Empress Tina Fey Has No Clothes

As has been well reported, Tina Fey had this to say about The Daily Show in an interview with Readers Digest:

Laughter. You can prompt applause with a sign. My friend, SNL writer Seth Meyers, coined the term clapter, which is when you do a political joke and people go, "Woo-hoo." It means they sort of approve but didn't really like it that much. You hear a lot of that on [whispers] The Daily Show.

Stop the presses!!! A queen of comedy (as anointed by no less an authority on all matters comedic than Vanity Fair) hath spoken. In Readers' Digest, home of "Humor In Uniform" no less.

Why the unmitigated gall (was ever a modifier so married to its subject as "unmitigated" is to "gall"?). Four nights a week, Stewart and his cohorts pound out barbs with a hit rate heretofore unseen on network or cable. "Update" which hasn't been funny or had a point of view since Don Ohlmeyer fired Norm MacDonald for jokes at the expense of his crony Orenthal James Simpson save for the sadly short-lived stint of Colin Quinn, struggles to connect even once in eight minutes once a week. Ms. Fey anchored the segment with all the charisma and wit of Alan Greenspan at a "Whither Now Precious Metals" seminar. 30 Rock? Two words -- Alec Baldwin.

She's not totally off base; applause lines in lieu of punch lines are all too in evidence on most stand-up "specials" these days: "Hey fuck Exxon!!!" This unfortunate malaise goes back I don't know how long, but watch any rerun of Married With Children to see this unfortunate "woo hoo" phenomenon at its worst, although in an apolitical, sexual innuendo light. The Daily Show however strives to avoid this applause-o-meter response with great care. Yes, the audience will often react with wild enthusiasm to a Bush-bashing line, but my understanding is he is not a very popular commander-in-chief. Bill Maher, much to his credit, often tries to restrain his left-leaning audience from such knee-jerk whoops of approval but having been whipped in to a frenzy no doubt by the warm up act, he is at the mercy of the choir to whom he preaches.

Bottom line Tina, blame Arsenio, blame the shrill noise of a media which does not differentiate between politics and the NFL (a point which Mr. Stewart and co. make with unerring and hysterical frequency) but lay off the Daily Show, until, at least, you offer anything remotely as trenchant and just plain funny.

Comments

[StrayTalk]

Ms Fey, I stayed up late with Jon Stewart; I laughed with Jon Stewart; Jon Stewart isn't a friend of mine but you Tina Fey ...

[StrayTalk]

... you're.not really that funny.

[BrenDavis]

I will never willingly watch her show, SNL, or any Lorne Michaels product ever again as silent (though admittedly meaningless to anyone but myself) protest over the (widely reported) back channel dealings emanating from 30 Rock that helped ensure "Studio 60's" demise.

[NetParrot]

To paraphrase an old cliche, unfunny knows from unfunny. It's fine to take Tina Fey to task for not being funny, because she isn't. You can't credibly do so while calling The Daily Show funny, however, because it really isn't that funny.

[MrWinky]

With all comedians, its hard to tell whether she is joking or not. I would hope so, b/c TDS has been unmerciful and clever satire of the Bush administration when not many sources, especially the media, have had the guts to call it like it is. Throughout the different events and cast members, TDS has gotten better and better, and Stewart is really on top of his game. I would imagine that is why he has been invited to host or be part of every awards show you can name.

There are times when people applaud on the daily show, but it is often when they come right to a point that most people have been dying for someone to say. It's not a "that's not funny" moment, but rather a "yes, finally someone said it" moment.

Tina has accomplished quite a bit, SNL's news was very good under her, and 30 rock has been getting good reviews. If she was criticizing the daily show, however, it would be equivalent to a porn star saying that Al Pacino tends to overact. Maybe that's drastic, but you get my point.

[raker]

SNL, the show that gave the world Adam Sandler talking baby talk (What's a word for embarrassed chuckling. Embuckling?) has no business mouthing off about a show whose humor they don't get. I like the current SNL. I laugh, I embuckle, but The Daily Show makes me roar every night.

