Tina Fey explains why Ellen will be the first woman to break into late-night TV

(Image credit: Late Night)

last updated 8 January 2015

The late-night TV wars are Tina Fey's SuperBowl, she told Seth Meyers on Wednesday night's Late Night. "I love it so much — I love reading about it, I love talking about it, because I know the players but it doesn't affect me at all." And with no women landing a role in all the recent churn in the late-night TV business — Fallon replacing Leno, Stephen Colbert moving to Letterman's desk, etc. — Fey had a theory about how female entertainers will finally break through to late night. The theory involves cocktail dresses and jackets, and the winner will be daytime TV star Ellen DeGeneres — not, say, Chelsea Handler.

Fey and Meyers go on to talk about baseball and, in an earlier part of the interview, what it was like to be head writer at Saturday Night Live — a job both of them had. If you want some backstory on the discarded Will Forte SNL sketch performed on Late Night on Tuesday, or what it's like to work at SNL, watch the first part of the interview. The Ellen theory is below. --Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.