MaryTylerMooreturned theworldonwith her smile.Tina Fey turnedtheworld onwith her Blerg!Dorp! Nerds! and otheroff-kilter utterances as LizLemon on 30Rock. Thatfarcical NBC comedy about alate-night sketch show, echo-ing Feys experience as thefirst female headwriter ofSaturdayNight Live,wonboatloads of Emmys andhelpedmake Fey amovieleading-ladywith comediessuch as BabyMama (2008),DateNight (2010) andAdmission (2013).In MuppetsMostWant-

ed, opening Friday, Fey,43, playsNadya, a guardat the Siberian gulagwhereKermit the Froghas been imprisoned.She spokewithNews-day contributorFrank Lovece.

Ill ask you what Iasked [30 Rockco-star] AlecBaldwin whenhe did a Rus-sian accent inRise of theGuardians:How do youchoose betweenrealistic and BorisBadenov?What did Alec

say?

Hmm. Id have to lookit up. Keep talking while Ido that.I feel like its a fine line

between the two its apretty crazy accent. I tried todo a real one, but then I thinkwe all jacked it up on certainwords, like, obviously, Kyier-mit a really great name fora Russian accent.

OK, heres what Alec said: Itwound up being pretty BorisBadenov, but that was achoice.Alec is pretty good at ac-

cents.We had a dialect coachfor thismovie, JillMc-Cullough. From the time yougot there in themorning, shewould talk to you inwhateveraccent youwere supposed tobe doing, and then shed turn

around to, like, an Irish crewguy and talk to him in an Irishdialect and then talk to some-one fromNorth London in aNorth London accent. I loveher.

I should probably ask, whatsyour take on Alecs NewYork magazine article [inwhich he expressed great

frustration over severalpeople and things, thoughnot 30 Rock nor Fey].I didnt read it, because I

think I thought, Yeah, Ipretty much know this spiel.

Youve talked about beingawkward-looking in youryouth. But you ranked inMaxim one year and onPeoples Most BeautifulPeople list. When did youget hot?

That remains to beseen, Frank. It comesand goes like thewind.

Youre too modest.Even in [the webseries] Comedi-ans in Cars Get-ting Coffee,where its not likeyour Vanity Faircover with full hairand makeup, youlook great.Thank you!

Look, its part ofbeing a woman and

its kind of a shame, butyou have to be a littleconscious of the wayyou look. I cant rolllike Louis CK andjust be, Hey, letsshoot.

You and writing partnerRobert Carlock were doing aTV pilot set on Fire Island.We may eventually do that

we have a couple of pilotswere producing, and thatone hasnt gone forward yet.Were doing a pilot out herewith [writer] Matt Hubbard,set at a womens college, andRobert and I wrote a pilot forEllie Kemper [The Office]that were going to shootnext month.

So you were at Second City,and landed a writing positionat Saturday Night Live.What was it like getting thenews?I think the first person I

called when I heard was[former Second City cast-mate] Amy Poehler. She wasalready living in New Yorkand I started crying becauseI was sort of overwhelmed they literally gave me oneweek to pack up my apart-ment in Chicago and move toNew York. And my boy-friend at the time now myhusband was going tohave to stay in Chicago forwork, and I was kind ofoverwhelmed. . . . I remem-ber Amy laughing and shewas like, How much moneyis it? It was certainly themost money any of us hadmade, and she was, like,laughing really hard, like,You gotta do this!

Last thing: You have myfavorite line in MuppetsMostWanted.Really! What is it?

Goodnight, Danny Trejo![Laughs] I think we may

have come up with that onthe fly, but I cant remember.I dont think it was in thescript. Id have to check. ButIm so glad its your favoriteline!

Well, then . . . Goodnight,Tina Fey!Goodnight, Frank!

fastchat { Tina Fey }

Long Islanders,prepare to meet yourWaterloo.Themusic of ABBA,

Swedens biggest importsince the Volvo, takescenter stage at the Para-mount inHuntingtonwithABBAMania, a showfeaturing four look-alikesperforming the groupshitswhile dressed in discocostumes fit for a dancingqueen or king. Tickets forWednesdays 8 p.m. showare $29.50-$65.The timing couldnt be

better.Not only does 2014mark 40 years since thefoursomeconqueredAmer-icawith its hit, Waterloo,butMarch is shapingup asa bigmonth forABBA fans.OnMarch 6, Mamma

Mia! overtook Rent tobecome the ninth-longest-running show inBroadwayhistory. Then last week,Swedish publisherMaxStrm released ABBA:TheOfficial Photo Book,tomark 40 years sinceABBAs Eurovision SongContestwin. The book, inthe format of an LP, con-tainsmore than 600 pic-tures and back stories.Singer BjrnUlvaeusreveals that ABBAsglittery garb came aboutbecause Swedish tax lawsallowed band outfits to bedeductible if theywerentworn as street clothes.We looked like nuts in

those years, he says.Nobody can have been asbadly dressed onstage aswewere. DANIEL BUBBEO

GETTY IMAGES / JASONMERRITT

Mammamia,here comesABBAMania

Fans of the real ABBAhave a lot to dance about.

AP

plus

Tina Fey has a role inMuppets Most Wanted,which opens Friday.] See a trailer for the film:newsday.com/movies

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