Salon.com > Tina Fey http://www.salon.com Wed, 03 Jul 2013 01:14:35 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Stop comparing everything to “Girls”! http://www.salon.com/2013/05/17/stop_comparing_everything_to_girls/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/17/stop_comparing_everything_to_girls/#comments Fri, 17 May 2013 22:45:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13300684 "Frances Ha," a film co-written by Noah Baumbach and the actress Greta Gerwig, is about a woman in her late 20s who is thwarted in her desire to become an artist by a lack of resources.

So naturally it must be just like "Girls"! Except it isn't. At all.

Hannah Horvath, the hero of "Girls," is younger than Frances and far more confident in her art. Although Hannah's family won't help her pay the bills, she seems to, as of late, magically have enough money to pay the bills every month. Frances, with a few more years of disillusionment under her belt, faces down far more serious challenges than does Hannah -- which isn't a criticism of "Girls."

But none of those differences have stopped the easy comparisons. Turns out there really is a more pernicious and lazy cultural reference than comparing anything in the 1960s to Don Draper's life, or equating anything quirky and indie with "Portlandia." Please, let's come to an understanding: Culture writers of America, we will believe you know about "Girls" even if you don't compare everything about young people in cities to Lena Dunham.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/17/stop_comparing_everything_to_girls/feed/ 27 Courtrooms are inaccessible by design http://www.salon.com/2013/04/07/courtrooms_are_inaccessible_by_design_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/04/07/courtrooms_are_inaccessible_by_design_partner/#comments Sun, 07 Apr 2013 12:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13263174 Full Stop

In a particularly memorable scene from Tina Fey’s now bygone NBC odyssey, "30 Rock," Liz Lemon dons a Princess Leia costume in an attempt to evade jury duty. “I don’t really think it’s fair for me to be on a jury, because I’m a hologram,” she calmly informs the jury clerk, who fails to dismiss her.  The length that Fey goes to to avoid jury duty is the natural conclusion to the average American’s aversion to serving and observing the courts system. The average citizen doesn’t relish the thought of spending time in a courthouse, and generally won’t, unless forced to do so by the state.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/04/07/courtrooms_are_inaccessible_by_design_partner/feed/ 9 Does Tina Fey still have Sarah Palin down? You betcha! http://www.salon.com/2013/03/21/is_tina_feys_palin_impersonation_still_hilarious_you_betcha_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/21/is_tina_feys_palin_impersonation_still_hilarious_you_betcha_partner/#comments Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:18:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13248008 Pajiba

On last night’s "Inside the Actors Studio," Tina Fey was generous enough to bring back her Sarah Palin impression, and given how absolutely fantastic she was, either she knew it was coming, or she’s very quick on her feet.

“What is your view on same-sex marriage?”

“Well, the Bible says it’s gross.”

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/21/is_tina_feys_palin_impersonation_still_hilarious_you_betcha_partner/feed/ 14 “Admission”: Hollywood blandness claims Tina Fey! http://www.salon.com/2013/03/20/admission_hollywood_blandness_claims_tina_fey/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/20/admission_hollywood_blandness_claims_tina_fey/#comments Wed, 20 Mar 2013 20:20:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13247074 Is someone deliberately sabotaging the movie careers of beloved TV comedy actors? Or is some inexorable force of Marxian historical overdetermination at work, compelling Steve Carell and Tina Fey to make the kinds of sub-mediocre, machine-produced formula pictures that would once have starred Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston (and may yet!), and so rendering irrelevant all the qualities that made them irresistible on television?

I’m being slightly unfair to “Admission,” a rambling, well-meaning and largely unfunny Ivy League comedy that tries to establish Fey – famed for her Sarah Palin impersonation on “Saturday Night Live” and her star/writer/creator role on “30 Rock” – as a rom-com leading lady. That doesn't turn out to be a good idea, but my actual point was that Vince Vaughn would never have taken the role Paul Rudd actually plays, as the do-gooder founder of a crunchy alternative high school in the New England woods. The movie’s just too boring and middlebrow; there’s not enough sports talk or jokes about how chicks are maddening and gays are, you know, so gay.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/20/admission_hollywood_blandness_claims_tina_fey/feed/ 8 Lily Tomlin: “Young people don’t even know who Bella Abzug was” http://www.salon.com/2013/03/19/lily_tomlin_young_people_dont_even_know_who_bella_abzug_was/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/19/lily_tomlin_young_people_dont_even_know_who_bella_abzug_was/#comments Tue, 19 Mar 2013 15:23:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13245064 Lily Tomlin doesn't just play a feminist in the upcoming film "Admission" -- she's been a real-life pioneer, making her way in the movie industry and openly sharing life with her partner, Jane Wagner. In "Admission," Tomlin milks the movement for laughs as Tina Fey's mother, a woman who lives in isolation, building her own bicycle and reading up on theory; she even demands that Fey's character call her by her first name: "Mom" is too outmoded a term. We spoke to Tomlin about "Admission" and her life in Hollywood.

