It's been a good few years for funny women in the book department—Tina Fey, Chelsea Handler, Kristen Johnston, the list goes on. Add to it Rachel Dratch, whose Girl Walks Into a Bar... sounds both funny and not a little dishy.
From her People (April 2, 2012) excerpt on her departure from 30 Rock:
"Ater we shot the pilot, I got a call from my agent. 'They're going in a different direction.' Tina [Fey] said that, instead of playing Jenna, I would appear in various episodes as a different character each time, popping up in all sorts of incarnations. I felt way more comfortable doing that than playing Jenna, a diva type who, in the pilot, sort of tries to seduce Alec Baldwin. No one needs to see me try to seduce.
"And then this story became public. News stories speculated that I had been replaced by a more attractive actor, Jane Krakowski, and that this was the only reason I'd been replaced. I started to feel like years of training and performing went out the window because I didn't have a symmetrical face."
As brilliant—truly—as Krakowski is in the role of Jenna, it's hard not to feel for Dratch, and it's a testament to her loyalty that she seems not to have taken this out on Fey.
Even if 30 Rock disappears, Tina Fey can always feel good that she has become an inspiration to meth dealers on Craigslist everywhere!
P.S. I'm reading Tina's memoir Bossypants and it's hysterical. I'm stifling out-loud laughter on planes and at home. (I don't like my dogs to see me lose my cool.)
The Emmy noms are out, and it looks like Mildred Pierce, Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire and Modern Family are the toast of the boob tube. (Remember when they had tubes?)
Last night was the 22nd Annual GLAAD Media Awards; it's always a fun event, if you remember my coverage from last year.
This year was really fun, with one major exception—I was red-carpet robbed by this jerk who was with Ricky Martin. More on that later.
GLAAD was happy with my past coverage, so they granted me an extra body on the carpet—my partner José attended as my cameraman. We were placed just after a large column and between an adorable guy working for AfterElton (Tim O'Leary) with his pretty friend and someone's tripod. I liked our positioning in that we were at the very front of the online media and the column meant no pushing.
But the first star we encountered had been before we even got to our spots—we'd run into Joe Jervis of Joe.My.God. checking in. Joe was a nominee for his blog (the first time GLAAD has nominated blogs...about time!) and was convinced Pam of Pam's House Blend would win. "I'd bet the Powerball on it," he'd confided. (Later, he totally won, as I expected, but he had no idea until some attendees informed him since the category wasn't deemed worthy of inclusion in the actual program.)
Joe rocks (every time someone said "rock" or "Rokk," Rokk Vodka donated $100 to GLAAD)
Considering some of the stars scheduled, I wasn't altogether thrilled with the carpet—Tina Fey was a nominee but didn't walk (come the fuck on, Tina), Patrick Wilson was a presenter but also was a no-show (perhaps wisely fearing being devoured and eaten a la Sebastien Venable) and the Rev. Al Sharpton was on hand to give an award to Russell Simmons but did not do press. Vinny Guadagnino from Jersey Shore? Fuhgeddaboudit.
We made the evening our belated anniversary celebration
But on the other hand, the stars who actually did the carpet were nice and fun, and even Ricky Martin himself did lots and lots of press. Just not me. We're getting to it.
My first carpet catch was 17-year-old Bianca "Nikki" Peet, a dynamic girl who was initially denied the opportunity to form a gay-straight alliance at her Corpus Christi high school but whose perseverance against Principal James Crenshaw paid off—she now has her GSA club! She was the picture of intestinal fortitude in her wheelchair, her eyeshadow as sparkling as her personality.
Next up was Jarrett Barrios, who explained to me how GLAAD decides what's offensive and what isn't; a hard task, I can agree, considering the varied opinions my own occasionally outraged posts sometimes elicit. You think something is duh-obviously offensive—like that Vanity Fair piece casually calling the Glee boys "fags," GLAAD (among many others) points it out, then you read AfterElton sniping that it was no big deal. (In context, the writer was gay and felt it was an ironic or "cheeky" usage...which to me was not as readily apparent as, say, during a viewing Wet Hot American Summer.) I asked him about this more in reference to Ron Howard's "so gay" joke, which I think is a lot more in those troubled waters of nuance where a large part—if not the majority—of the public would not go along with calling it offensive.
