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Journalism of Courage
Tina Fey is an ugly,pear-shaped,b***** overrated troll. Somebody once wrote that on a mean-spirited Web site,whence it could have vanished into oblivion. But Fey liked the remark too much to let it go.
So,she has used it as one of the blurbs on the back of Bossypants,her dagger-sharp,extremely funny new book for which even the blurbs are clever. (Totally worth it.Trees.) She also includes it in the books Dear Internet chapter,which she treats as a happy occasion to eviscerate a few well-chosen haters. To say Im an overrated troll,when you have never even seen me guard a bridge,is patently unfair, she argues. She takes issue with the writers terminology (what if she got her shape from sitting in business-class airline seats too often?) and thank him for his attention (theres no such thing as bad press!)Affectionately,Tina, she concludes.
Why did she take that slur even half-seriously? She really is the Bossypants of the title. She has a TV show,30 Rock,that employs almost 200 people. And she has been eerily morphed for the books cover into a freakish hybrid of pretty woman and big,strong,hairy-armed man. I hope thats not really the cover, reads another of the books blurbs,from Don Fey,her father. Thats really going to hurt sales. But its a fair representation of her self-image as a smart,unyielding woman who has forced her way to the top of what is usually a mans profession. Only in comedy, she writes,about interviewing for a writing job on Saturday Night Live in 1997,does an obedient white girl from the suburbs count as diversity. And only in comedy could Fey have achieved the apotheosis seen before the 2008 presidential election with her Sarah Palin skit. Bossypants isnt a memoir. It’s a spiky blend of humour,introspection and critical thinking for a new generation.
But it chronologically follows Fey through an awkward girlhood,teenage years with a coterie of gay friends and a fish-out-of-water stint at the University of Virginia. What 19-year-old Virginia boy doesnt want a wide-hipped,sarcastic Greek girl with short hair that’s permed on top? asks Fey,who calls herself Greek when she isnt calling herself German. She moved on to Chicago in 1992,studying improvisation at the Second City,the sketch comedy theatre with so many famous alumni. I could go on, Fey writes,but my editor told me that was a cheap way to flesh out the book. And the book doesnt need to discuss anyone more famous than its sufficiently famous author. She is at her most hilariously self-deprecating when it comes to her vanity. One chapter describes why photo shoots are THE FUNNEST, as she puts it,for a woman not used to playing glamour girl. The makeup artist at your photo shoot will work methodically on your eyelids with a series of tickly little brushes for a hundred minutes.
The book includes surprisingly down-to-earth chapters about her Christmas holidays spent driving to visit in-laws and a honeymoon spent on a cruise ship. It also frets about whether she can have a second child while continuing to keep 30 Rock aloft. Either way,everything will be fine, she writes. But if you have an opinion,please feel free to offer it to me through the gap in the door of a public restroom. Everyone else does.JANET MASLIN