What inspired your performance as a radical feminist?

I was part of the feminist movement! I knew feminists who'd written important books. I felt I understood a little bit about where Susannah was coming from, how she'd lived her life, or tried to live her life. I didn't really input dialogue except in the most perfunctory ways. Ideally I wanted to have -- I'd had a double mastectomy as the character. I wanted her to have a breast plate tattoo -- that empowerment, that Amazonian response, was part of her statement too. But it was a demanding thing to get finished. I settled for a tattoo of Bella Abzug, even though young women don't even know who Bella was.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/19/lily_tomlin_young_people_dont_even_know_who_bella_abzug_was/feed/ 2 Jeopardy joins in on dissing Taylor Swift http://www.salon.com/2013/03/14/jeopardy_joins_in_on_dissing_taylor_swift/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/14/jeopardy_joins_in_on_dissing_taylor_swift/#comments Thu, 14 Mar 2013 15:27:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13228922 Taylor Swift made some enemies last week when she attacked Golden Globe hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, implying that they'd "burn in hell" for taking a shot at the actress and her tendency to use failed relationships into confessional, tell-all songs.

As the Internet chastised Swift for not being able to take a joke, and she seemed more fragile when she admitted in a InStyle U.K. interview that  she's afraid of  "being awful and intolerable. Alone. Laying in a marble bathtub by myself, like sad, with a glass of wine just complaining that my life ended up alone because I pushed everyone away because I thought I was too good to hang out with anybody."

But any sympathy extended towards Swift was short-lived when it was discovered that she her much-adorned fan mail is in a Nashville dumpster; now the punchline that is Swift's love life is too good for even the characteristically dry game show Jeopardy to pass up.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/14/jeopardy_joins_in_on_dissing_taylor_swift/feed/ 1 Tina Fey curses out photographer when asked about Taylor Swift http://www.salon.com/2013/03/08/tina_fey_curses_out_photographer_when_asked_about_taylor_swift/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/08/tina_fey_curses_out_photographer_when_asked_about_taylor_swift/#comments Fri, 08 Mar 2013 15:55:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13222946 Tina Fey used an obscene term, twice, to a photographer who was pestering her on a New York street about her purported war of words with Taylor Swift.

After the comedian and co-host Amy Poehler joked about the country singer's dating history at the Golden Globes, Swift used a common quote in Vanity Fair: "There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women."

When a member of paparazzi asked Fey, "Do you think Taylor Swift overreacted with the joke?," the "30 Rock" actress used a well-known obscene expression; she then laughed derisively and walked away, using the expression once more. Fey's frustration may stem in part from the fact that she has already responded, saying, "I did not see that one coming. It was a joke. It was a lighthearted joke. And it’s a shame that she didn’t take it in the crazy-aunt spirit in which it was intended." In the past week, the actress, who's gone from a low-rated but beloved NBC series to carrying romantic comedies like "Admission," also noted how horrified she was that photos of her swimming on vacation were captured by paparazzi."

"My nightmare came true and I was photographed in my bathing suit in Florida. Thankfully, I was mostly submerged," she said.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/08/tina_fey_curses_out_photographer_when_asked_about_taylor_swift/feed/ 10 Tina Fey defends Taylor Swift jab, says it was “a lighthearted joke” http://www.salon.com/2013/03/06/tina_fey_defends_taylor_swift_jab_says_it_was_a_light_hearted_joke/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/06/tina_fey_defends_taylor_swift_jab_says_it_was_a_light_hearted_joke/#comments Wed, 06 Mar 2013 21:50:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13221113 Taylor Swift, a girl who doesn't "wanna end up being awful and intolerable," or alone "because I thought I was too good to hang out with anybody," sounded just that in Vanity Fair yesterday when she insulted American national treasures Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, implying that they would go to hell for mocking her at the Golden Globes.

