Maxwell Scher

Women & Film—Kozloff

Final Essay
12.13.06
Fey Knows Funny:

The Struggles and Successes of a Woman in Comedy

While one might like to believe that more women have begun to populate the

entertainment landscape within the last twenty years, film and television remain overwhelmingly

male-dominated industries. Despite the absence of some miraculously substantial influx of

talented female writers, directors, or editors into the playing field, there have been few cases of

strong, creative women achieving significant success and renown in the entertainment industry.

Of these few noteworthy women, Tina Fey deserves specific attention. Tina Fey is the first head

writer for NBC’s late night variety show Saturday Night Live, she wrote and starred in her

feature-length film Mean Girls, and she is currently writing, producing, and starring in her new

hit primetime television show 30 Rock. If we are to truly explore the nature of a woman’s role in

film and television, we must look to Fey’s example, as it perfectly illuminates the complexities

and anxieties of such a position. In both her writing and performances, Fey’s humor is often

self-effacing, satirical, and vicious. Despite the sharpness of her wit, Fey’s jokes often express

the anxieties and insecurities inherent in being one of very few women in the business. The self-

conscious nature of her humor allows her to push the envelope just enough to be provocative

without appearing didactic.

However, in utilizing comedy as a venue for her work, Fey both frees and limits herself.

While comedy provides room for artists to be slightly radical, audiences take comic writers less

seriously than they would non-fiction writers. Interestingly enough, narrative comedy has
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historically proven to be particularly accessible for female writers primarily because of its

history as a genre. Unlike tragedy, comedy has received little scholarly attention, and the issues

raised in comedic films have been given much less credibility as a result. In The Unruly Woman,

Kathleen Rowe writes, “Like melodrama, comedy is more often confined to the realm of

amusement than to that of art because of its popular accessibility and its connections with gossip,

intrigue, and the everyday, areas of culture tied to the feminine” (Rowe 1995, 100).i The

traditionally “feminine” nature of narrative comedy, therefore, lends itself well to accepting the

work of women screenwriters. In other words, Fey takes advantage of this opportunity, using

humor in both television and film to explore issues of femininity and womanhood.

With this in mind, one must understand that any progressive steps taken by Fey may be

easily dismissed simply because they are cloaked in a joke. One must also understand that Fey,

as educated and subversive as her humor may be, is a woman struggling to identify and express

herself in a male-dominated industry; unfortunately, she has been—at least partially—colonized

by the patriarchy. Fey’s success, however, illustrates the opportunity for women to express their

insecurities and anxieties about femininity and womanhood in a patriarchal context. While Fey’s

self-effacing humor might seem to dismiss important women’s issues as irrelevant, her struggle

for a healthy balance between the role of progressive female writer and caustic scream queen

exemplifies the unsteady ground on which female professionals tread within the film and

television business.

Born in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania (a suburb of Philadelphia) in 1970, Tina Fey led a

mostly happy childhood—though her high school experiences, typical to those of most teenagers,

were less than amazing. Perhaps too intelligent for her own good, Fey felt alienated from her
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peers, and often she would criticize them for their deplorable behavior. In an article in The New

Yorker, Virginia Hefferman writes, [S]he used to ridicule wayward classmates, reserving

particular scorn for kids who drank, cut school, overdressed, or slept around” (Hefferman 2003,

4).ii She also wrote a column for her school newspaper entitled “The Colonel.” At the

University of Virginia, Fey considered herself a drama geek, continuously performing in various

theatrical productions.

After graduating, Fey moved to Chicago where she worked part time at a local Y.M.C.A.

until she landed a spot at the Second City Theater, whose alumnae include many comic legends

like Gilda Radner, John Candy, and Dan Akroyd. At Second City, Fey developed her

improvisational skills, which have greatly influenced her view of comedy; she feels that comedy

like any other creative process thrives off collaboration. She expressed this opinion, concerning

SNL, to New York Times journalist Alex Witchel who translates, “[C]omedy is anarchy, and

virtually every cast member is a writer for the show as well” (Witchel 2001, 11).iii In 1997, after

a few years working at Second City, Adam McKay (a former Second City player, working as

head writer for SNL at the time) encouraged Fey to send a few of her scripts to Lorne Michaels,

Executive Producer of SNL. Michaels liked her work and offered her a job on the writing staff,

which Fey accepted.

