Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are back at the “Weekend Update” desk, but this time on the 75th annual Primetime Emmy Awards stage.
Fey, 53, and Poehler, 52, made a surprise appearance during the Monday, January 15, awards ceremony while seated at a replica of the iconic Saturday Night Live desk to present Outstanding Live Variety Special to Elton John.
“We’ve reached the stage in life when we’ll only present awards sitting down,” Fey quipped, twinning with Poehler in a black blazer and white T-shirt. “Here are tonight’s nominees for Outstanding Live Variety Special.”
Instead of reading off the names, the duo took turns cracking jokes about the honorees. “The only show that’s longer than Titanic with commercials on TBS [is] the Oscars,” Poehler added, alongside a graphic of Jimmy Kimmel.
They also roasted Chris Rock’s Selective Outrage, John’s Farewell From Dodger Stadium live concert, the 75th annual Tony Awards and Rihanna’s Super Bowl gig.
“The concert so good, it got us all pregnant: The Apple Music Super Bowl 57 Halftime Show starring Rihanna” Fey added, referring to the moment the musician, 35, confirmed her second pregnancy in the middle of the set.
Fey and Poehler have an illustrious history with SNL and the “Weekend Update” segment. Fey, for her part, joined “Weekend Update” in 2000 and tackled the weekly news alongside Jimmy Fallon for four years. Poehler replaced Fallon, now 49, in 2004. She and Fey continued to helm “Weekend Update” together until 2006, the first time that two women sat at the Update desk.
Fey left SNL in 2006 to create and star in 30 Rock, and Seth Meyers took her place. Poehler — who cocreated the “Really?! With Seth and Amy” segment with Meyers — left the show in 2008. Cecily Strong, Colin Jost and Michael Che have all since taken turns helming “Weekend Update” in succeeding years. Jost, 41, and Che, 40, are currently the cohosts of the segment, which will return when SNL season 49 returns from winter hiatus on Saturday, January 20.
While Fey and Poehler have moved on from SNL, they remain fans of the variety show.
“If it’s a Saturday, we go to our room, and we watch SNL from the hotel room. It’s a dream,” Fey quipped on the Sunday, January 14, episode of Sunday Today. “We love watching it together. If we’re not together, we’ll live text during it. It’s like someone who played sports, like, ‘Oh, I see. You know what? I bet this moved up from dress [rehearsal].’”
She added at the time, “We root for everybody. And the head writer in me is always like, ‘Huh. Interesting. Maybe the game could’ve been clearer.’”
Fey, who previously served as head writer during her SNL tenure, also referred to Poehler as her “work wife” on Sunday. The two actresses, who have hosted the Golden Globes together multiple times, are currently performing a joint “Restless Leg” comedy tour across the U.S.