Swift referenced a Madeleine Albright quote by way of Katie Couric: ‘There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women," referring, in part, to Fey and Poehler, who joked that the serial dater and confessional singer should "stay away from Michael J. Fox’s son.”

Poehler apologized to Swift for the misunderstanding yesterday, saying, "Aw, I feel bad if she was upset. I am a feminist, and she is a young and talented girl. That being said, I do agree I am going to hell. But for other reasons. Mostly boring tax stuff."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/06/tina_fey_defends_taylor_swift_jab_says_it_was_a_light_hearted_joke/feed/ 16 Taylor Swift disses Tina Fey and Amy Poehler http://www.salon.com/2013/03/05/taylor_swift_disses_tina_fey_and_amy_poehler/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/05/taylor_swift_disses_tina_fey_and_amy_poehler/#comments Tue, 05 Mar 2013 22:20:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13219205 Pretty much everyone loved Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as hosts of the 2013 Golden Globe Awards -- everyone, that is, except Taylor Swift. During the ceremony Fey and Poehler threw a sharp jab at the singer known on tabloids for her confessional songs about her string of high-profile relationships; Fey said, “You know what, Taylor Swift? You stay away from Michael J Fox’s son." Poehler joked that maybe Swift should "go for it."

The comment even prompted Michael J. Fox to criticize her, saying, "What a way to build a career" (though he and Swift have since reconciled). But Swift still has issues with Poehler and Fey, it seems. The singer this month indirectly fired back at the comedians in Vanity Fair, dismissing Poehler and Fey as mean girls:

“'You know, Katie Couric is one of my favorite people,' Taylor Swift tells Vanity Fair contributing editor Nancy Jo Sales on the subject of mean girls in general and in response to an incident at this year’s Golden Globes, where Amy Poehler and Tina Fey mocked her highly scrutinized love life. 'Because she said to me she had heard a quote that she loved, that said, 'There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.’"

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/05/taylor_swift_disses_tina_fey_and_amy_poehler/feed/ 48 Tina Fey: She’s on everyone’s A-list, including Hollywood’s http://www.salon.com/2013/03/01/tina_fey_rules_the_world/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/01/tina_fey_rules_the_world/#comments Fri, 01 Mar 2013 16:58:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13215835 A wise woman once said that women in comedy are labeled "crazy" after a certain age. In a land of "Hangover" franchises and comic book blockbusters, a female on the verge of 43 is not often considered a hot commodity. One whose television series has recently ended would generally be considered a tough sell, lucky to get a steady gig as the flustered mom on another, lesser sitcom, or supporting roles as the wisecracking co-worker in a string of forgettable chick movies. She would not be regarded in savior-like terms. That is, unless she happened to be Tina Fey -- that same woman who said that line about being labeled crazy.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/01/tina_fey_rules_the_world/feed/ 19 Must-see morning clip: Tina Fey tells David Letterman about her life post-”30 Rock” http://www.salon.com/2013/02/28/must_see_morning_clip_tina_fey_tells_david_letterman_about_her_life_post_30_rock/ http://www.salon.com/2013/02/28/must_see_morning_clip_tina_fey_tells_david_letterman_about_her_life_post_30_rock/#comments Thu, 28 Feb 2013 14:17:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13214533 "I feel like I'm struggling," Tina Fey told "Late Show" host David Letterman about her life now that the seven season-long show, "30 Rock" has ended. "We were just in this old factory, the studio, for seven years, and now I'm trying to re-enter society and I've been in this building for 18 hours a day, and I feel like I just got out of prison and I don't know how to act right."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/02/28/must_see_morning_clip_tina_fey_tells_david_letterman_about_her_life_post_30_rock/feed/ 1 Tina Fey: “No way” would I host Oscars http://www.salon.com/2013/02/27/tina_fey_no_way_would_i_host_oscars/ http://www.salon.com/2013/02/27/tina_fey_no_way_would_i_host_oscars/#comments Wed, 27 Feb 2013 03:43:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13213217 Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are on most everyone's short list to host the Oscars, after their star turn at the Golden Globes and the unfunny douchebaggery of Seth MacFarlane.

But Fey told the Huffington Post that she has no interest in the job. "I just feel like that gig is so hard," she said. "Especially for, like, a woman -- the amount of months that would be spent trying on dresses alone ... no way."

