Overview
“Bossypants,” by Tina Fey, isn’t a memoir; it’s a spiky blend of humor, introspection, critical thinking and Nora Ephronisms for a new generation.
- Tina Fey was born on May 18, 1970, in Pennsylvania, USA, to Zenobia Xenakes, a brokerage employee, and Donald Fey, a university grant-proposal writer. She is of mixed ancestry and has one brother. Her interest in comedy developed at a young age as her family often watched comedy shows on TV, sometimes staying up late in the night to watch their.
- Tina Fey, Writer: 30 Rock. Elizabeth Stamatina Fey was born in 1970 in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, just west of Philadelphia, to Xenobia 'Jeanne' (Xenakes), a brokerage employee, and Donald Henry Fey, who wrote grant proposals for universities. Her mother is Greek, born in Piraeus, while her father had German, Northern Irish, and English ancestry.
- Both Silverman’s and Fey’s book covers feature headshots that parody the banal self-aggrandizement of many a celeb memoir. Silverman’s shows her dressed in a quasimilitary uniform, gazing at the horizon with an excessive determination, and Bossypants boasts Fey’s wistful face Photoshopped onto a disproportionately large, hairy-armed.
Bossypants Author
Fey broke into comedy as a featured player in the Chicago-based improvisational comedy group The Second City. She then joined SNL as a writer, later becoming head writer and a performer, known for her position as co-anchor in the Weekend Update segment. In 2004, she co-starred in and wrote the screenplay for Mean Girls, which was adapted from the 2002 self-help book Queen Bees and Wannabes. After leaving SNL in 2006, she created the television series 30 Rock for Broadway Video, a situation comedy loosely based on her experiences at SNL. In the series, Fey portrays the head writer of a fictional sketch comedy series. In 2008, she starred in the comedy film Baby Mama, alongside former SNL co-star Amy Poehler. Fey next appeared in the 2010 comedy film Date Night and the animated film Megamind. In 2015, she created and produced the television series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt for NBC before it was eventually picked up by Netflix. She also starred in the 2016 film Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
Fey has received nine Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, five Screen Actors Guild Awards, and four Writers Guild of America Awards. Her autobiography Bossypants topped The New York Times Best Seller list for five weeks. Janet Maslin of the New York Times reviewed the book saying that 'Bossypants' isn't a memoir. It's a spiky blend of humor, introspection, critical thinking and Nora Ephron-isms for a new generation.' In 2008, the Associated Press gave Fey the AP Entertainer of the Year award for her satirical portrayal of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in a guest appearance on SNL. In 2010, Fey was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, becoming the youngest-ever recipient of the award. On January 13, 2013, Fey hosted the 70th Golden Globe Awards with her long-time friend and fellow comedian, Amy Poehler, to critical acclaim. The duo hosted again the following two years, generating the highest ratings for the annual ceremony in a decade and receiving similar acclaim.
NPR’s sites use cookies, similar tracking and storage technologies, and information about the device you use to access our sites (together, “cookies”) to enhance your viewing, listening and user experience, personalize content, personalize messages from NPR’s sponsors, provide social media features, and analyze NPR’s traffic. This information is shared with social media, sponsorship, analytics, and other vendors or service providers. See details.
Tina Fey Pictures
You may click on “Your Choices” below to learn about and use cookie management tools to limit use of cookies when you visit NPR’s sites. You can adjust your cookie choices in those tools at any time. If you click “Agree and Continue” below, you acknowledge that your cookie choices in those tools will be respected and that you otherwise agree to the use of cookies on NPR’s sites.