For students who enjoy spending their Saturday nights sitting in to watch "Saturday Night Live" rather than going out to turn on their freak and kill off their brain cells, they probably fail to realize that a University alum sits behind the "Weekend Update" desk and delivers the "news" to millions of viewers.
Someone graduated from the University, and she didn't have to get her ph.d in medicine or serve the Commonwealth as governor to be recognized. Instead, Tina Fey does something cool. She serves not only as the first female head writer of "SNL," but also as a featured player, and she is one of our very own.
Fey grew up in the suburbs surrounding Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a young woman trying to choose a college, she decided to apply to several schools.
A man working for her father at the time "had gone to UVa., and he loved it so much that he recommended it, so that's when I started looking into it," Fey said. " I read about it and found out what a good school it was, and I ended up deciding to come here before I even visited. When I first came to visit, I was really nervous because I was definitely going here, so I was like 'I hope I like it.' I did, I mean, it's beautiful and everyone is really friendly."
With hopes of someday hearing Don Pardo announce her name at the opening of "SNL," Fey spent most of her time in Culbreth as a drama major.
"Looking back, I realize now that I was in that building all the time. I did a lot of plays there and took playwriting classes," Fey said. "I took all the playwriting classes that Doug Grissom offered, and he was nice and let me take some graduate classes once I had run out of undergraduate courses. Betsy Tucker and Richard Warner were our teachers for acting and directing. I didn't really hang out anywhere other than the drama building."
During the fall following her graduation from the University in 1992, Fey decided to move to Chicago where she enrolled in improvisation classes at The Second City, and eventually at ImprovOlympic as well.
"I became immersed with the improv scene there, and I would take classes at Second City and ImprovOlympic, and when I wasn't in class, I would go and watch other people perform," she said. "I just really became obsessed with it. Improv is huge in Chicago, almost like a cult."
Though she devoted so much of her time to studying improv, Fey also got a day job to pay for her classes. She worked at the counter at the YMCA in Evanston, with long work days beginning at 5:30 a.m. and ending at 2 p.m. After work she would nap and then take the subway back to The Second City for classes, she said.
"I remember when they switched my shift to 7:30 in the morning. That may have been one of the happiest moments of my life," Fey said.
Her ability to handle such an undeniably crazy schedule landed her a spot in Second City's training center. A place in its touring company followed for Fey, and finally, after eight months of touring, she joined its resident company. Though rising quickly through the comedy ranks, Fey found satisfaction in the simple pleasures of her success.
"When I got into the resident company, I remember thinking two things: one, that my name would go on the wall with the list of all the performers, and two, that I would get health insurance," she said.
Fey performed with the mainstage cast for about a year and a half. She then contacted Adam McKay, "SNL" head writer at the time, and asked how to submit sketches to the show.
"Adam told me to try and write sketches that made me laugh, and also to write stuff that dealt with things that were topical in any way," Fey said. "There were five or six pieces no longer than 10 pages each."
Following her submission to the show, McKay and producer Lorne Michaels called Fey in for an interview. The interview was enough in itself to impress Fey.
"It was such a surreal feeling. You walk up to 30 Rockefeller Center which is like this beautiful building. They told me to go up to the elevator bank and tell them I was there to see Lorne Michaels. It was just insanely surreal," Fey said.
Two years later, in 1999, McKay decided he no longer wanted to be the head writer for "SNL." Fey got the position, a promotion that made her the first female head writer in the show's history. For Fey, gender had no relation to work.
"It was an exciting and difficult year being head writer, not really for gender reasons, but rather that I had only been there for two years, and I was probably asked to do it earlier than I ever would have thought," Fey said. "I think it's a hard job regardless. I don't think gender has played into it in any way."
Most likely, the majority of people cannot fathom the amount of work that Fey tackles each week as head writer for "SNL." On Monday, the writers pitch sketch ideas to the host. They may begin writing on Monday, but Tuesday is actually the big writing day.
Everyone goes in to work Tuesday afternoon and writes throughout the night until the next morning. Before going home to sleep for a few hours, each writer is responsible for turning in two sketches. While the writers sleep, production compiles read-through packets consisting of thirty to forty sketches.
On Wednesday, everyone involved in the show from production, to costume, to set design, is present as each sketch is read, a process taking three to four hours. After the read-through, Fey and the producers meet with the host to decide which sketches to work on for the rest of the week.
"We pick ten or twelve sketches, and then Thursday is re-write day. We go through each sketch page by page and line by line to improve them, make cuts, and add jokes. Meanwhile the actors work on blocking (staging) the sketches with the director and the host," Fey said.
Fey uses Thursday evening as the time to start working on Weekend Update. On Friday, she tries to write jokes all day, before the on Saturday-afternoon, run-through of the show with all of the props, she said.
"After a live dress rehearsal at 8 p.m., we cut the show down to time, and Lorne gives the performers notes on all the remaining sketches. That ends around 11 p.m., so we have half an hour to make last minute changes, and then the show's on at 11:30 p.m.," explained Fey.
Though Fey's job as head writer ends as the show opens, she then assumes the role of performer as she steps out from behind the scenes to join co-anchor Jimmy Fallon for Weekend Update. As far as adjusting to being in front of the camera, Fey admits she only likes it okay.
"It's a very lucky spot to have. First of all, you just get to sit there and look right at the camera and the cue cards and read. Also, it's the only spot on the show where you're guaranteed you'll be on. I want to keep doing Weekend Update as long as it's fun, but I want to keep writing probably more than I want to be in sketches," Fey said. "The feeling of having a sketch go well, even at just a read-through, is such a different kind of reward than performing, so I still kind of crave that feeling. The writer's job is actually the cooler job, in secret. It's more fun I think."
In the end, after all the sketches are finished, and the host has thanked everyone for such a great week, Fey lines up with the rest of the cast to wave goodnight.
"It was always one of my favorite parts of the show to see who's talking to who, and I always tried to read a lot into the goodnights as a fan of the show," said Fey.
Now a featured player, Fey still likes the goodnights.
"It's a small thing, but I think it's something that everyone remembers"
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