Let's be real here, Tina Fey is a powerhouse, with a net worth of $75 million along with quite the storied career. Being exposed to comedy at a young age changed her life, as it would lead to a gig on Saturday Night Live, where she started off as a write and later became a cast member.
She struggled a bit at the start, but we can all confirm the struggle wouldn't last, and thanks to her gig hosting Weekend Update and her famous role as Sarah Palin, she became one of the most popular faces in the show's history.
Along the way, Fey collaborated with several celebs. According to a past interview with Howard Stern though, not every experience was the best. In truth, Fey downright hated her time with a certain reality star, and she didn't shy away from the juicy details either.
We'll revisit that situation, along with Fey stating that she's happy to no longer be part of the show. Let's explain why.
Updated on January 29, 2022: This conversation between Tina Fey and Howard Stern happened in 2006, back when Paris Hilton was still at the height of her fame, and years before Tina Fey would become a household name. A few days after Fey made the inflammatory comments on Stern's show, she told a journalist from Rolling Stone that she "felt bad" about how mean she was to Hilton, and she also mentioned that her mother was upset with her for making the comments. Since then, it doesn't seem as if either Tina Fey or Paris Hilton has commented on the situation any further. If there is still any bad blood remaining between the two, it hasn't led to more drama. And although Tina Fey walked back her harsh words about Paris, Fey has still earned a reputation over the years for being judgemental and self-righteous, in part because of what she said about Hilton.
'SNL' Has Been Under Fire Several Times
In recent years, celebs have stepped up and spoken out against SNL. Dave Chappelle is a recent example, who took aim at the show on the 'Joe Rogan Experience'. Dave stated that the show isn't "woke enough," following the Elon Musk episode. Tina Fey also stated to People that she's glad to have moved on given the political climate going on in the world, "The culture is so ugly and the political climate is so ugly. We would always have everybody on because you could,” Fey said. “You’d have Bush Sr. come do a thing with Dana Carvey before I worked there. It’s so truly ugly now.”
Fey would further explain the current climate in the world, referencing a Jimmy Fallon moment, "It’s something they butted up against later, with Trump. Poor Jimmy, that was sort of business as usual,” she said. “You wouldn’t think, like, ‘Oh, you can’t have a presidential candidate on your talk show.’ But the world had changed. He’s since very much realized that.”
Well, turns out, the reality star that Fey disliked also changed in recent years, taking a step back from the spotlight, until now. However, it likely won't change Fey's perception.
Paris Hilton Didn't Mesh With The SNL Crew
SNL producers took a chance and thought, "hmm, maybe in this environment she'll be different". Fey quickly learned that was not going to be the case. She revealed all to Howard Stern, "The people at SNL were like maybe she'll be fun, maybe she won't take herself so seriously. She takes herself so seriously! She's unbelievably dumb and so proud of how dumb she is. She looks like a tr*nny up close."
To make matters worse, Hilton wasn't easy to deal with. She wasn't a fan of the writing and asked for a certain sketch to be edited. Of course, that further angered Fey and the rest of the crew, "She was awful. People never come in and say 'I'm not doing that.' So, this guy Jim Downey wrote a really, really funny sketch, it was supposed to be Lorne Michaels just finding out that she had a sex tape and telling her she couldn't host the show because SNL has standards... So she was like 'I'm not doing it!' and refused to come out of her dressing room. Also, you would walk down the hall and find what just looked like nasty wads of Barbie hair on the stairs... Her hair is like a Fraggle."
Hilton would suggest making fun of girls she disliked, and apparently Jessica Simpson was at the very top of the list. Fey would also mention that the cast had a bet going during Hilton's time on the show, "The cast had a bet if she would ask anyone on the cast anything about themselves, you know like how are you? Where are you from? Anything. I think Seth Meyers won because, at one point, she asked him if Maya Rudolph was Italian."
Given her new demeanor, it would be interesting to see if Paris would do things differently today and if her immaturity had a lot to do with her controversial time on the show.
Credit to Tina Fey for not pulling any punches, clearly, not every guest is met with excitement and enthusiasm by those on the show. Hilton might go down as one of the worst, she wasn't a team player and that hurt her cause.