Two years later, Fey was promoted to be SNL’s first female head writer ever. With Fey

at the helm, SNL received 2001’s Writer’s Guild Award for “Saturday Night Live: The 25th

Anniversary Special,” 2002’s Emmy for outstanding writing, and in 2003 SNL attracted more

viewers than any other late-night show, including those of Letterman and Leno.iv Soon, Fey

began performing as co-anchor on the SNL’s standard “Weekend Update” sketch alongside
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Jimmy Fallon, becoming the first woman to ever host “Weekend Update.” Once Fallon left the

show, Fey was joined by fellow Second City alum Amy Poehler. Though initial ratings were

low, fans of the sketch enjoyed the laid-back camaraderie between Fey and Poehler, and the

partnership continued until Fey ended her tenure at SNL at the end of the 2005-6 season. During

her last year with SNL, Fey had a child—Alice—with her husband Jeff Richmond. However,

Fey left SNL not to become a full-time mom, but to work, produce, and star in her own

primetime comedy called 30 Rock. Premised on a behind-the-scenes look at a late night variety

show called “The Girlie Show” (very similar to SNL) and co-starring Tracy Morgan and Alec

Baldwin, the show has achieved immense critical success. In 2009, the show received a record

breaking 22 primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning 5 including Best Comedy Series and

Best Actor in a Comedy Series.

While many women have experienced a great deal of difficulty making a name for

themselves in this business, Fey has never publicly expressed having experienced any

discrimination on the basis of her gender. USA Today quoted Fey discussing sexism and SNL

saying, “I don’t doubt that women have had a hard time here in the past, but people here are

pretty evolved at this point. It’s not that we’re outnumbered; there’s still a lot more men than

women on the writing staff. Things change slowly” (Levin 2001, 4D).v Clearly, Fey has not

been so socialized by the patriarchy that she has become ignorant to the prevalence of sexism,

and she is most definitely aware of her male-dominated surroundings.

Former SNL cast member Julia Sweeney, famous for her sketch “Pat,” remembers the

working atmosphere as less than equitable. Sweeney has been quoted suggesting that “[I]n TV

sketch comedy, women ‘were almost accused of having a victim ‘agenda’ if they brought out
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scenes that addressed sexism’” (Burleigh 2004, 3).vi Janeane Garofalo has also spoken out

against the “frat-house hoo-ha” typical of SNL; Garofalo worked briefly as a cast member, but

left after one year, characterizing the show’s staff as chauvinistic.vii Interestingly enough,

Garofalo has taken note of Fey’s presence on the show, and admits she is impressed by the

reforms that have taken place. She says, “I’m assuming somebody has come in and done an

exorcism” (Hefferman 2003, 1).viii While Fey may not publicly address the issue of sexism

without going for a laugh, she clearly acknowledges its presence in her humor and gives it a solid

punch in the face. For instance, she criticizes Rudy Giuliani’s right-wing conservatism on

“Weekend Update” by announcing, “New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is once again expressing

outrage at an art exhibit, this time at a painting in which Jesus is depicted as a naked woman.

Said the mayor, “This trash is not the sort of thing I want to look at when I go to the museum

with my mistress” (SNL Transcripts 2001, 1).ix While Fey’s intention might not be to validate

the feminist artwork, her clever discrediting of Giuliani indirectly allows for said validation.

Once she joined the writers at SNL, Fey aggressively pursued gender issues in her

sketches. The New Yorker Journalist Hefferman notes,

Gender has been Fey’s ace since she arrived at “S.N.L.”—one recent sketch dramatized
the barbarism of bikini waxing, and another cast Barbie as a fading beauty living with a
gay man in Southern California—and she has spoofed stereotypes of women while taking
on formerly neglected subjects, such as infertility, sexual abuse, and plastic surgery
(Hefferman 2003, 5).x

Her drawing of attention to issues that primarily concern women has not lost the show viewers.

Instead, ratings have increased and the show has won several awards under her watch. This type

of active leadership also distinguishes Fey from other successful women in the business. While

working at SNL, other cast members would often look to Fey on a joke’s funniness. Fey’s
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“Weekend Update” co-anchor Jimmy Fallon informed a journalist, “If she laughs, everyone’s

laughing” (Hefferman 2003, 3).xi

In addition to her droll wit, Fey’s vulgarity plays a large role in her comedy. Hefferman

writes, “Although Fey is credited with bringing moral authority to the set... she has also made

the show more lewd... And since she became the show’s head writer the words ‘whore’ and

‘bitch’ have flourished on the show” (Hefferman 2003, 6).xii While one might feel Fey may be

taking steps in the wrong direction, her ironic use of these words serves to re-appropriate this

demeaning language as a means to throw it back in the face of the patriarchal establishment.