Dapper Mike Ruiz, from The Gray List
Mike Ruiz was warm and quite dashing up close—no poodle hair! He was happy to talk about why The A-List: New York seems to have at least as many haters as lovers and to introduce his boyf to anyone who asked.
I'm not a regular The Fabulous Beekman Boys watcher, but José is, and he warned me not to ask about "the pig." I knew it referred to them killing a pig they'd raised, but I imagine, "Don't ask them about the pig!" could be good advice before interviewing just about any reality TV stars.
Boys of the red carpet Zac Young (Top Chef: Just Desserts) & Wilson Cruz
Of course I dirty-love and clean-admire Wilson Cruz—who doesn't, and why don't they? I asked him about the Glee kiss, his recent excursion into shirtlessness in bars and his pet cause (and it's much deeper than that phrase), LGBT teen homelessness.
Gail Simmons of Top Chef: Just Desserts—I don't think it was a boob query
Jane Velez-Mitchell—with her bombshell girlfriend, who she meet at last year's GLAAD Media Awards—was the picture of poise and confidence, picking the Westboro clan as the gay story of the year when I asked her to choose something. The carpet had gotten a bit clogged up, so I almost missed her while jockeying to get some time with the event's host, Andy Cohen.
I'd never met Andy, so wasn't sure what to expect. I think I thought he'd be bubblier or more flirtatious but he definitely wasn't a stick in the mud. I stumped him with a question, but he recovered and was game to talk Housewives a bit. As he departed, he muttered, "My breath is atrocious!" and got some kind of oral relief from his PR walker, but it really wasn't...maybe it was mine!
Laverne Cox of TRANSform Me is as stunning as you'd expect, about eight feel tall and not shy with her "girls" or her opinions—her desire to transform Charlie Sheen was genuine and fierce.
I'm an anti-fashionista, but aside from that, I really hate fashion talk on the red carpets of awards shows. I feel like it robs the entire affair of glamour and turns it into something about as exciting as a trade show. I get that stars want to look hot—it really makes perfect business sense that they'd accept free gowns and jewels in exchange for hawking. But making perfect business sense does not necessarily make good entertainment sense. I would rather have them answering questions about their movies, their careers and anything else topical. Anything at all but, "Who are you wearing?"
I did love the above exchange at the SAGs between Tina Fey and Giuliana Rancic regarding Fey's recently anointed fashion don't from the Golden Globes. It made the fashion talk worthwhile.
Madonna has issued a statement on Haiti that encourages us to match her $250,000 contribution (!) or "give in any way you can." (Phew, much more doable.) Oh, and it mistakenly lists phi.org instead of the intended pih.org. And calls the organization "Partner's in Health" instead of "Partners in Health." UPDATE: For total idiots (one in particular), the previous paragraph exists not to be the kid in class who corrects the teacher but to helpfully point out a major mistake that leads people to a wrong link.]
Bad night for Madonna. She also just got roasted on 30 Rock as the opposite of aging gracefully. Tina Fey even used her hands at her face to indicate grotesque surgery. OUCH. UPDATE: Perhaps reporting on something that happened is in and of itself too critical for some crazed fans, but just to clarify, I didn't like the 30 Rock joke. My fave show bashing my fave artist...it was like oxygen fighting with water.
But back to Haiti—I donated to the Red Cross and think I'll give more. It puts everything in perspective. UPDATE: Perspective was the theme. Get it? Like how ridiculous to consider it "a bad night for Madonna" based on some chiding from 30 Rock as opposed to what's happening in Haiti.
Laughing out loud at Tina Fey and Steve Martin's entire sketch. She looks great as they trash Scientology by proxy.
The presentation of the screenplays with snippets read aloud is BRILL.
So great that Dustin Lance Black won for Milk! I hope this is not the last award for this movie and its "life-saving story." Sob-inducing speech. Classic moment. He's the one who should have been saying, "DON'T fall in love with me." Too late!
Jennifer Aniston looks beautiful. Love the dress. OF COURSE there was the required pan to Angelina Jolie, though after a tasteful pause. Twice.
Too bad that all these movies are being honored the same weekend Tyler Perry's joint Tyler Perry's Madea Goes To Jail goes to #1 at the b.o. Loathe him.