The reaction to Amy and you hosting the Golden Globes was really great.
Oh, thank you. We had fun.

It's disappointing to hear, "No way." I was hoping for at least "a one in a million chance."
I wish I could tell you there was.

Anyone you would like to see host next year? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/02/27/tina_fey_no_way_would_i_host_oscars/feed/ 11 “30 Rock’s” great finale: “These were the best days of my flerm” http://www.salon.com/2013/02/01/30_rocks_great_finale_these_were_the_best_days_of_my_flerm/ http://www.salon.com/2013/02/01/30_rocks_great_finale_these_were_the_best_days_of_my_flerm/#comments Fri, 01 Feb 2013 03:51:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13187640 “30 Rock” infamously began the same autumn as another NBC series set behind the scenes of a sketch comedy show: Aaron Sorkin’s much-trumpeted, totally pretentious “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.” “Studio 60” blew a lot of hot air about television, about how it was a glorious medium with a storied history that had been degraded by partisanship and celebrity and evangelicals and could really only be rescued by a dedicated band of writers and comedians who knew what good was. It was cancelled after one season.

“30 Rock,” in its own way, agreed that TV was an occasionally glorious and largely degraded medium. But instead of pontificating about it, its dedicated band of writers and comedians spent seven years mocking, skewering, filleting, and satirizing TV and the TV business, cleverly laying open its stupidity and venality in thousands upon thousands of brilliant jokes from  “MILF Island” to NBC’s just recently revealed policy of giving its employees flush buddies to save water. “30 Rock” was honest — or over-the-top surreal and ridiculous, if you prefer — about TV’s dark side, but by its very existence it endlessly refuted, just like Kenneth the Page, that crap was all there could be.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/02/01/30_rocks_great_finale_these_were_the_best_days_of_my_flerm/feed/ 19 How should “30 Rock” end? http://www.salon.com/2013/01/31/how_should_30_rock_end/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/31/how_should_30_rock_end/#comments Thu, 31 Jan 2013 22:24:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13116518 For the past four months, we've grappled with our grief as "30 Rock's" series finale was drawing closer and closer, by reaching out to kindred spirits, and asking — teary-eyed, in earnest — "How does it all end?"

And now that dreaded night has arrived: The last episode airs tonight, and before it does, we'd like to share the hilarious fantasies of how our favorite TV sitcom wraps up:

 

Patton Oswalt, stand-up comedian, actor and author of "Zombie Spaceship Wasteland." 

What happens in the last episode of "30 Rock"?  Easy.  Jack and Liz get together.  That’s what it says here in the script they sent me.  I play the minister who marries them in the final scene.  Wait, am I not supposed to be revealing this?

Rachel Shukert, author of the forthcoming novel "Starstruck":

My fantasy is that Tina Fey will break the fourth wall during the "30 Rock" series finale and tell us that the last year has been a total fake-out and the show isn’t ending at all. But this seems unlikely. Still, it feels only appropriate for a show so unabashedly about the glories (and failures) of television itself to take inspiration from the great series finales of the past. So here goes.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/01/31/how_should_30_rock_end/feed/ 6 How Jack Donaghy won and influenced people http://www.salon.com/2013/01/31/how_jack_donaghy_won_and_influenced_people/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/31/how_jack_donaghy_won_and_influenced_people/#comments Thu, 31 Jan 2013 19:01:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13186959 Jack Donaghy was the best worst CEO (his every idea tanked — well, "Homonyms" worked in Iran. And, oh, how I wished "MILF Island" were a real show). And maybe he wasn't the best ex-husband, either — his first ex-wife, Bianca, certainly didn't think so when she filed for divorce and he vindictively demanded she return all of his love letters to her, all of her parents' love letters, all of the art supplies he bought for her on her 40th birthday, and the subsequent projects she made with them. But he was as devoted to the mother he loathed as he was to the political party he loved (the GOP, naturally). And he would do anything for GE, even run a network into the ground and take on a mess of a mentee like Liz Lemon, whom he came to love. Why? Because the self-possessed, paternalistic, perfectly coiffed neocon loved nothing more than dispensing advice — and he believed she needed it most. After seven seasons, we will miss hearing his unsolicited opinions, that's for sure. Here are his most memorable bits of counsel.

