Tina Fey and Her Husband Jeff Richmond's Love Story Involved Amy Poehler and Chocolate Cake
Tina Fey is as talented as they come in the comedy department — after all, there is a reason she and Amy Poehler are asked to cohost the Golden Globes year after year. So naturally, we weren't too surprised to learn that humor played a role in how the Mean Girls writer met her husband, composer Jeff Richmond.
It all started back in the early 1990s. Per the New York Post, after Jeff had finished studying music theory and composition at Kent State University, he and his friends moved to Chicago to open a theater. He eventually found a gig as an in-house pianist at Del Close's ImprovOlympic Theater, which happens to be where many Saturday Night Live comedians get their start.
Meanwhile, Tina had found herself taking improv classes at that same spot after finishing up her time at the University of Virginia studying drama. In 1993, Jeff met both Tina and Amy there.
"I’m the guy sitting there at the piano watching everybody audition, and Tina and Amy were among the very best," he told the New York Post.
When they all started hanging out offstage, Jeff recalled that Tina always knew how to make him laugh.
"She used to eat a lot of chocolate cake in those days, and she’d black up one of her teeth during conversation," he remembered. "It may be losing something in translation here, but it was very funny and very, very adorable."
Right away, Tina also knew there was something there.
"We met when I was 24. He's nine years older than I am," Tina told Women's Health. "It was actually a really great age difference because he was much more mature than someone my own age. There was no game playing or 'I'll call you tomorrow.' It was a very easy, respectful relationship from the beginning, and it very quickly and easily became quite solid."
According to what Jeff and Tina told Vanity Fair, they fell in love quickly after spending an afternoon at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. Both of them eventually got jobs at Second City. Tina then moved to New York City to write for Saturday Night Live (eventually becoming head writer and a cast member) and Jeff later became the musical director of the sketch show.
They went on to date for seven years before tying the knot in June of 2001. After marrying, both of their careers continued to take off. Tina went on to write and act in Mean Girls in 2004 and star in her own NBC TV series 30 Rock in 2006. Jeff also worked with Tina on 30 Rock, serving as director, music writer, and actor. The pair would later use their talents again for the TV show Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and the Broadway remake of Mean Girls.
In the middle of their booming career success, the two welcomed two daughters — Alice in 2005 and Penelope in 2011.
Today, the couple continues to thrive and will soon hit the 20th anniversary milestone. When asked back in 2008 about their marriage, Jeff told Vanity Fair that he and Tina enjoy a marriage that is "borderline boring — in a good way."
"Like, we never had to deal with any of this, but: adultery. Just looking at examples from other people’s lives, we know that anything like that, messing around, is just such a complete ‘No’ to her," he told the magazine. "And she has her principles and she sticks to her principles more than anybody I’ve ever met in my life."
In the same interview, Tina added: "I don’t enjoy any kind of danger or volatility. I don’t have that kind of ‘I love the bad guys’ thing. No, no thank you. I like nice people."
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