Tina Fey is looking back at her ‘Saturday Night Live’ years with a little less nostalgia and a lot more honesty.
The comedy veteran recently admitted that some of the show’s political jokes do not sit right with her anymore, saying there were times she was “on the wrong side” and bluntly adding, “I was pretty dumb.” It is a striking admission from someone so closely tied to one of SNL’s most politically charged eras, especially when the show was regularly pulled into national conversations far bigger than sketch comedy.
Tina Fey Admits Some ‘SNL’ Jokes Do Not Hold Up for Her Anymore
Speaking at History Talks, Fey reflected on the intensity of working at ‘SNL’ during major national moments, including the aftermath of September 11 and the anthrax scare that hit the building. She said the show’s connection to politics and current events became more direct the longer she stayed there.
“They say something, we say something back, they come over, they go, ‘Oh, we want to be on it too,’” Fey said, describing how public figures increasingly wanted in on the joke. She called that dynamic both thrilling and a little scary, especially when it started to feel like the people in power were actually listening.
That is where her regret came in. “I’ve made jokes, but also, I was pretty dumb and not much better now, but there’s jokes that I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, I was on the wrong side of that,’” she said.
It is not an apology, but it is a rare bit of self-criticism from someone who helped define the tone of political comedy on network television in the 2000s.
What She Says About ‘SNL’ and Politics Now
Fey also pushed back on the idea that ‘SNL’ tries to shape politics or control public opinion. According to her, that has never really been the goal, and it would not work anyway if the material did not ring true.
She pointed to the show’s famous Sarah Palin sketches, which she worked on with Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler, as an example of how they approached political satire. “We always worked really hard to make sure that we felt like they were what we would call ‘a fair hit,’” she said.
For Fey, that mattered because the joke only worked if it had some truth underneath it. “Sometimes, people will ask me or ask others, ‘Does SNL try to control the narrative and politics?’ And they really do not. And also you really can’t. If it’s not true, it will not be funny.”
That may be the cleanest summary of where she seems to stand now. She still believes in sharp comedy, but she also knows that being funny does not automatically mean being right.
Fey made the comments during a History Talks event in Philadelphia tied to the nation’s 250th anniversary, where she appeared alongside Nicole Kidman, Ted Danson, Kate McKinnon, Colin Jost, and others. Even in that packed lineup, her blunt reflection on old jokes was the part that stuck.