Jack Donaghy, on life:

Never go with a hippie to a second location.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/01/31/how_jack_donaghy_won_and_influenced_people/feed/ 5 “Mean Girls”: The musical? http://www.salon.com/2013/01/28/mean_girls_the_musical/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/28/mean_girls_the_musical/#comments Mon, 28 Jan 2013 15:50:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13183900 The beloved 2004 comedy "Mean Girls," which featured "SNL" talent like Tina Fey, Tim Meadows, Amy Poehler and Ana Gasteyer, might be coming to the stage as a musical. At this weekend's SAG award ceremony, where she won for best actress in a comedy series, the comedian told E! that "I'm trying to develop it, actually, with my husband, who does all the music for '30 Rock'. And I think Paramount's onboard, yeah."

Fey, who wrote the screenplay for the film, took a jab at  "American Idol" mean girl Mariah Carey , saying that based on her recent spat with Nicki Minaj she "can play Amy Poehler's part in the musical."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/01/28/mean_girls_the_musical/feed/ 0 Lizzing to keep from crying: Reflecting on “30 Rock’s” best episodes http://www.salon.com/2013/01/26/lizzing_to_keep_from_crying_reflecting_on_30_rocks_best_episodes/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/26/lizzing_to_keep_from_crying_reflecting_on_30_rocks_best_episodes/#comments Sat, 26 Jan 2013 17:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13182307 Heartbreakingly, “30 Rock” will air its very last episode on Thursday. Rather than cry about it, here are 10 episodes to make you laugh — and remind you just how zany and hilarious “30 Rock” has been. It’s been so great, in fact, that it’s hard to pick just 10 episodes: Regrettably absent from this list are Jackie Jormp-Jormp, Liz’s Princess Leia impersonation, Jon Hamm and many, many other utterly delightful absurdities. But for now, dig into Dennis Duffy, Joan of Snark, Kim Jong-il — and Lizzing!!!

 

BONUS: Relive the magic of this, the perfect scene from the perfect "30 Rock" episode.


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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/01/26/lizzing_to_keep_from_crying_reflecting_on_30_rocks_best_episodes/feed/ 11 Stop dumping on Lena Dunham! http://www.salon.com/2013/01/14/stop_dumping_on_lena_dunham/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/14/stop_dumping_on_lena_dunham/#comments Mon, 14 Jan 2013 23:19:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13170976 I couldn’t help noticing last evening, as I cheered for Lena Dunham, who won two Golden Globes, that those around her were decidedly less enthusiastic. Chilly even. I understand that no one likes to lose or see their friends lose, but faking some gracious smiles (you are supposed to be actors, after all) would have been nice. As well as appropriate, given that Dunham is clearly a talented young woman with great promise. I’d think that everyone in that room, knowing how the business works, would go out of their way to applaud the young and gifted Dunham if for no other reason than they might want to ask her for a job one day. If for no other reason, ladies, than she’s a young woman making it in a world still dominated by old men. And, hopefully, not being of a generation where women have felt pitted against each other — token against token — she will be good for the "girls."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/01/14/stop_dumping_on_lena_dunham/feed/ 125 Must-see morning clip http://www.salon.com/2013/01/14/must_see_morning_clip_88/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/14/must_see_morning_clip_88/#comments Mon, 14 Jan 2013 14:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13170479 Comedians Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, the first female pair to ever co-host the Golden Globes, lost no time laying on the jokes in their opening monologue. Of course they ripped into three-time host Ricky Gervais, widely criticized for his off-color humor at the awards show, saying,"Ricky Gervais could not be here tonight because he is technically no longer in show business. We want to assure you that we have no intention of being edgy or offensive tonight because as Ricky Gervais found out the hard way, when you run afoul of the Hollywood Foreign Press, they make you host this show two more times."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/01/14/must_see_morning_clip_88/feed/ 2 The 10 most award-worthy moments of the 2013 Golden Globes http://www.salon.com/2013/01/14/the_10_most_award_worthy_moments_of_the_2013_golden_globes/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/14/the_10_most_award_worthy_moments_of_the_2013_golden_globes/#comments Mon, 14 Jan 2013 12:55:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13170192 Last night's Golden Globe Awards saw top honors go to "Les Misérables," "Argo," "Girls" and "Homeland" — and big laughs for co-hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler (who were somewhat absentee after the monologue). Here are the top 10 moments worthy of a Globe themselves.

 

 

 

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