Emmy award-winning actress, comedian, writer and producer and University of Virginia alumna Elizabeth Stamatina “Tina” Fey hopped in the big red chair that is familiar to the University of Virginia President’s Speaker Series for the Arts at John Paul Jones Arena on Sunday afternoon.
Fey is best known for her role as head writer and costar of Saturday Night Life as well as co-star and co-writer of the hit sitcom, which earned 16 Emmys and holds the record for most Emmy nominations in one season for any comedy series. She received 103 Emmy nominations over seven seasons on NBC.
As a woman in comedy, Fey recalled a period of time when she was almost always the only woman in the room.
Today, she said she’s grateful that social media has grown the once-small group of comedians who make it to the big screen.
“People can make their own content and, for once, there are fewer barriers to saying what you want to say,” Fey told UVa President Jim Ryan and the audience that packed the arena. “You don’t have to necessarily get hired by a bunch of men to just get on the screen and make content.
While the group of comedic actresses is relatively small compared to actors, Fey said she is grateful to call trailblazers like Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph Rachel Dratch her friends.
When Ryan asked what entertainers and creators could do to close the divide, Fey replied: “it’s in the hiring.”
“You just have to keep changing the chemistry of the roomthe whole room, Fey said. “SNL eventually had a female director when I got there and a female stage manager and eventually more and more female writers, and I think they’ve worked also to increase other kinds of diversity. I know they have, and I always say there’s nothing worse than like a bunch of white people in a room definitely like this.”
Fey said that, in addition continuing to pursue her higher education, she is excited to experiment with non-musical playwrighting and directing in this stage of her career.
In spite of her numerous accolades, Fey said that her oldest daughter keeps her humble with reminders that she is “well-known” and not famous.
After being in the public eye for nearly three decades, Fey still refuses to make a Twitter account.
“Obviously I don’t have any critics and all the emails in my inbox are telling me I’m doing a good job,” Ryan said before the audience erupted in laughter.
Fey told Ryan that, while she easily dismissed the Twitter critics, she believes everyone should take constructive criticism that may make their work better “for the world or for people in general.”
On the topic of criticism and accolades, Fey said that awards are “made up” and hold limited weight in the value she places on her skills and career, even though Emmy nominations helped keep alive beyond the first season.
“They’re equally meaningful and that they’re all equally nonsense right,” Fey said. “So that to a certain degree, pretty much all awards except for the Nobel Peace Prize, are a club…So you can’t like hinge your whole life to them. Now, of course, what it meant for us in the beginning of the third year… it was an absolute lifeline because we would have definitely been canceled. And so I do think that they helped those shows that I worked on stay on the air.”
The afternoon event wrapped with video recordings from UVa students and community members who appeared on the jumbotron for the whole arena to see.
“Can you share any of your embarrassing moments at UVa,” one recent graduate asked.
One story about a love interest’s rejection and the whole room suddenly had something in common with Tina Fey and second-hand embarrassment.
Presented by UVa Arts and the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, the event was the first since Broadway star Leslie Odom Jr. stopped by the arena in 2019.