[DasBoot]

I truly don't get Tina Fey's point, if there was one other than dissing a more successful competitor. Comedy can touch you in many different ways, sometimes you laugh out loud, sometimes you smile, sometimes you just roar your approval. I find the Daily Show audience sometimes overdoing the latter, but there are always moments that are plain old funny.

Also: One of the main reasons TDS became big was because of the sheer absurdity of the Bush administration. This was one big tragic joke waiting to be told, and Jon Stewart was there to tell it. It was not just entertainment, it was healing humor that prevented me from going insane. It still does that at times, but especially in the darkest of dark years from 2002 to 2006, Jon Stewart was a real life saver. SNL, where were you at the time?

On a different note: Does anybody remember the late Bill Hicks? Man would he be great to be around now. If you ever get a chance to listen to his rants about the first gulf war, do yourself a favor and listen. I can think of so many people deserving of his "suck Satan's c**k" bit.

[jahyarain]

if Bill was still around i believe one of two things would happen...

[AdLib]

When you think of clever and funny political comedy, do you think of TDS or Weekend Update?

Which have actually made you laugh and which is usually just plain banal?

Sorry Tina, your opinion of what is funny is funnier than the "funny" stuff you write.

[JamesRiddle]

Thank you for the article. When I first read Fey's words I found it hard to beleve that she would ever put herself, or her irrelevant and painfully unfunny show ( especially Weekend Update) on a par with the Daily Show. The Daily Show's reports ( and reporters ) are howling funny. John Stewart is an anchor, a host per se. Though not operating as a straight out comedian ( more a straight man)
even the arching of his eyebrows is funnier than anything that has apeared on the moribound SNL for years. 30 Rock? Yep, the great Baldwin, and that's it.

[deedrdo]

i chose to think she was using some humor in the daily show comment. how could she honestly say it wasn't funny. it really doesn't fit her pattern.

i like the daily. i like 30 rock. i saw mean girls and didn't crack one smile.

[nothingsnew]

She didn't say he wasn't funny, even the quote that Hayman uses doesn' t say that. can't any of you read?

[bakossi]

Anyone who thinks Bill Clinton didn't mean to say what everyone seems to be very clear that he said knows nothing of the history of the man. This is someone who was considering his 'political viability' 30 years down the road in the wording of his letter to his local draft board at the age of 21. Someone who even parses the meaning of the word "is." The most gaffe-free politician in our lifetimes. Now either you believe he's increasingly having 'senior moments' at the ripe old age of 60, or you accept that he knows exactly what he's saying and how it will be interpreted every time he says it. First, a race baiter, now a Red baiter--I wish I'd voted for Perot in 1992;.

[bakossi]

amen...I enjoyed Tina on Weekend Update, I like 30 Rock a lot, and even enjoyed her recent pro-Hillary 'bitch is the new black', but sorry, Weekend Update is not in the same league as the Daily Show, and wasn't when she was on it as a regular, either. Her comment sounds completely catty (and yes, I call men catty, too, when I hear it) and jealous. Too bad. If she's comparing 30 Rock to the Daily Show, the comparison's not fair or appropriate (why not compare Seinfeld with the Daily Show while you're at it, Tina?), and she should know better.

[nothingsnew]

I cannot believe this! I am just over on another entry defending Tina Fey and you have gone ahead and written a whole entry about this stupid FAKE story. Jon Hayman, YOU did not bother to read the whole story or listen to the AUDIO file of the interview. She never mentions the Daily Show or Jon Stewart, this is a lame and stupid and fake story and I don't know why HP insists on supporting it.

[JGatsby]

Nothingsnew: I saw the original interview excerpted from Readers Digest and he was just quoting verbatim. Are you saying that the Readers Digest people mis-quoted? If you have some evidence (e.g. you seem to imply that the audio of the actual interview is available) why don't you include a link to back it up?

