TV Guide - April 25-May 1
(This is a compilation of the articles on the TV Guide site and in the TV Guide magazine.)

LIVE AND KICKING
By Bruce Fretts


(Click on image for larger version.)

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE'S CAST FEATURES only four women, but they possess the comedic strength of 10 men. Tina Fey, 33, the show's first distaff head writer, also coanchors "Weekend Update," while Rachel Dratch, 37, Amy Poehler, 32, and Maya Rudolph, 31, score in sketches portraying such pop-culture figures as Barbara Walters, Michael Jackson and Donatella Versace. Together, they're SNL's most hysterical female lineup since the original troika of Gilda Radner, Jane Curtin and Laraine Newman. TV Guide bravely sent a man to conduct a freewheeling roundtable with the whip-smart quartet.

TV Guide: When did you start watching SNL?
Dratch: In the first year, I had a friend with a cool older brother, so I discovered it at a sleepover at her house. Then I'd watch it all the time. I'd make my friends stay up, and they'd always fall asleep.
Fey: I saw the show for the first time four weeks ago. It was a repeat of Megan Mullally. I loved it — now I'm hooked.
Rudolph: I don't remember a time without it. I was really little, and I honestly thought Roseanne Roseannadanna was pretty because we had the same hair.

TV Guide: When did you start thinking about being on the show?
Rudolph: Probably immediately. There was never a time when I didn't think about it. It was the only solid goal in my life.
Fey: (sings) Solid goal!
Rudolph: It filled up my life with music.
Dratch: I remember thinking, "That's really cool", but I never remember thinking, "How do you get on that show?" I'm still so shocked. I think if third grade Rachel had known someday you're going to be on that show, my head would've blown off.

TV Guide: Are you competitive with each other?
Fey: (joking) I used to be married to Amy's husband, and that is very awkward.
Poehler: It's very awkward because they're still very good friends. Tina often writes scenes about the good times they had together.
Dratch: The whole place is competitive but not in an ugly, backstabbing way.
Poehler: We do wind sprints on Mondays. And Dratch and I compete in Guinness Book of World Records contests.

TV Guide: You do some pretty quick wardrobe changes on the show. Do you ever worry about having a Janet Jackson moment?
Fey: I had a bit where I was pulling out these fake boobs. By airtime, we figured out how to do it. We put them outside my bra. But in dress rehearsal, our stage manager came over and said, "Your left areola is exposed."
Poehler: I've always been nervous that I was going to throw up, like Bush did. No one can be mad at you. But it would be not a nice thing to see.

TV Guide: Do you ever feel restricted by censors or is it okay to have limits?
Fey: I feel it's absolutely fine to have limits. You should be able to work within the boundaries of not swearing on network TV. The only time I have a problem with standards is when they actually try to censor ideas as opposed to language or content. And they're a little overly politically correct about ethnicity. I remember there was a "Weekend Update" joke like, "In Puerto Rico this week, a Puerto Rican man robbed a bank..." And they were trying to tell us we couldn't say he was Puerto Rican. This is a news story from Puerto Rico — it's not racist! So they're a little overcautious sometimes.

TV Guide: Does the show have a political point of view?
Poehler: People think it's more left than it is right now. It goes back and forth. People get pretty fair hits on both sides. There's certainly not constant Bush-bashing right now. And Will Ferrell had a lot to do with Bush getting elected, in a weird way. It made him accessible and kind of fun, so I hold Will responsible.
Fey: The Ferrell-Nader ticket.

TV Guide: Is it harder to play a character who's been done on the show before, like when Rachel followed Gilda Radner and Cheri Oteri as Barbara Walters?
Dratch: Yeah, but that was thrown at me the day before, so I didn't have time to get an impression. It wasn't like I had much time to think about the footsteps.
Poehler: I am working on a couple of new characters this season. I'm doing Buckwheat, and I'm doing this character called the Religion Lady...
Fey: And Emily Litella.

TV Guide:Are there characters that you want to play whom we haven't seen on SNL?
Poehler: I've got 50 characters that I just haven't gotten to yet. I'm not ready to pop them out. I'm waiting to make sure that it's the perfect time, which will be the week after I'm not on the show anymore.
Rudolph: Sometimes what we dig is not what the other people dig. I've got a character called Chocolate Thunder I'm trying to roll out next season. I have an echelon of dead characters that only we have seen — and I'd like to keep it that way.

