PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE

What is your favorite journey? 

Tina Fey Pulling up to my parents’ house for Christmas. Just pulling up, though
—not the whole drive.

What is your most treasured possession? 

A photo of my parents walking around the Acropolis circa 1965. They
look like a poster for Two for the Road.

What do you consider the most overrated virtue? 

Natural childbirth.

On what occasion do you lie? 

During press junkets for movies.

Which living person do you most despise? 

Osama bin Laden. Unless we think he’s dead by now, in which case
that guy who holds up the GOD HATES FAGS sign.

What or who is the greatest love of your life? 

Jeff and Alice Richmond equally, but only because they look exactly
alike.

When and where were you happiest? 

Anywhere, during the 2 to 24 hours after a successful joke.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? 
I would get 30 hours a day when everyone else gets 24.

What do you consider your greatest achievement? 

Providing 200 people with a nice place to work.
What is your current state of mind?  If you could change one thing about your family, what would it be? 
On the verge of nervous exhaustion, but only for the last seven years. My husband and I would work less and my daughter would sleep more.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?  What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? 
A glass of wine at sunset on Fire Island. / No homework. September 12, 2001.
What is your greatest fear?  What is your favorite occupation? 
Child, loss or damage thereof. Being between jobs but having a good one lined up in about a month or
so.
Which historical figure do you most identify with? 
Catherine the Great’s horse. What is your most marked characteristic? 
Obedience and a long nose. (I might be a collie.)
Which living person do you most admire? 
Cathy Rigby. She was really good in that stage version of Peter Who is your favorite hero of fiction? 
Pan. No joke. Veruca Salt, Francie Nolan, Miss Havisham. That’s me in a nutshell,
actually.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? 
Procrastination. How would you like to die? 
I would like to drop dead while introducing the “In Memoriam” clip
What is the trait you most deplore in others?  package at the Emmys … on my 10,000th birthday.
People who are proud of their ignorance.
What is your motto? 
What is it that you most dislike?  “Stop reaching for the stars!”
People who mock education as elitist.

What is your greatest extravagance? 

Living in New York City.

What do you most value in your friends? 

A willingness to come uptown.