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When I first met Tina Fey—beautiful and brunette, smart and funny, at turns smug and diffident and completely uninterested in me or anything I had to say—I had the same reaction that I’m sure many men and women have: I fell in love. Tina was then the head writer at Saturday Night Live, and I was hosting that week’s show. The writers and producers were packed, impossibly, into Lorne’s satellite office overlooking Studio 8H, where SNL is produced. (This was once Toscanini’s private office when he directed the NBC orchestra in 8H. The building has quite a history.) When Lorne finished giving his notes after the dress rehearsal, I asked Marci Klein, the show’s talent coordinator, if Tina was single. She pointed to a man sitting along the wall. Or maybe he was standing? This was Jeff Richmond, Tina’s husband. Jeff is diminutive. Tina describes him as “travel-size.” When I saw him, I thought, “What’s she doing with him?” With his spools of curly brown hair and oversized eyes, Jeff resembles a Margaret Keane painting. When I ended up working with the two of them years later, I changed that to “What’s he doing with her?” Jeff, who was the talented music supervisor on 30 Rock, is as loose and outgoing as Tina is cautious and dry. “Just remember one thing,” Lorne said. “She’s German.”
30 Rock was a work in progress in its first season, like many hit shows. If you watch a series like Will & Grace or The Sopranos in their first seasons, the performances are nearly unrecognizable a year later, as the cast slowly perfects their characterizations. The character of Jack Donaghy is a guy from a background much like my own. After attending Princeton, he is drafted by the Dallas Cowboys of the business world, General Electric. GE owned the NBC television network when we started 30 Rock, so Jack is called upon to apply the expertise that enabled him to dominate the microwave-programming division to the task of TV programming. It’s the “Fairfield way,” a reference to the company’s then Connecticut headquarters. GE would “widgetize” comedy. Turbines, locomotives, comedy shows, it’s all the same. Just apply the tenets of Six Sigma, Jack Welch’s favorite management tools, and a GE exec will conquer the field.
An ensemble show will thrive only if you have the right ensemble. I know that sounds obvious, but if you change one element, change any role, you may not have the same success. I’ve read that the Beatles were offered the services of any drummer in London to replace Ringo Starr, who was viewed as the weak link in the band in terms of musicianship. At one point, Starr was called away to honor a previous contract to perform with another group. One of London’s top percussionists showed up at the studio to play with the Beatles, who had to finish recording an album. “The guy was the greatest drummer in London,” the source said. “And they didn’t want him. It had to be Ringo. The band said it had to be those four and no one else.”
30 Rock, of course, isn’t as culturally relevant as the Beatles. But similarly, I think 30 Rock had to be Tina, me, Jane, Tracy Morgan, and Jack McBrayer, along with a half dozen others in smaller roles, or it would not have flown. The show was a critical hit, but never a ratings juggernaut. Shows like Big Bang Theory and Modern Family eclipsed 30 Rock by wide margins in terms of audience. But 30 Rock, while taking more than its share of awards over the years, also benefited from being an industry darling. There are shows that people in the business don’t watch that are nonetheless huge hits. Then there are shows like The Larry Sanders Show or True Detective, to name just two, that the people who make TV will follow. If I was at an industry event, often some exec from some media company would come up to me and say, “My son broke his leg skiing. He was in bed for two weeks. We binged every episode of 30 Rock. Man, that show is funny!” I sometimes wondered if that contributed to keeping us on the air.
Jack McBrayer is a great actor. To play that modern-day Jim Nabors type, but with a twist of Tommy Smothers thrown in, is not easy to do, and I think Jack killed it. Any goodness or heart that an episode required, Jack could be relied upon to deliver it. Jane is an award-winning theater actress who also had her successes on TV, such as Ally McBeal, but 30 Rock was the culmination of a lot of years of good work for Jane. It gave her a reservoir of funny lines and situations, and like any great performer, Jane made the most of them. Whenever I had scenes with Jane, I was excited. She’s a wonderful acting partner and can play anything. Tracy Morgan is . . . Tracy Morgan. The persona of the playful, devilish man-child had been nailed by Flip Wilson and other comics, black and white, but many of those were, ultimately, more devil than child. Tracy often sees the world like a little boy. He maintained a sweetness and innocence that could astound me, right up to the next barrage of “motherfuckers” or some sexually graphic imagery that would come flying out of his mouth. But he’s an original.