Does having a female head writer change the show's tone?
Fey: I don't think the guys say, "Oh, it's a lady piece. I don't want to do it." But I do think we find different things funny.
Dratch: Like the "Kotex Classic" thing.
Fey: [Staff writer] Paula Pell wrote this commercial parody, "Kotex Classic," and the guys weren't into it. But they didn't understand what it would look like. Once we explained it, it ended up being a really successful bit.
Rudolph: None of us think, "Tina's a female and therefore..."
Dratch: 'Cause we all think of her as a dude.
Rudolph: We do think of her as a dude. Tina's not a typical female writer. I don't know what that is. I don't know if it would be more flowery...
Dratch: With unicorns.
Rudolph: [Eyeing a piece of paper] Are those your questions? Can I ask one?
Sure. How about this one?
Rudolph: [Reading] "Is SNL still an inhospitable environment for women?"
Fey: Oh, brother.
Poehler: None of your business, bitch!
But it does have that reputation.
Fey: Because one person wrote that 15 years ago, and people keep writing it.
Rudolph: It's ancient history.
Poehler: It's almost embarrassing to have to answer that question because of the hard times that true lady-sketch pioneers had--all the ladies on the first season of the show, and [SCTV costars] Catherine O'Hara and Andrea Martin. You don't want to be like, "Well, it's a struggle." I'm sure they'd be like, "Really? Because it was a real f---in' struggle for me."
Is it awkward when people you've mocked, like Paris Hilton or Jessica Simpson appear on the show?
Poehler: Most people love being impersonated.
Rudolph: Except for Jennifer Lopez. She was like, "Where's Cheri [Oteri] at?" Cheri was already gone.
Fey: [To Poehler] Kelly Ripa sent you cookies. And Whitney Houston loved it.
Rudolph: Whitney Houston ain't coming on anytime soon, so I'm not worried. But I'm sure if she sees me, she will kill me.
Poehler: She needs to worry about things other than your impression of her.
Amy, you do a pretty mean send-up of Michael Jackson. Have you heard anything from his camp?
Poehler: No. When Michael Jackson's camp and I talk, it's always just laughs. It's never about work.
Dratch: Do not send your kid to Michael Jackson's camp!
Poehler: He might not appreciate me playing him. Or maybe he would.
Fey: Again, file under "Least of His Worries."
Do you resent scandal-afflicted celebrities like Winona Ryder and Ben Affleck using SNL for damage control?
Dratch: No, it's a sigh of relief. Then you don't have to hear about Ben and J.Lo. anymore because he's put the nail in the coffin.
Fey: And when it's a victimless crime like the Janet Jackson one, it seems perfectly fine. I doubt we'd have Robert Blake host.
Rudolph: Speak for yourself!
Poehler: Maya does a terrific Robert Blake. And we all got into comedy to help celebrities work through their problems.
How has Janet's nipple controversy affected the show?
Fey: We don't have a five-second delay, which is kind of amazing. Our standards department has been a little more nervous. The FCC is cracking down on everyone, but it hasn't really affected us much.
Would a delay bother you?
Poehler: Yeah, that'd suck.
Rudolph: Maybe I'd say "f---" just to see if they'd edit it out.
Tina, you wrote the new film "Mean Girls" and appear in it with Amy. Why hasn't SNL ever launched a female movie star?
Poehler: [Surprised] Has there not been one?
Fey: Molly Shannon was the closest. She had her own movie ["Superstar"].
Dratch: SNL stars like Adam Sandler and David Spade have movies where they play the Everyman, but for whatever reason people don't want to see the Everywoman.
Fey: The Everywoman is Natasha Henstridge or Amanda Peet.
Dratch: For romantic comedies, it's Cameron Diaz and Renee Zellweger.
Fey: I keep thinking, "Where is this generation's Teri Garr or Jill Clayburgh"--who were attractive women but also looked like they could live in your building.
Dratch: The few movie auditions I go on are often to play the best friend of the hottie star, but I don't even get those parts because I think I'm a weirder type.
Rudolph: I blame it on our country's obsession with fitness, and the fact that models became actresses and took our f---ing jobs.
Last question: How would the world be different if women ruled comedy?
Rudolph: When are we going to stop talking about women not ruling comedy?
Fey: This article could change that.
Poehler: The difference would be that, in movies, our husbands would be played by Ashton Kutcher and Jake Gyllenhaal. That's who we'd get to do it with!