Tina Fey and Rachel Bloom are changing the way female comics engage with "male gatekeepers"

Slate

Fey's recent appearance on David Letterman's My Next Guest Needs No Introduction and Bloom's recent interview conducted by Marc Maron on his WTF podcast were remarkable, says Lili Loofbourow, because both interviews felt "thrillingly blunt." "Real cultural transformation is as laggy as its effects are subtle and hard to name, but the novelty is this: Neither Fey nor Bloom court Letterman’s or Maron’s approval," says Loofbourow. "In fact, Fey repeatedly rejects it. When Letterman raises Fey’s controversial August 'sheet-caking' bit (from SNL) and tries to declare it a success, she doesn’t let him, implicitly rejecting the authority he (just as implicitly) claims to pronounce her comedy good or bad. Both women are affable and funny interviewees, but when it comes time to indulge in the tired mutual-approval party these comedy chats so often become, Fey and Bloom refuse to participate. 'Well, dig into that. Why?' Bloom replies when Maron says he considers Crazy Ex-Girlfriend a 'guilty pleasure.' After describing for him plot points (including a suicide attempt) that Maron knew nothing about, Bloom pleasantly observes that shows written by and starring women tend to be dismissed as fluff—even after Maron, thinking aloud, admits he hadn’t thought the phrase through. It’s a small thing, but if you know the codes of etiquette these women operate under—and carefully dissect in their comedy—it’s pretty wild." ALSO: Tina Fey pitches Nicki Minaj a sketch idea in SNL promo.