Tina Fey Deserves the Limelight

Tina Fey is in the nation's limelight due to her carbon-copy impression of the GOP's VP candidate Sarah Palin. It's amazing to hear John McCain have to field questions about Tina Fey. Tina deserves the attention despite her sudden launch into the foreground. She is a skilled performer, writer, and now impressionist with a Dana Carvey magnitude.

Even through some rough years this decade of Saturday Night Live, Tina Fey was the star on the show and behind the scenes as the show's first female head writer. Everyone looked forward to the Weekend Update segment that Chevy Chase made so famous in 1975. Update is where we met Tina and got to see her writing and performance first hand.

Post SNL, Tina launched 30 Rock, a sitcom loosely based on her experience on a live variety show. The show first aired on October 11, 2006, but the show's premise was cooking in Tina's mind since 2002. Tina plays the character Liz Lemon who is the show's head writer on the fictional show, TGS with Tracy Jordan (The Girlie Show). TGS is the show within the show. We don't get to see much of it, but when we do, TGS is always ridiculously silly. In one episode, we see a set in the background with "Who Farted?" predominantly displayed. The example highlights one of the layers of great writing, layered with irony, and Tina's point of view. As a writer you want to change or influence the world with your words. And even though you are writing, you are still making elaborate fart jokes and in that context they become extremely funny, but countering your original intention. 30 Rock seems to hit many levels of complexity on every episode like parodies of the large corporation stronghold, shameless self-promotion (The NotHans Podcast), single life in NYC, roots from Second City, writers performing stand-up, aging actresses, movie star performers starting over on TV, Harvard writing, struggles with fame, corporate tension, creative imbalance, hard working, over acting, ties to current events, political points of view, and fart jokes. Tina's fingerprints are all over 30 Rock.

Seeing an interview with Tina Fey with Brian Williams, I could see the anxiety wrenching through Tina Fey as she listened and anticipated Brian's question. She has an ingenious and genuineness that are not easily faked. You can tell her level of training from Second City and writing and character commitment are beyond the expectation and exceeds the watermark in the entertainment industry. Tina Fey your words and actions have changed and influenced our world.