The Comedy Stylings of Tina Fey

By Jim Ballas

“30 Rock” will make its third season premiere on NBC on October 30, 2008. This television show has met with a lot of success, and it can be attributed to its talented writer, producer and star: Tina Fey.

Tina Fey was born in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, a very Greek area, in 1970. Her father is German and Scottish, but her mother, Zenobia Xenakes, is of Greek descent. Fey credits her family for inspiring her to do comedy as they would watch countless comedy movies and television shows.

After attending the University of Virginia, Fey moved to Chicago to pursue a comedy career. In 1994, she joined the cast of “The Second City,” a well-known improvisational comedy troop that has other famous alumni such as Bill Murray, Mike Myers, Alan Arkin and Steve Carell.

In 1997, Fey became a writer on “Saturday Night Live,” and in 1999, she became the show’s head writer. She was the first woman to be the head writer of SNL. In 2000, she became a cast member, and she continued to write and act in SNL until she left the show in 2006.

While Fey was on SNL, she pitched a television show idea to NBC about the workings of a sketch comedy show. That idea would become “30 Rock,” which premiered on October 11, 2006. Fey is an executive producer, writer, and the lead actress of “30 Rock,” which takes a lot of inspiration from her days on SNL.

In the show’s short run, it has been given many awards. “30 Rock” won an Emmy in 2007 for Outstanding Comedy Series. Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey have both won Screen Actors Guild Awards and Golden Globe Awards for their performances. The show has also won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy Series in 2008. The common thing in all these awards is Tina Fey.

“30 Rock” has been a great success for NBC and will be a staple of their new Fall lineup. Make sure to catch the series premiere, and our Greek girl Tina Fey, on October 30, 2008 on NBC.