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The Kennedy Center announced today that Ellen DeGeneres will be the 15th recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. The foundation's chairman explained the choice: "Through her television programs, stand-up appearances, movies, and even commercials, her special brand of humor has allowed us to find hilarity in the mundane and has kept us laughing for years." Movies? I guess they felt that Mark Twain would've loved Mr. Wrong. Watching her Tonight Show clip helped me remember that Ellen was and is an incredibly gifted stand-up, who has since transitioned to have quite a career for himself. She responded to the "honor" with this statement: "To [...]

Have you ever played charades? Isn’t it fine? It usually peaks at whenever someone yells out "Baby Fishmouth" and yet goes on for like 45 minutes more. Watching professional funny people play charades is a different story, however, as it is the best. The teams were Jimmy Fallon, Tracy Morgan, and Jane Krakowski vs. Tina Fey, Jack McBrayer, and Alec (Alex? Alec? Alex? Alec.) Baldwin. One team was good at it and one team was not, can you guess which? What I'm trying to say is, Tina, please come to my next dinner party, we'll play charades and I'll make a ham. Speaking of ham, let's eat breakfast whilst watching [...]

As regular fans of The Chris Gethard Show know, "Checking in With Alyssa" features call-ins from 16-year-old Alyssa. On this week's episode, though, Alyssa was in town, and Gethard put together a fantastically star-studded hour just for her, including visits from Joe Mande, CollegeHumor's Jeff Rubin, Grizz Chapman, 30 Rock writer Kay Cannon, Zachary Levi from Chuck, Jack McBrayer, and SNL's Bobby Moynihan. Oh, and a letter and Subway footlong from Jon Glaser of Delocated, a call-in from Seth Meyers on the west coast, and a video tour of Liz Lemon's office from Tina Fey (how awesome is it that there's a picture of Amy Poehler in [...]

Tina Fey got down to the business of losing her pregnancy weight on Late Night last night, as well as the even more painful business of explaining to her six-year-old how Jane Krakowski's monkey was wearing a building underneath his sailor suit. Kids and their questions, right? They don't understand anything even when it makes perfect sense. To understand why Tina Fey is holding Questlove's afro pick during this clip, read on.

Steve Carell has a lot more in common with pizza than meets the eye. To honor his being named a GQ Man of the Year, his Date Night co-star Tina Fey points out that like pizza, Carell is wonderful, comes in many varieties, and really should have an Emmy by now. (The Pizza Emmys, by the way, are held every third Tuesday in my kitchen and hosted by Johnny Depperoni and Parmesean William Scott.) (Sorry about those puns.)

It has been speculated for a week or so but it still feels nice to get an official word. As we reported, 30 Rock will be given an abbreviated final season. It's sad news for a show arguably still at the height of its powers but it’s a hell of a lot better than it just getting taken off without a finale. In a time rife with cancellation speculation (band name?), it’s nice for a show like 30 Rock to be able to write itself a proper ending; it's what Tina Fey always wanted. No word on Community and Parks & Recreation but things still look solid, [...]

Are you old? Do you love discussing affairs while not eating pie? If so, you might be perfect for the new Nancy Meyers joint. It was announced today that the queen of older folks movies has tapped Tina Fey to play the lead in her film about the relationship between the founder of a fashion Internet company and her intern. Don’t worry, this isn’t just going to be a sequel to The Proposal, as that dashing young intern is being described as an “over-70 widower who is bored with retirement.” May-December fetishist be damn, Meyers describes the love as purely platonic; something Fey has plenty of practice [...]

Tina Fey may be producing Fancy Nancy, based on a series of children's books about a girl named Nancy with a taste for all things you-know-what. It doesn't look like Fey will have an acting role in the film, which is probably good since it saves us all from spending money on a movie made solely for young children who enjoy the finer things in life.

ABC's picked up a pilot starring Mandy Moore as a newlywed who gets a chance to run a cool restaurant in her hometown, bringing her closer to her "needy and high maintenance family." Some may say they have not been anticipating [...]

It was Tina Fey! That sneaky, sneaky genius. She knew what she was doing. It was all an elaborate ruse to keep 30 Rock in the news, and it worked. Because we are all shallow, hungry gossip hounds, grubbling our little paws through the dirt in search of our next schadenfreude fix. Like junkies, or moles.

In Tina Fey's Rock Center interview, Bri-Wiz reveals his sinister plot to call his show Rock Center in order to get traffic from confused viewers looking for 30 Rock. Tina Fey in turn reveals that she originally wanted to call her show Rock Center! Or The Peacock. B-Wall goes on to blame Tina Fey for all of Greece's economic problems, and the two of them dish about which Real Housewives is the best and which one Fey thinks looks like "a fire at a wax museum." Sigh. Only two months till 30 Rock comes back.

Last night, it was announced that longtime 30 Rock executive producer John Riggi signed a very lucrative deal with Warner Brothers TV. Riggi has been with the show since its first season and before that he worked on Will & Grace, The Bernie Mac Show, The Comeback and The Larry Sanders Show. He is the latest in a series of 30 Rock staffers who have signed similar deals. Earlier this week Josh Siegal and Dylan Morgan, who've been with the show for three seasons, signed a big deal with Sony Pictures TV. Two weeks ago, Matt Hubbard, who's been a 30 Rock writer for all six seasons, signed a [...]

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the only person more beloved than Paul Rudd is Tina Fey and the only person more beloved than Tina Fey is Paul Rudd. So what is going to happen when they star in a movie together as each other's LOVE INTERESTS? It's looking like we'll find out with Admission, a "dramatic comedy" in which Fey will play an Ivy League admissions officer, Rudd will play her former college classmate, and we will play Olivia Newton-John's "I Honestly Love You" over and over in our bedrooms as we stare at the poster for this movie and cry.

After making the transition from one American comedy institution (Chicago's Second City Theatre) to another (Saturday Night Live), Tina Fey spent nearly a decade on SNL as a writer (and later a cast member) before creating a comedy powerhouse of her own: the critically-acclaimed NBC sitcom 30 Rock. Fey followed in Conan O'Brien's footsteps by pulling off an unusual and unexpected shift from writing comedy to performing it under Lorne Michaels's watchful eye, and she subsequently established herself as one of the leading comedic voices of her generation. From SNL to Mean Girls to 30 Rock, Fey has navigated her career wisely, creating a resume that's free of any [...]

The Grammy nominations are in, and there's a lotta comedy in there. First, the big one: Best Comedy Album. And the nominees are:

Alpocalypse – "Weird Al" Yankovic [Jive Records]

Finest Hour – Patton Oswalt [Comedy Central Records]

Hilarious – Louis C.K. [Comedy Central Records]

Kathy Griffin: 50 & Not Pregnant – Kathy Griffin [Universal Network Television]

Turtleneck & Chain – The Lonely Island [Universal Republic]

But comedians didn't restrict themselves to the comedy-specific categories alone. Both Tina Fey's Bossypants and Betty White's If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won't) are nominated in the Best Spoken Word Album category. Seth MacFarlane is up for Best [...]