Tina Fey, First Lady of Comedy, won Outstanding Performance by a Female in a Comedy Series at last nights Screen Actors Guild awards.
That she won should come as no surprise; she won the same award for the past three years, has received seven Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and four Writers Guild of America Awards. So, uh, after taking improv classes at Second City and iO, I guess she's doing pretty well for herself.
It's her great and brief acceptance speech that we'll take a look at here. She first mentions her husband, Jeff Richmond, who wrote the 30 Rock theme song. I was lucky enough to be his Assistant for the Second City Mainstage show, Promisekeepers, Losers, Weepers. He's an amazingly talented person and I'm so glad for both of them, really.
She goes on to mention and thank her two acting teachers from college, and her improv teachers from here in Chicago. Sadly, all three are deceased. They were Martin DeMaat, Don Depollo and Del Close. All three, fittingly enough, have theaters within their respective institutions named after them.
I write this at 2am. TNT and SAG websites DO NOT have video posted as of yet but have nice little placeholders for where video will go eventually. SAG has the text for you to read, but here's the only video I can find of a great speech... (if better video pops up I'll change it. I mean, I want to and I'm writing that I will, but I will in most probability not do that. Ah, here's the text first:
Oh, my gosh! This is so exciting because every time they play that
song, my husband gets fifteen cents! [laughter] So, we got that.
very surprised. I share this with the cast of "30 Rock" and the
writers. And I want to thank some of my acting teachers, because I
actually did have some. [laughter] Richard Warner and Betsy Tucker at
the University of Virginia, in Chicago, Don DePollo and Martin DeMaat,
and the late and very, very mean Del Close. [laughter] And my current
acting teacher, Alec Baldwin; I learn from you every single day. My
husband Jeff and my sweet, sweet Alice.
take a moment to say to everyone at NBC, we are very happy with
everything. [laughter] [applause] And, happy to be there. So, thank
you. [applause]
Filed under: Chicago, Del Close, iO Theater, Second City, TV shows
Tags: 30 Rock, @artsfront, Don DePollo, Jeff Richmond, SAG Awards, Tina Fey
It's nice of Fey to acknowledge Second City, which she periodically does on '30 Rock,' and her comedic roots besides 'SNL.'