The Saturday Night Live Star Who Angrily Called Tina Fey The C-Bomb

As adults, most of us have probably dealt with one form of namecalling or another over the years, but very, very few of us are head writers on Saturday Night Live being called a “cunt” by a coworker. That’s what happened to Tina Fey, though, back in her early SNL days, and she revealed to Howard Stern that it was none other than Colin Quinn that dropped the C-bomb on her.

And it wasn’t even to her face or behind her back, either. It was through a voicemail message, which is probably the most passive-aggressive way of insulting someone. It’s been a while – Quinn left SNL in 2000, the same year that Fey joined the cast – but Fey still recalls her theory on why it happened.

I was trying to help him with a show he was working on and I think his anxiety about the writing of the show spilled over. ‘Cause it was very random…Usually if someone will call you that, you’re like, ‘I know what I did.’

Colin Quinn, a comic whose pointed rage I often find quite amusing, is the kind of person who probably calls a mailbox a cunt if the letter he’s waiting for isn’t inside. And Fey isn’t above using the aggressive word herself, as she also told Stern she called a London woman that because the woman was being rude. Still, it’s always going to be harsher when it’s a man calling a woman that, especially someone in high authority.

There are no grudges held over this incident, though. Fey says that she and Quinn made up at the SNL 40 anniversary special, and she’d even asked him several times to appear on 30 Rock, although he refused each time. Yet he appeared on Girls, because okay then.

Quinn got some attention over this after Fey’s interview was heard by the masses, and he took to Twitter to say his thing.

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If anyone else has any other recordings of Colin Quinn saying terrible things, let us know. Otherwise, give a listen to the full clip from The Howard Stern Show below.

You’ll be able to see Fey this weekend, teaming up with her former Saturday Night Live co-star Amy Poehler for the comedy Sisters, which will definitely win out the weekend’s box office, since nobody cares about that old Star Wars thing, right?

Nick Venable
Assistant Managing Editor

Nick is a Cajun Country native and an Assistant Managing Editor with a focus on TV and features. His humble origin story with CinemaBlend began all the way back in the pre-streaming era, circa 2009, as a freelancing DVD reviewer and TV recapper.  Nick leapfrogged over to the small screen to cover more and more television news and interviews, eventually taking over the section for the current era and covering topics like Yellowstone, The Walking Dead and horror. Born in Louisiana and currently living in Texas — Who Dat Nation over America’s Team all day, all night — Nick spent several years in the hospitality industry, and also worked as a 911 operator. If you ever happened to hear his music or read his comics/short stories, you have his sympathy.