Episode Report Card Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT "Hanging Out With Tina"
By Wing Chun | Season 1 | Episode 1 | Aired on 09.13.2007
SA: That's right, yeah. Aw. That's a shame.
WC: Is it a shame?
SA: We already won.
WC: I guess you probably are sick of people asking you about Studio 60 -- particularly now that they're in the dustbin of history.
SA: Um...I saw the pilot, and I saw it was really very good. I didn't see anything after that, though, so I don't know. You know what? It was funny -- I was auditioning for that show at the same time I was auditioning for [30 Rock].
WC: Get out of here!
SA: Yeah!
WC: What part were you auditioning for?
SA: I don't even know! I don't remember, because I didn't get a call back. I just went in once. It was for one of the leads. You know, I think they went with attractive and famous instead.
WC: [laughs] And see how that paid off for them! Not that well!
SA: Yeah! Ugly guy makes good!
WC: So prior to 30 Rock, you did a lot of TV, but not really much that was of this style -- a single-camera sitcom. What are some of the challenges of working in this format?
SA: Wow. It's finding the middle ground of trying to be funny and trying to be real, and not going too far either way, I think. Because the camera's so intrusive -- it can tell when you're trying to be funny, which is death. And it's ugly. And then being too subtle, it's like you're doing a different show. That's my challenge -- to walk the tightrope. In the three lines I have in every show.
WC: I know that you come from Second City, so you have a background in live performance, so I imagine that would be hard too -- not to have that kind of feedback.
SA: Yeah, it's tough. I was just talking to Tracy [Morgan] about that, just now -- about having a wisdom about comedy, and knowing something's funny without having it reinforced by the audience, and feeding off that. Having a sense of humour -- just being aware that something's funny.
WC: You guys do a very good job.
SA: Thank you. It's the writers, who do such a good job, I think. Everybody takes what the writers give them runs with it, but the writers is where it starts.
WC: Because of Second City, I assume you have a background in improv -- how collaborate is the process for the writers and actors on 30 Rock?