[nothingsnew]

gladly: http://media.rd.com/rd/video/rd_video/tina_fey_interview_96K.mp3

[SeaBlood]

It doesn't matter whether or not I laugh hysterically at each of Stewart's jokes. That's not the point. The gags on the show are all truthful retelling of what is happening in the world. The "news" shows should be doing that, but, for complex reasons, they do not !
Stewart IS funny. The laughter may be mild, but the humor is real----that's one of the signs that what you hear is true. Truth can be funny, but lies seldom are.

[cobraxus]

we are twenty years into a culture of self-reflexive humour where there's no set-up/no punchline only the sense of recognition that comes from watching too much media:"Oh yeah I saw that movie too.hah ha."ever since Ronnie Reagan Jr. did his Tom Cruise dance on SNL humour has been based on a collective involvement.no joke or real sense of humour...it's just there.

PS

I liked married...with children and enjoy 30 Rock very much.

[WRPrintz]

From what I see from both Tina and Jon is.....a different type of genius than the other possesses.

Tina is a great writer, she has written some truely outstanding material, lines, and very funny bits. However, her delivery is off, just slightly, and that makes her less than appealing at times. She is the Bud Abbott to others Lou Costello. She has had awesome luck in choosing a supporting team, Alec, Tracy, Rachel, just to name a few. 30 Rock is a better show than I would ever guess would be on pay TV, and I truely enjoy it.

However, Jon Stewart is nearly the reverse. He is a much better performer than writer (Though his writing is far above average), as was demonstrated during the recent writers strike. Jon's ability to move a crowd is about 10x Tina's ability, and he is hands down the greater "presence" of the two.

What has me mystified is why Tina said this at all. Why come out swinging at Jon Stewart? Is there really that much resentment over the fact that Weekend Update has been rendered effectivly neutered by TDS? SNL Digital has had nearly as much to do with this as TDS, as for all their "improv" ability, SNL still comes off better when editted and re-shot.

Finally....these are two talents that should be working together, not at loggerheads, and I hope they come to an understanding about this in the future, rather than hold a grudge.

[lilyflower8604]

Since when did Tina Fey become an expert on comedy? Is it when the writing began to suck on SNL or when she began as horrible comediene there?

[dgsweet]

She has been an expert on comedy since I first saw her be dazzling at Second City. She and Rachel Dratch also did a two-person show that was richly observed and beautifully acted both in workshop in Chicago and in performance in New York. She is able to zero in on the place where a public figure slips into hypocrisy as well as anybody short of Stewart. She is literate, she is smart, and she makes certain that the people she plays scenes with look good. She is one of the handful of people since Rosalind Russell and Katharine Hepburn in their primes to make intelligence look sexy. I make my living as a writer and I have an eye for how things are built, and I have nothing but admiration for her craft and her abilities as a performer. I look forward with anticipation what she will build in the future.

That's the long version of my response to lilyflower8604. The short version comes in two syllables.

[LawOfAttraction]

I stipulate to you assessment of Tina's talent and skills, but will add that with that snarky comment, she degenerated into a poo flinging primate.

Honestly, I find Bill Maher and John Stewart intelligent, entertaining and they provoke a more satisfying intellectual laughter in me than Tina Fey ever has. She just doesn't do it for me.

Her comedy is kind of like Paris Hilton's beauty.
I hear people say she's physically attractive, and I can sort of see it in an empirical way, but she just doesn't do anything for me. Zero on the Woodometer.

Same with Tina Fey. I can "understand" that her comedy is supposed to appeal to people like me, but it just doesn't stroke any of my mental erogenous zones.

Oh and for the record, I used to make my living as a writer for political and entertainment magazines (before going into comic book illustration and then later into multimedia/web design), so I too have an eye for how things are built. So I'm appreciative of good work and a superlative talent.

But it seems like her work has the polish and perfection of a well made sculpture, but lacks the charm and the soul of a Michelangelo.

Yes, she makes intelligent looks sexy, but lacks the passion and playfulness to round out the package.

[Alvin4NY]

Thank you for saying everything I was about to. (I'm sure you did a much better job...) A lot of hamsters on treadmills making with the hateful blogs and comments, as they watch one of their own make a run for it and go all the way. Jealousy is so ugly.