Tina Fey & Jeff Richmond's Marriage Has 'Lasted All These Years' Because It's ‘Borderline Boring’

Apr 14, 2022

Tina Fey is known for her great comedic acting and writing. She first skyrocketed to fame while working on “Saturday Night Live” for almost 10 years from 1997 to 2006. She originally joined the cast as a writer before becoming a head writer and performer.

Afterward, she went on to create and star in the comedy series “30 Rock,” and also created “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.” However, one of Fey’ most well known films to date is still the 2004 movie “Mean Girls,” in which she starred alongside Lindsay Lohan and her real life best friend Amy Poehler.

Fey has time and again shown just how talented she is both in front of the camera and behind the scenes, wearing multiple hats as an actress, comedian, writer, producer and even playwright. In fact, “Mean Girls” the film was turned into a musical and premiered on Broadway in 2018. The process would not have been nearly the same without Fey’s husband Jeff Richmond.

Richmond has talents as an actor and director, but he has found a great amount of success working as a producer and composer, specifically alongside his wife. He produced and composed music for “30 Rock” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” and also directed a few episodes of the former. He was also nominated for the Tony Award for Best Original Score for his work on the musical “Mean Girls.”

Fey and Richmond have been together since the 1990s, and have shown that their relationship is the perfect example of what trust and loyalty looks like. Read on to find out more about how they’ve worked together – professionally and personally – for so long.

Fey and Richmond are both talented on their own, but have shown that they can create great work together. According to Good Housekeeping, the pair first met back in the early 1990s after Richmond finished studying music theory and composition at State University and moved to Chicago to open a theater. He obtained a job as an in-house pianist at Del Close’s ImprovOlympic Theater, which is where many “SNL” cast members get their start.

Fey studied drama at the University of Virginia and ended up taking improv classes at the same theater Richmond was working at. According to Good Housekeeping, Richmond met both Fey and Poehler there in 1993.

Speaking with the New York Post, Richmond talked about what it was like first meeting Fey and recognizing her talents right away. “I’m the guy sitting there at the piano watching everybody audition, and Tina and Amy were among the very best,” he said. “We started hanging out offstage. Tina always made me laugh.” Richmond joked that Fey fell in love with him because “I was the only one who was getting paid back then, so I could pick up the check.”

Fey also knew they had a great connection almost immediately, and spoke with Women’s Health about their age difference of nine years. “It was actually a really great age difference because he was much more mature than someone my own age,” she said. “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.”

Fey is known for her impeccable comedy and for bringing her comedic talents into all she pursues. Of course, her big break was getting an opportunity to pursue her career at the world-famous Saturday Night Live, where she was a writer and improv actress. 

Interestingly, Fey believed that she did not do well in her interview with Lorne Michaels, the creator of SNL, in 1997. Speaking about an opening for the writer's position, Cheatsheet reported that she wrote in her 2011 book "Bossypants," "It seemed promising because I’d heard the show was looking to diversify," and added, "Only in comedy, by the way, does an obedient white girl from the suburbs count as diversity."

Fey recalled, "The only advice anyone had given me about meeting with Lorne was, 'Whatever you do, don’t finish his sentences.'" A woman she knew from Chicago, where she lived before her stint at SNL, had believed she had not been offered a job due to this mistake, and Fey was determined to avoid it at any cost. 

However, the very first question put her determination to the test. "Lorne said, ‘So you’re from…,'" Fey explained. "It seemed to hang there forever. Why wasn’t he finishing the question? If I answered now, would this count as my talking over him? I couldn’t remember how normal human speech patterns worked. Another five seconds went by, and still no more sentence from Lorne." 

Both Michaels and Fey ended up speaking at the exact same time after a long, awkward silence, which made Fey believe that she had most certainly not gotten the job. However, we now know this was not the case, and Fey's incredible career took off. 

In 1997, Fey moved to New York to join the “SNL” crew. Richmond arrived shortly after to become the head of the music department, according to the New York Post. They went on to date for several more years before tying the knot in June 2001. Afterward, they both continued to find great success with their careers, as well as with each other. Fey and Richmond also have two daughters together.

The couple has become a shining example of what trust and loyalty look like in a relationship. Speaking with Vanity Fair, Richmond said that his marriage with Fey is “borderline boring – in a good way.” He explained:

“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. And she has her principles and she sticks to her principles more than anybody I’ve ever met in my life.” 

Fey 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.” Richmond and Fey have since continued to show their compatibility in their relationship and in their work. 

They teamed up to create the musical “Mean Girls,” which went on to be nominated for 12 Tony Awards, according to Thrillist. Richmond said that he and Fey trusted each other’s ideas when it seemed like something wasn’t working. He also said they were open to each other’s suggestions. “That’s how we get things done,” Richmond explained. “And that’s why our marriage has lasted all these years.”

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