Fey and Poehler on prepping for the Golden Globes

By Jacqueline Cutler © Zap2it

If a joint interview with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler is any indication of what the 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards will be like when they host it live Sunday, Jan. 13, on NBC, expect a terrifically funny and spontaneous show.

The pals had yet to do any substantial preparation — or more accurately, any preparation at all — for the show. But that’s understandable given the deadline for this story was three weeks prior to the gala. The night before chatting, Fey had concluded shooting “30 Rock,” and Poehler was still busy with “Parks and Recreation.”

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a small group that chooses the winners, divides the 25 categories between film and TV. The event, which has more the feel of a party than a career-defining marathon production, kicks off the awards season.

What follows is a condensed version of Fey and Poehler’s half-hour chat with Zap2it.

Q: How do you prepare for the Globes?

Poehler: I don’t know. Tina and I have hosted things together and separately, and the nice thing is that we don’t have to prepare, is that we speak a similar language and share a similar vocabulary. And we both know what tone we want to set. It is just about writing jokes. I have very little experience with the Golden Globes. I have attended as a nominee, and I have always marveled at how loose and weird it is.

Fey: We have never done it before. We are not going to prepare too much, right?

The appeal of doing it is it is so low-tech. You don’t have to do a giant musical number or a bunch of pretaped pieces. It is movie stars getting drunk.

Poehler: We should point out that there will be a lot of heavyhitting actors there who tend to stay in character there.

Fey: We are so Method, we will stay in character. The first time we met each other we were pretending to be colonial women. We are going to sleep in the space for a couple of nights before, and also because they would not pay for hotel rooms for us.

Q: And why not make it a come-as-you-are party?

Fey: I am in a baseball shirt, no bra and the yoga pants I slept in.

Poehler: I am in a hooded sweatshirt and tube top as a skirt.

Q: Is there anyone you really want to meet?

Fey: Amy, have you met Angelina?

Poehler: Maybe she’ll come as my date. We are texting.

Fey: The answer really is no. If you work at “SNL,” almost all the people come through at some point as a host or a guest, and you get to see them at their most vulnerable.

Poehler: Robert De Niro was around, and in the beginning, I was so excited to talk to him, and then it was, “Ugh! Robert De Niro will not get out of my office.” It changes so fast.

Q: What makes the Globes different from other awards shows?

Poehler: The Golden Globes are decided by a very small group of people from all over the world. Awards shows are bizarre — unless I receive something, then they are right on the money. It is very strange. The Golden Globes just have a second level of what can be very cool projects that don’t usually get attention. There is something quirky about it, very ripe to make light of. It just feels like when Tina and I were asked to do it, we thought this is our kind of party. I think we are just trying to throw the best party. The biggest difference, and what’s funny and fun to exploit is it’s one of the rare occasions where television and film are together in the same room. The Academy Awards is about the movies. What’s cool about the Golden Globes, especially now with so much great writing in television and so many actors doing both, is it is the room where everyone you kind of want to see is in, and there is an unpredictable element because people are drinking. I am a fan, as you know from the weird stuff I do at awards shows. It’s kind of like why I used to like watching them; some got angry and weepy, and some refused their award, and it’s a tiny sense of danger, and no one took it too seriously. And then things changed, and they take things more seriously.

Q: What don’t we know about the Golden Globes?

Poehler: A lot of people don’t know we decide the winners.

Fey: This is a good time to reach out, to send us alcohol and gifts.

Poehler: People kind of forget that we are the ones who decide. With Hanukkah and Christmas — whatever you are celebrating — just think: How could I make Tina and Amy happy and cast the deciding vote?

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ACROSS

1. “Animal Practice” star (2)

9. “The Killing __”; 2010 Michael Madsen movie

10. “Sesame Street” fellow

11. Suffix for intellect or act

13. Come together

15. “What __ __ Wear”

17. Actress on “Grey’s Anatomy” (2)

18. “__ Plain Sight”

20. Initials for Jayne Meadows’ late hubby

21. Long, long time

23. Mary __ Summers; role on “Gilligan’s Island”

24. Slangy address for a male pal

42. Long-eared animal

43. Andre Braugher drama series (2)

Down

1. “The Brady Bunch” role

2. Author Leon __

3. Doogie or Moesha

4. Setting for “Good Times”: abbr.

5. Neil Patrick Harris’ state of birth: abbr.

6. “__ Coast”; 1968 Richard Boone film

7. Buzzi or Westheimer

8. Dennings of “2 Broke Girls”

9. “Modern Family” star (2)

12. “NCIS: __ __”

14. Hunter, for one

16. “Hollywood Squares” win

19. Role on “Cheers”

20. Unexpected obstacle

22. “__ Ordinary Family”

23. Racer Foyt

27. Turkish felt hat

28. President Hayes’ monogram

30. Soleil Borda’s role on “Still Standing”

31. Pub game projectile

32. RR depots

33. “A Good __”; 2006 Russell Crowe movie

35. Chat room laugh

37. File drawer, perhaps

40. Most-watched series of the 1998-99 season

41. “How to __ a Gentleman”