So here sits Fey, 37, the woman who in real life has it all: the hit show, the new movie, the husband, the 2-year-old daughter, some Emmys.
"Things are going good. My life is not terribly angst-ridden. I have a lot of support," Fey confesses, sitting on a hotel sofa. "And I don't do anything else."
Nothing?
"I don't - and this is not an exaggeration - have time to put lotion on," says the Upper Darby High School graduate, class of '88. "If I get enough time in the morning to go to the bathroom and brush my teeth and put on the clothes that I wore the day before, that's it. The idea of putting lotion on my legs, that's not happening."
The first female head writer in SNL's history, Fey was chosen as one of Time's "100 People Who Shape Our World," People's "50 Most Beautiful People," Entertainment Weekly's "Entertainers of the Year," and Glamour's "Women of the Year," besides winning Emmys, a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild award and a Peabody award, all while making women who wear glasses feel better for wearing them.
Fey's humor is fresh, dry, clever and smart, doesn't self-denigrate - as women like Phyllis Diller and Joan Rivers did - and is devoid of rancor. It's the triumph of a shy, witty woman who becomes lovelier with success.
Her appearance reflects the wondrous alchemy of being Fey, alarmingly competent yet refreshingly unaffected. The hair and makeup are perfect, the work of others, presenting an idealized self to the camera. The attire, her own, reflects her true character, a T-shirt, black pants, worn brown Nikes.
Fey wrote the 2004 hit Mean Girls, back when Lindsay Lohan still acted, giving herself a supporting role. Baby Mama, penned and directed by Michael McCullers, Fey's former SNL officemate, was sold first as a vehicle for Fey and Poehler, then developed through story pitches. "This was the situation that worked best where we could be funny and sabotage each other," Fey says.
