Tina Fey talks Emmy power with Hollywood Reporter

Tina Fey at the 2012 Emmy Awards

It’s easy to think that NBC’s critically lauded comedy “30 Rock” — co-helmed and written by Chicago-trained Tina Fey and Robert Carlock (who are working on another project together) for seven seasons before it ended in late January of this year — has always been beloved.

But, of course, that was far from true during the early going, when it struggled for recognition.

“The first year, we were such a long shot that we were seated up in the back in the cable-reality section,” Fey told the Hollywood Reporter of her crew’s first visit to the Emmy Awards. “Then we won best comedy. Alec [Baldwin] was so sure we weren’t going to win, he was in the bathroom.”

The show went on to earn 100 Emmy nominations, winning 22 times. Fey calls the honors “a tool for our survival for many years.”

Read the whole story at www.hollywoodreporter.com.

And here’s an interview with Fey, Carlock and Fey’s husband/”30 Rock” composer Jeff Richmond.