Humor & Life Quote by Tina Fey

Saying you “dreamed of ending up on Saturday Night Live” is the polite version of a dirtier truth: for a certain kind of comedy kid, SNL isn’t just a job, it’s the unofficial visa stamp into legitimacy. Tina Fey’s line understands that mythology and then punctures it with a perfectly Fey-ish downgrade. The dream is real, sure, but the second sentence swerves into imposter comedy: “I’ll just keep doing this as long as I can get away with it.” Not “as long as I’m great,” not “as long as I earn it.” Get away with it. That’s the joke and the confession.

The intent is double-edged. She’s bonding with a room of peers by naming a shared aspiration, then re-framing the entire enterprise as a kind of elaborate con: comedians sneaking into prestige institutions with nothing but timing and nerve. The subtext is survival. In a business built on instantaneous judgment and constant replacement, the healthiest stance might be temporary ownership. You don’t possess the platform; you borrow it until it’s reclaimed.

Context matters: Fey came up through Second City and the SNL writers’ room before becoming head writer and on-air star, all while navigating an industry that still treated female authority in comedy as a novelty act. “Get away with it” becomes a quiet critique of gatekeeping: success can feel less like a coronation than like slipping past the bouncer. It also captures why SNL remains potent cultural currency: it turns instability into a brand, and performers into anxious overachievers who learn to laugh at the anxiety before it eats them alive.