My Weekend Crush

You didn’t think my Fake TV/Movie Wife Tina Fey would be the subject of a whole-hour long interview and I wasn’t going to write about it, right? Whew, good, I thought we knew each other well enough by now. So my Tina went on David Letterman’s new Netflix show, “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction” earlier this month. I’ve finally had a chance to watch (and catch her season-closing SNL hosting gig) and I’ve now had my requisite Tina fix and feel amazing.

Two things really stood out for me in her interview with Dave. And they were both gentle yet firm and unmistakable rebukes of his worldview. The first, which has been written about a lot, is how she shut him down on his praise of her SNL Charlottesville/Sheet Cake sketch.

At the time, I like many people really loved and commiserated with its message. This fucking Nazi shit is so infuriating we all just want to scream into a sheet cake and hope it goes away. But, of course, the problem with that is evil doesn’t just slink off if you pay it no mind. In fact evil grows in the darkness, and now in broad daylight as well, fueled by an administration that that insists there are good people on both sides of the “Nazis versus Non-Nazis”-debate.

So in this interview Tina fully addressed the subsequent controversy over her sketch and admits its errors. In short, she chunked it. But then Dave doubles down on his praise and attempts to show himself the arbiter of all that is funny and needs no apology. But, again, Tina isn’t having it. Politely, but clearly. She admits her mistake and says those – like Dave – who don’t see its errors are also mistaken.



Earlier in the interview, she had a more subtle moment of pushback against Dave again. He brings up the topic of women in comedy and the lack of female comedy writers on late night television. And believe it or not he tries to “aw shucks” his way through his systematic exclusion of female writers.

Dave: I know this is a topic you don’t like talking about and it’s a topic without an answer, but women in comedy. And I know you’ve been very generous to women, in correcting an oversight. Now, when I had a television show, people would always say to me — I would do an interview with something somewhere, and they would say, “Why didn’t you, why don’t you have women writers?” And the best I could come up with was, “I don’t know.”

Tina: Yeah.

Dave: I didn’t know why there weren’t women writers. I don’t know. There was no policy against women writers.

Tina: Right.

Dave: And I always thought, “Well, geez, if I was a woman I’m not sure I would want to write on my little nickel-and-dime dog-and-pony show anyway cause we’re on at 12:30.”

Tina: Yeah, we do want to write on it, though.

Dave: Yeah. But that is my ignorance. And I feel bad for that, and it’s changing. Has changed.

Like I said, it’s subtle but it’s there. Ah, Tina, thank you for always being you. And also thank you for bringing back old Sarah P. once more, with feeling.



Happy Tina watching weekend, all.