After the invasion of Afghanistan, Fey announced on “Weekend Update,” “For the first time in

more than two years, women took off their veils and walked freely in the streets. Those whores”

(Hefferman 2003, 6).xiii With this joke, Fey takes on the persona of an ignorant white chauvinist,

to illustrate the ridiculous cultural pressures placed upon women not only in the US, but also

abroad. Fey’s reconstitution of the word ‘whore,’ brilliantly mocks the patriarchy, insisting that

men don’t own this word, women do. Furthermore, she suggests women can use the word in

more meaningful and complex ways.

On SNL’s “Weekend Update,” one can see that Fey gives a great deal of time and comic

energy to sexism. Clearly the issue is important to her as a woman in comedy. Interestingly

enough, however, some have been skeptical of Fey’s motives. Hefferman writes, “When a male

staff member asked Fey... if her sketches were ‘anti-woman,’ she told him that the show’s

business was to make fun of people, and if it didn’t make fun of women the female performers

would have no parts to play” (Hefferman 2003, 6).xiv Though her comment seems problematic,

we must remember that her “making fun of women” satirizes societal assumptions and
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conventions about femininity. By writing sketches that attack phenomena like bikini waxing and

Barbie-doll physique, Fey expresses collective anxieties about societal notions of femininity. In

doing so, she creates more acting opportunities for women, and mocks the patriarchy’s

assumptions about womanhood.

While her humor is ruthlessly witty, Fey unfortunately fails to take on the issue of sexism

outside the comic realm. When asked about the lack of women in powerful positions at SNL,

Fey replies, “I don’t think it was anything intentional... There have always been more men cast

members than women. Overall, there was never a heavy rotation of head writers during the

show’s history” (D’Alessandro 2000, A14).xv Here, Fey misses the point. Why have there

always been more male cast members than women? Perhaps, further underneath the surface of

SNL’s glossy exterior lies a less egalitarian ideology.

Often, when Fey appears on television as herself, without the clever schoolmarm façade

she utilizes on “Weekend Update,” her humor becomes somewhat less transgressive and more

self-effacing. When Fey appeared as a guest on “The Late Show with David Letterman,”

Letterman asked Fey if her husband was the primary caregiver for their child since she seemed to

be working so much.1 Fey replied that her husband works all the time as well. She jokes, “The

Child is given no care... No, she’s given lovely care. She’s going to be a beautiful, well-raised,

young Jamaican woman. [Laughs] She’s got a wonderful, wonderful caregiver” (Abelson &

Foley 2006).xvi Here, Fey’s comedy continues to express the anxieties of femininity, specifically

motherhood. The stress felt by working mothers can be overwhelming; we can understand that

1 Fey appeared on “The Late Show” to promote her new television series “30 Rock,” for which
she serves as the head writer, producer, and star. Letterman spent seven and a half minutes (of
an eight minute interview) asking Fey about her baby, husband, and new home. For the last
thirty seconds of the show, he asked her three questions—at most—about “30 Rock.”
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Fey would like to spend more time with her daughter, but we can also infer that she will not

compromise her career to do so. Her husband is not forced to choose between the two; why

should she?

After spending a good deal of time with SNL, Fey took on her greatest challenge to date:

a feature-length film. While most features created by SNL talent are based off a sketch character,

Fey’s Mean Girls was not; she based her screenplay on a book by Rosalind Wiseman entitled,

“Queen Bees & Wannabees: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends and

Other Realities of Adolescence.” The film follows Cady (Lindsay Lohan) who, after having

lived with her zoologist parents in the African bush country her whole life, enrolls in public high

school to discover that it is just as much—if not more—of a jungle than Africa was. In this

setting, Fey uncovers the nastiness with which girls treat each other and compete with each

other. She says, “The whole subject matter just interested me because I think some of those

things that girls do to each other is sort of hilarious – even though it’s painful for the girls who

go through it... that girls somehow at a certain age know how to screw with each other... It all

rang true to me” (Rowe 2004, 1).xvii In the film, Cady quickly befriends Janice Ian, an eccentric

art student not well liked by the popular kids. One day, Cady stumbles upon three girls who are

known as “the plastics” for their superficiality. Regina, leader of “the plastics,” invites Cady to

sit with them, informing her that to sit with the plastics is an honor. Janice convinces Cady to

