‘AMERICAN Idol” judge Paula Abdul left be hind some bad blood with “30 Rock” star Tina Fey, following a “disastrous” turn as a guest host on “Saturday Night Live” in 2005.
“A year later I saw her on a flight,” Fey tells the latest edition of Playboy. “We both looked at each other like, ‘Do I know that girl?’ And then we both had the same moment of recognition, and she was like ‘uuuggh.’ I saw it register on her face that she had had a terrible time with us.”
Fey says Abdul “was awful,” on “SNL.”
“I was pregnant at the time and probably a little moody, but I remember thinking, ‘She’s a disaster! I gotta prop this lady up and get her on TV.’ ”
How was Abdul a disaster?
“In the ways she generally appears to be,” Fey says. “It was an ‘American Idol’ sketch, and she wanted to change parts. So Amy Poehler had to play her.”
Fey also admits that Alec Baldwin’s character on “30 Rock,” peculiar network boss Jack Donaghy, is based on her old boss, “SNL” chief Lorne Michaels.
“I may be the only ‘SNL’ alumnus who has created a character based on Lorne who’s not lying about it,” she says, alluding to Dr. Evil from “Austin Powers” (Mike Myers), the main character of “Scrooged” (Bill Murray) and the drug company boss from “Brain Candy” (“The Kids in the Hall”).