{"id":150551,"date":"2015-06-10T12:21:08","date_gmt":"2015-06-10T12:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2015\/06\/10\/in-1997-i-moved-from-chicago-to-new-york-to\/"},"modified":"2015-06-10T12:21:08","modified_gmt":"2015-06-10T12:21:08","slug":"in-1997-i-moved-from-chicago-to-new-york-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2015\/06\/10\/in-1997-i-moved-from-chicago-to-new-york-to\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"
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[In 1997], I moved from Chicago to New York to work at Saturday Night Live. I packed up and was going through my things to see what I would take with me and what I\u2019d leave behind. I found an orange folder\u2014a regular school folder\u2014in a bookshelf. As soon as I saw it, I knew what it was. There were quotes written all over the front of it. Some of them were: \u201cGreet everything with \u2018Yes, and\u2026 \u2019\u201d \u201cMake statements instead of putting the burden on others with questions.\u201d \u201cStay in the present, as opposed to focusing on the past or future.\u201d \u201cThe fun is always on the other side of a yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Years before, I was a student at Second City, an improvisational acting school in Chicago, and took a class with artistic director Martin de Maat. These quotes were some of the rules of improv he gave us. When I found the folder, I realized that taking that class had completely changed my life. It certainly sent me down a career path that I never would have ended up on otherwise. It also sent me down a personal path\u2014my friends were all part of the improv community. My husband was a piano player at the ImprovOlympic, and we met there. All those rules and exercises defined us and our outlook on the world.<\/p>\n

The things I learned in that class became part of the way I live my life. A couple of times I\u2019ve been called on to do things\u2014jobs or whatever\u2014where I\u2019ve felt, Maybe I\u2019m not quite ready. Maybe it\u2019s a little early for this to happen to me. But the rules are so ingrained. \u201cSay yes, and you\u2019ll figure it out afterward\u201d has helped me to be more adventurous. It has definitely helped me be less afraid.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re offering you a job here at Saturday Night Live\u2014can you move here within a week?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUmmm, yes I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, you haven\u2019t been here that long, but do you want to move up and try to be one of the head writers?\u201d<\/p>\n

Feeling completely terrified inside, but saying, \u201cUhhh, yes, okay, yes, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you wanna do \u2018Weekend Update\u2019 with Jimmy?\u201d<\/p>\n

Petrified. \u201cYes, thank you, of course!\u201d<\/p>\n

There are limits of reason to this idea of saying yes to everything, but when I meet someone whose first instinct is \u201cNo, how can we do that? That doesn\u2019t seem possible,\u201d I\u2019m always kind of taken aback. Almost anyone would say, \u201cIt\u2019s Friday at two in the morning. We don\u2019t have an opening political sketch. We can\u2019t do it.\u201d Yeah, of course you can. There\u2019s no choice. And even if you abandon one idea for another one, saying yes allows you to move forward.<\/p>\n

Sitting on the floor of my Chicago apartment, I realized that the words on the folder had a broader use than just for improvising comedy. Life is improvisation. All of those classes were like church to me. The training had seeped into me and changed who I am.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Tina Fey (x<\/a>)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[In 1997], I moved from Chicago to New York to work at Saturday Night Live. I packed up and was going through my things to see what I would take with me and what I\u2019d leave behind. I found an orange folder\u2014a regular school folder\u2014in a bookshelf. As soon as I saw it, I knew … <\/p>\n

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