continue to sit with Regina so that she can relay all the silly, embarrassing things about Regina

back to her. After a while, Cady forgets this is a game, and quickly develops her own “plastic”

attitude, jeopardizing her friendship with Janice, her relationship with her family, and her own

academic integrity.
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In her film, Fey takes us through a world of gossip and calculated cruelty, where “if

you’re weak, you’ll just get eaten alive.”xviii Fey brilliantly illuminates the complexities of a

teenage girl’s life in high school; in a jungle of exclusive cliques and social rules for girls2, we

struggle with Cady as she attempts to identify herself. However, what distinguishes Fey’s film

from other cookie-cutter teen comedies lies in its ending. At the end of the film, Ms. Norbury

the math teacher, played by Fey, gathers all the high school girls into the gymnasium for

something of an intervention: “an attitude makeover.” In this scene the girls are encouraged to

confront each other face to face about things that were bothering them, allowing them to express

their anger in a healthy way, as opposed to spreading rumors about so and so sleeping around. In

this scene Fey asserts, “You girls have got to stop calling each other sluts and whores. It just

makes it okay for guys to call you sluts and whores.” Many have argued that the film’s efforts to

end the girl-on-girl cruelty common in high school make it a valuable, progressive product of

popular culture. Stephen Witty of The Houston Chronicle writes, “Mean Girls has a strong

subtext of female solidarity and a message about accepting yourself for who you are instead of

who someone says you should be. It’s got barf jokes. But it has feminism, too. ‘Yes, I’m

always trying to mix the two,’ Fey says” (Whitty 2004, 10).xix Clearly, Fey means to expose the

manipulative, calculating nature of female teenage life, and suggest a possible transformation.

By the end of the film, the social hierarchy that used to exist has been eliminated, but it has most

definitely not been forgotten. In fact, Cady’s closing remarks suggest that all the girls at her high

school have made an unspoken agreement to keep the peace, and ensure the maintenance of said

peace in the future. With its ending, the film takes a huge step forward in promoting more unity

2For example, the plastics tell Cady that on Wednesdays you can only wear pink, and you’re
only allowed to wear your hair in a ponytail once a week.
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amongst all women and eliminating unnecessary antagonism and hostility between girls.

With Mean Girls, Fey has brilliantly adapted a book originally intended for parents into a

social message for young girls. By selecting young girls as her target audience, Fey intelligently

directs the film’s message towards its appropriate audience. Also, the utilization of comedy

makes the film’s message all the more accessible to its young audience. Fourteen to eighteen

year old girls are far more likely to go see a movie about high school than a film about parents

dealing with their children’s social strife.

However, some feel that the movie, despite its good intentions fails to cause any social

change. Wesley Morris writes, “It’s great that the movie wants to stop the cycle of hate among

teenage females, but, like a Band-Aid on a deep wound, “Mean Girls” seems inadequately

equipped to stem the damage. If there’s a problem with the movie, it’s that the healing rarely

feels as good or is as convincing as the hurting” (Morris 2004, C1).xx Despite Fey’s great efforts

and the film’s commercial success, Mean Girls has not had a monumental influence on society.

Perhaps the film falls short where many before it have fallen; in an attempt to provide a solution

to the struggle between female solidarity and strong female independence, Mean Girls struggles

in its illustration of such a solution. In her book In The Company of Women, Karen Hollinger

discusses this flaw common to most female friendship movies. She writes,

Although they emphasize women’s needs for both autonomy and relatedness, they have
great difficulty envisioning the exact nature of the autonomy they advocate. As a result
they end up concluding with images that are emblematic of female liberation rather than
providing substantive suggestions for how this liberation might come about or where it
might lead (Hollinger 1998, 105).xxi

If Mean Girls fails in any way, here Hollinger pinpoints the way in which it does. Fey’s

screenplay clearly expresses the anxieties and insecurities of femininity in a patriarchal context,
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but it struggles to propose a solution. Despite its shaky attempt at a sense of resolve, the film’s

placement of progressive thought into the minds of impressionable young girls must be

recognized as a step in the right direction.

For all of her progressive humor, Fey still falls victim to the patriarchal pressures exerted

upon all women, concerning physical appearance and social behavior. When she began

appearing on camera for SNL, Fey’s self-consciousness got the best of her. Hefferman writes,

“Fey goes out with the cast after the show, but she is self-conscious at parties and careful not to

embarrass herself. She’s meticulous about her diet, too. She lost thirty pounds in the year before

she went on camera for “Weekend Update,” and she now works out with a trainer and counts the

point value of each meal according to the Weight Watchers system” (Hefferman 2003, 7).xxii

From this personal anecdote, we can see that even a successful radical like Fey feels the same

insecurities that many women feel about their bodies. While some might suggest that Fey has

failed in her quest against the patriarchy, some would be remiss to neglect her accomplishments.

