Tina Fey reflected on Saturday Night Live’s politics over the weekend, revealing that she regrets some of her own takes on the show.
“There’s jokes that I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, I was on the wrong side of that,’” Fey said during an appearance on Saturday at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for History Talks’ event, according to Deadline. Fey joined the show as a writer in 1997, became head writer in 1999, and became a cast member in 2000. Though she strove to be “fair,” Fey admitted that she missed the mark at times.
“We always worked really hard to make sure that we felt like they were what we would call ‘a fair hit,’” she explained. “And I think part of that is, one, we knew we would get in trouble if it was wrong or random, but also because it sort of only felt like it would work if it was kind of based in something that was true.”
Still, as times have changed, Fey said she might have done some things differently. “I mean, I’ve made jokes, but also, I was pretty dumb,” she said, “and not much better now.”
Fey didn’t specify which jokes she felt were on the “wrong side,” but her recurring impersonation of Sarah Palin for six weeks during the 2008 election cycle was one that received both praise and criticism. She said those sketches, which she wrote with Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers, were above board. She won the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for the role in 2009.
She also pushed back on the idea that the show intends to influence viewers’ opinions: “Sometimes, people will ask me or ask others, ‘Does SNL try to control the narrative and politics?’ And they really do not. And also, you really can’t. If it’s not true, it will not be funny.”
The comedy icon said she found SNL’s proximity to the news “thrilling and almost scary,” she said, as she recalled feeling the pressure of “this idea that something you say will be heard by a person in charge.”
Responding to major events from that vantage point is tricky, she explained. “I started there in 1997, and I was there when we had to come back for the first show after September 11 and try to figure out what that show could be,” she said. “I think I was around but upstairs the day that President Bush came by to meet Will Ferrell. I was there when there was anthrax in the building.”
She concluded, “The longer I was there, I realized that the show’s relationship to current events, it became a thinner and thinner veil.”
As the shadow of show boss Lorne Michaels’ retirement looms, Fey is often touted as one of the top contenders to take over the show. In January 2024, Michaels said himself that it “could easily be Tina Fey” who takes over for him. He’s stayed otherwise mum on the topic. Fey responded by calling the vote of confidence “very nice,” but said her former boss was “irreplaceable.”
