'Saturday Night Live': Tina Fey Returns With Celebrity-Filled Q&A Monologue

Tina Fey began the season 43rd season finale of Saturday Night Live with a cannot-miss monologue [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

Tina Fey began the season 43rd season finale of Saturday Night Live with a cannot-miss monologue featuring cameos from Jerry Seinfeld and a surprising number of other stars.

Fey started off by celebrating the 20th anniversary of joining the SNL family. She also celebrated her birthday on Friday. Seinfeld then asked Fey if she thought the celebrity guests were overshadowed the main cast. Then, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Rock, Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, Fred Armisen and Donald Glover asked their own questions.

Glover, who hosted an episode just a couple of weeks ago, asked if anyone had seen the hat he left behind.


At the end, Tracy Morgan stopped by to give Fey a special birthday message.

Fans at home were excited by the monologue. One 30 Rock fan could not miss that reunion.

Glover's appearance had several fans laughing.

Fey hosted the episode with musical guest Nicki Minaj. Her hosting gig follows the success of her new Broadway adaptation of Mean Girls, which earned 12 Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical. Fey was nominated for Best Book of a Musical, while her husband Jeff Richmond and Neil Benjamin were nominated for Best Score. Taylor Louderman, Grey Hanson and Ashley Park all earned nominations for their performances.

This is Fey's first time hosting SNL since 2015, when she co-hosted with fellow SNL alum Amy Poehler. However, she has made several appearances on the show in between. Back in February, Fey appeared in the "Revolutionary War" sketch representing Philadelphia, while Natalie Portman represented Boston in a pre-Super Bowl battle.

Fey also made surprise cameos in Felicity Jones' 2017 episode, and the 2016 episodes hosted by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Ronda Rousey.

Ahead of her SNL appearance, Fey stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to chat with another fellow SNL alum. She told Fallon she wrote a letter to herself last month, with ideas for sketches on her episode. They include a reboot of Jersey Shore starring robots, a commercial for a breast pump that "rates your boobs" and a political sketch called "Mitt Promney."

Fey also wanted a sketch for a Queer Eye spinoff called Queer Eye for the Pad Thai that is "just Antoni in his underpants and he never cooks the pad thai."

She also suggested sketches with a Playboy bunny who has "buck teeth and poops pellets." She also created a character named Sheila who brings her cat with her on a date.

Aside from SNL, Fey is a two-time Golden Globe winner for her performance as Liz Lemon on 30 Rock, which she also created. She also won an Emmy for her 2015 SNL hosting gig with Poehler.

In 2002, she won an Emmy as a member of the SNL writing team and has another Emmy from 2009, when she memorably played Sarah Palin on SNL. She also has four Emmys for her work on 30 Rock.

Photo by: Rosalind O'Connor/NBC

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