City Television), I just wanted to do that. Now it’s a different time, there are more and more female comics.”
She denies that comedians have to have a dark side or be depressed in order to be funny.
“I don’t think it’s the only way. I think sometimes you’re tapping into things that make you angry, or things that embarrass you,” says Tina. “I do think you have to be willing to be ugly or embarrassing at moments, but I think there are also people who are very normal in their lives who are great comedians. I think Jerry Seinfeld is normal, not a tortured soul at all from what I’ve observed. Even Steve Martin is very business-like and hard-working as a comic and isn’t putting his fist through a hotel mirror every night that I know of.”
Next up for the funnywoman is the next season of 30 Rock, as well as a small guest role in Ricky Gervais’ This Side Of The Truth, premiering in September at the Toronto International Film Festival. With her life all in order, Tina is very thankful with how things have worked out.
“A lot of things have gone in my favour,” admits the New Yorker. “30 Rock was shot in New York so I could go home every night, and I could bring my daughter to the set. And because I didn’t write the movie, I would have the weekends off and I would really be off, not writing.
“I work very hard but it’s a dream job. A lot of working parents have to work as many hours as I do at a terrible job, just to function financially. At least I love my job. It’s a luxury.”
Baby Mama is out now, but is it any good? Read the review on Page Four.
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not only as an actress, but as a creative writer, a versatile comedian, and a brilliant producer as well. Ultimately, she became part of the hilarious show 30 Rock that showcases her uproarious antics.
