Is this quote a joke? if so, what does it mean?
November 7, 2024 7:35 AM   Subscribe

I was reading a listicle of jokes and this quote from Tina Fey appeared "I like to crack the jokes now and again, but it's only because I struggle with math." Is it a joke? What does it mean?
posted by Gorgik to Grab Bag (6 answers total)
 
I don't know what it means, but it made me laugh.
posted by 2N2222 at 7:37 AM on November 7


Best answer: If she'd been better at school she might have gotten a "real job".
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 7:37 AM on November 7 [7 favorites]


Best answer: My interpretation is that she's saying if she did better at math she'd have a 'real job', not one writing jokes.

Edit: Jinx, NeverLurgi!
posted by AzraelBrown at 7:37 AM on November 7 [3 favorites]


Best answer: BLVR: Did you realize at a young age that you had a knack for comedy?

TF: Somewhere around the fifth or seventh grade I figured out that I could ingratiate myself to people by making them laugh. Essentially, I was just trying to make them like me. But after a while it became part of my identity. I remember at the end of the year in my eighth grade algebra class, I wrote a note to my teacher that basically said, “I know that I’m kinda a cutup and I like to crack the jokes now and again, but it’s only because I struggle with math.” I was already trying to define myself as “the jokester.” There was another time when I was talking to one of my classmates and I said, “Well, when you’re a funny person like I am, it can be…” and he just cut me off. “You think you’re funny? Where are you getting that from?”

https://www.thebeliever.net/an-interview-with-tina-fey/
posted by peppercorn at 7:40 AM on November 7 [11 favorites]


Response by poster: Thanks peppercorn!
posted by Gorgik at 9:03 AM on November 7 [1 favorite]


Math peope often talk about 'cracking an equation' so it is quite possible she was riffing off that.
posted by Lanark at 10:25 AM on November 7


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