By her own example, Fey shows us that no woman lives completely unburdened by the pressures

of the patriarchy, and her success in comedy illustrates the opportunity for women to express

their frustrations and succeed in spite of them.

In conclusion, we must recognize Tina Fey’s achievement of critical acclaim by utilizing

comedy to draw the attention of film and television audiences to relevant women’s issues. While

the number of women working creatively in the entertainment industry has remained small,

success stories like that of Tina Fey pave the way for more and more future female professionals.

Additionally, Fey’s use of comedy as a mode of expression may allow for a temporary dismissal

of the issues she brings to light, but her humor also increases her appeal and accessibility,
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widening her audiences exponentially. Though her self-effacing style may initially seem

problematic by dismissing the validity of the issue at hand, her delivery is ironic on purpose.

Fey understands that today’s audiences would be turned off by a militant feminist ranting about

poor representations of women in the media. Instead, she mocks cultural notions of femininity

through satire. While Fey does not solve problems of sexism single-handedly, her provocative

humor works towards progressive ends, planting the seeds for a more equitable society in the

minds of Hollywood and network television audiences.

i Rowe, Kathleen. The Unruly Woman. Texas: The University of Texas Press, 1995.
ii Hefferman, Virginia. “Anchor Woman.” The New Yorker, 03 November 2003, 1-8.
iii Witchel, Alex. “‘Update’ Anchor: The Brains Behind Herself.” The New York Times, 25 November

2001, 9-12.
iv Hefferman, Virginia. “Anchor Woman.” The New Yorker, 03 November 2003, 1-8.

v Levin, Gary. “Fey Makes Way In Funnyman’s World.” USA Today, 08 February 2001, 4D.

vi Burleigh, Nina. “Women’s Humor IS Different...” Ms. Magazine, Summer 2004, 1-4.

vii Witchel, Alex. “‘Update’ Anchor: The Brains Behind Herself.” The New York Times, 25 November

2001, 9-12.
viii Hefferman, Virginia. “Anchor Woman.” The New Yorker, 03 November 2003, 1-8.

ix Saturday Night Live Transcripts. “Season 26, Episode 12—Weekend Update With Jimmy Fallon &

Tina Fey, 02/17/01.” Available from http://snltranscripts.jt.org/00/00lupdate.phtml. Internet; accessed

12 December 2006.
x Hefferman, Virginia. “Anchor Woman.” The New Yorker, 03 November 2003, 1-8.

xi Ibid, pg. 3

xii Ibid, pg. 6

xiii Ibid, pg. 6

xiv Hefferman, Virginia. “Anchor Woman.” The New Yorker, 03 November 2003, 1-8.

xv D’Alessandro, Anthony. “ ‘SNL’ scribe graduates from behind the scenes to on-camera, stage roles.”

Daily Variety, 29 November 2000, A14.

xvi Abelson, G. (Writer) and Foley, J. (Director). (2006) “Tina Fey; The Killers; Mike Golic & Mike

Greenberg.” [Television Series Episode] D. Letterman (Producer), The Late Show with David
Letterman. United States, CBS.
xvii Rowe, Douglas J. “‘Genetically’ funny Tina Fey of ‘SNL’ makes screenwriting debut with ‘Mean

Girls.’” The Associated Press, 26 April 2004, BC Cycle.

xviii Mean Girls. “Featurette: Only The Strong Survive.” Produced by Eric Young. 96 min. Paramount

Pictures, 2004. DVD.

xix Whitty, Stephen. “Tina Fey’s on a ‘Mean’ streak; Standout ‘SNL’ actor, writer pends her first film –

about self-acceptance.” The Houston Chronicle – Sunday 2 Star Edition, 02 May 2004, 10.
xx Morris, Wesley. “Sugar and Spite: Screenwriter Tina Fey’s Clique Wit is Evident in ‘Mean Girls,’

An Entertaining Study of Teen Culture.

xxi Hollinger, Karen. In The Company of Women: Contemporary Female Friendship Films. Minnesota:

University of Minnesota Press, 1998.

xxii Hefferman, Virginia. “Anchor Woman.” The New Yorker, 03 November 2003, 1-8.