Winning Awards May Make You Temporarily Insane

30 Rock is the best show on American television by a venerable country mile. It, The Simpsons, and Top Chef are the only programs I can be arsed to turn the set on for anymore. Star/writer/executive producer Tina Fey is arguably the funniest comedian in America, and pretty much confirmed second overall to Jennifer Saunders as the second funniest woman on Earth. Her charm, intelligence, wit, and self-deprecation have won fans from both sexes. Her tireless work as de facto figurehead for the Writers Guild of America also earned increased admiration from her peers, even as the whole strike exasperated the public in general.

This year saw Tina add two awards to the Emmy she grabbed in 2007 as a 30 Rock producer: a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy Series and a Screen Actors Guild trophy in the same category.

Then she went temporarily insane.

I don't mean the Hilary endorsement on Saturday Night Live, although for her to do so when so many are still drinking the Kool-Aid for Barack Obama was admirable. Especially since, as we all know, women are incapable of leading a nation, and should never be entrusted with any considerable power whatsoever. A female president, that's unpossible!

I refer, rather, to this recent Readers Digest interview. Before I even read it, I had my doubts. I mean, does someone like Tina Fey really bring their "A" interview game to Readers Digest when the likes of Entertainment Weekly and Venus beckon? I expected some fluffy claptrap about her family and friends. Which there is, of course. That's what the bulk of this fine rag's readership craves.

It's what comes before all that which has raised a bit the stink. She takes a shot at The Daily Show, but it's actually more of a facemush from the weaker hand. No matter; anything that can be perceived as a bitchy insult will be picked up on and run with, whether we're talking the rabid fanboys who defend Jon Stewart like he was blood, to headlines that don't so much mislead as actually lie. (Best comment on either article: "Tina, You're cute in a clerk/typist from Manhattan kinda way. But you are not funny, you cant act,, and you are boring. Do us a favor and shut your cute little trap and raise your kids better." Just barely edging out the dude who compared Stewart to H.L. Mencken. Both sound awfully sure of themselves.)

There is something rather off-putting about this interview, though, something that I think is actually worth typing on the Internet about.

RD: What's the difference between male and female comics?
Fey: Every comic way of writing is unique, but I think male comedy is more boisterous. Usually it involves robots and sharks and bears. Female comedy is more likely to be about the minutiae of human behavior and relationships.

Which reminds me of Homer Simpson attempting a stand up routine: "White guys have names like Lenny...and black guys have names like Carl!"

Fey's comments really disappoint me; women in comedy have been subject to half-brained generalizations since the salad days of Gracie Allen. Knowing firsthand how ridiculously unfair being painted with such broad strokes can be, why would any woman use a public forum to indulge the same moronism? She tries to put those little qualifiers in there, more likely and usually, but no, I call bullshit on that. Life and the people in it are way too varied for people in the 21st century to still be speaking in stereo (types). I don't care if it's politics or religion, or mere trifling entertainment. Will people ever smarten up to this handy intellectual laziness and duly change? Nah. But I won't ever stop being disheartened by it.

Especially by people I think--I almost hope--would know better.

Tina Fey
Daily Show